The No. 3 NC State women’s basketball team is the ACC champion once more. With the NCAA Tournament Selection Show just days away, the Wolfpack will turn its attention to coming away with the national chip. Let’s take a look at how NC State fared in the ACC Tournament and some things the Pack can learn from its performance.
Dominating the third quarter
On full display in the ACC Tournament, as it has been all season long, was the Wolfpack’s dominance in third quarters. Head coach Wes Moore is already one of the best coaches in the nation, fresh off an ACC Coach of the Year award, but getting a team as talented as this to not lose focus in the third quarter is a true testament to his abilities.
This year, the Wolfpack has won first quarters by a combined 157 points, second quarters by 117 points and fourth quarters by 114. That number spikes to a whopping plus-226 mark in third quarters across all games this season. That means 36.5% of the Wolfpack’s positive points are coming in the third quarter.
In the ACC Tournament, NC State outscored its opponents by a combined 25 points in third quarters, 43.1% of its combined 58-point margin of victory.
NC State shot 25 of 44 (56.8%) from the field in third quarters in the ACC Tournament and 6 of 13 (46.2%) from downtown.
However, one thing the Wolfpack can’t afford to do is get lazy with its big third-quarter leads. NC State got a glimpse at what can happen when it takes its foot off the gas in the championship round against Miami, where the Hurricanes held NC State to nine points in the fourth quarter and narrowed a 21-point lead to an 11-point lead at one point.
Elissa Cunane, Greensboro star
Fresh off a 2021 ACC Tournament in which she piled up 70 points en route to her first ACC Tournament MVP, senior center Elissa Cunane once again popped off the page when the lights were brightest, going back to back with MVPs in Greensboro.
In 11 ACC Tournament games, Cunane has averaged 19 points and 7.9 rebounds, shooting 57% from the field, totaling 209 points across such contests. Even though it’s safe to assume Virginia Tech center Elizabeth Kitley would have caused problems for Cunane if she was healthy, Cunane still had another memorable Greensboro performance.
Growing up in Summerfield, North Carolina, Cunane was just minutes from Greensboro Coliseum for most of her childhood. Her legendary ACC Tournament performances make her a hometown hero, now twofold.
Diamond Johnson needs a bounce-back
Sophomore guard Diamond Johnson, one of the Wolfpack’s two double-digit scorers on average for the season, has been in a funk for the last month of the season. In an ACC Tournament that saw eight double-digit performances, Johnson accounted for just one, shooting 9 for 30 (30%) from the field and 4 for 21 (19%) from 3.
This isn’t to say Johnson had an awful ACC Tourney — she played well in place of graduate guard Raina Perez when she racked up three early fouls. Johnson also played well when it mattered most against Miami, scoring 11 points and snatching three steals.
But for a player that averaged 12.2 points on 44.9% shooting from the floor and 42.7% shooting from distance through 19 games, her current 10.9 points per game on 39.7% and 33.6% shooting splits are massive disappointments. Since her heroic game over then-No. 3 Louisville, Johnson is averaging nine points on 32.1% and 19.6% splits.
With a daunting NCAA Tournament on the horizon where the pressure is on more than ever, the Wolfpack will need its second-leading scorer to do what she did earlier this season.
Bracketology
As of the morning of March 8, NC State is slated to play in the Bridgeport, Connecticut region of the 2022 NCAA Tournament. While the selection show is yet to come, the Wolfpack is currently set to be in the same region as Caitlin Clark-led Iowa Hawkeyes, as well as a UConn team that recently got Paige Bueckers back and boasts some of the other great players in the nation in Christyn Williams, Evina Westbrook and Olivia Nelson-Ododa.
In fact, the latest Bracketology by Charlie Creme has the Bridgeport region as what would be a WNBA talent showcase, with potential top-five picks Rhyne Howard, Shakira Austin and Nyara Sabally also potentially in the Wolfpack’s way, hailing from Kentucky, Ole Miss and Oregon, respectively.
Regardless of what region the Wolfpack ends up in, the talent level is going to be immense. Any given team can show up any given day and stun the Pack if it’s not careful. The team got a taste of that in last year’s NCAA Tournament when it fell in the Sweet 16 to Indiana.
