At almost a third of the way through the 2022-23 regular season, the NC State women’s basketball team has only lost one game, boasting a 6-1 record.

The Pack has yet to play any ACC teams, but the upcoming ACC/B1G Challenge will give NC State a chance to prove itself as a legitimate team in the ACC.

Several questions that were up in the air before the season began are being answered. The most pressing questions came in the form of how the rotation would fill out and who would step up as leaders of the team to repeat the success of last year.

New Players

NC State brought in three transfer athletes for the 2022-23 season: graduate center River Baldwin, graduate forward Mimi Collins and sophomore guard Saniya Rivers. All three players have had diverse impacts as head coach Wes Moore continues to experiment with their places in the rotation.

None of the transfers have made it into the starting lineup. This is a bit of a surprise given Collins’ and Baldwin’s age and experience, but Moore has stuck with his Wolfpack veterans. With both Collins and Baldwin familiar with other coaching systems, there has been an adjustment period. Collins has gotten steady minutes all season with nobody on the roster having the same skill set and size as her. In 18 minutes a game, she’s averaging six points and four rebounds.

Baldwin, on the other hand, wasn’t given a ton of minutes in the first few games. She played under 15 minutes in the first four games, but has gotten 20 or more minutes in two of the last three games. Her averages are low due to varying playing time, but she’s coming off of an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double game off the bench, her first of the season and her best statistical game.

Rivers is a unique talent. Coming over from the 2022 national champion South Carolina Gamecocks, she knows what it takes to win games. Rivers has seen a few different roles early in the season. Moore has been vocal about Rivers’ court vision, leading to her running the second unit as a point guard. She’s stood out on the defensive end, accumulating six steals and seven blocks in seven games.

Starters

Coach Moore has rolled out the same starting lineup for every game so far. This lineup consists of junior guard Diamond Johnson, junior guard Madison Hayes, senior forward Jakia Brown-Turner, senior forward Jada Boyd and senior center Camille Hobby.

One thing all the starters have in common is they’ve already played in past seasons. Moore values experience and team chemistry, and things seem to be working with this group. Hayes has been a pleasant surprise, providing a little bit of everything. She set a career high in points against UNC-Charlotte in only three quarters earlier in the year and has excelled on the offensive glass.

Hayes’ backcourt partner, Johnson, has to step up as one of the primary scoring options. Johnson is capable of playing both off and on the ball, but there are times when it seems she is focused on getting players on the wing involved or getting Hobby the ball down low. This creates fluid ball movement and good basketball, but when it’s time to clutch up and win games in the fourth quarter, Johnson should be shooting the ball.

Struggles

The only loss on the season came against the UConn Huskies in the Pack’s first road game. The Huskies have an elite women’s basketball program, with it being a championship threat every season. The Huskies eliminated the Wolfpack in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA tournament last March, so players and staff knew the game was a true test to see where the team is at. The Pack had four players score in double figures but still lost by 22 points.

The red-and-white has struggled settling into games and coming out of halftime. This was the biggest downfall of the UConn game, with the Huskies out-scoring the Pack by 10 in the opening quarter and then by 12 in the third quarter.

Winning

NC State has played very well in the second and fourth quarters, so closing out games hasn’t been much of an issue. With the exception of the UConn loss and the Thanksgiving day game against Vanderbilt, the Wolfpack outscores its opponents by at least 30.

The winning formula for this team is elite perimeter defense to force bad shots that turn into fast-break opportunities. When the team isn’t sprinting down the floor, Johnson settles the offense and either shoots a three or lets Boyd or Brown-Turner post up or drive at the defense to get to the basket.

This year’s team is good. The success of last year has acted as a major boost in confidence that has translated to winning. It’s difficult to truly assess how good the team is with a somewhat small sample size and no in-conference play, but the team is winning the games it’s supposed to win, which should keep the Pack ranked within the top 10 as the season plays out.