The 2023-24 NC State women’s basketball team was picked to finish 8th in the ACC. It proved the doubters wrong when it finished in 2nd place and reached the NCAA Final Four. As Wolfpack fans prepare for the 2024-25 season, there is a lot of excitement generated about the program due to the success of last year and the return of key players such as senior guards Aziaha James and Saniya Rivers.
Entering his 12th year as the head coach of the Pack, head coach Wes Moore has made a name for himself as one of the best coaches in college basketball, leading the team to routine ACC championships and having it consistently ranked in the top 25. This year is no exception with the Pack ranked No. 9 in the preseason AP Poll. With this schedule for 2024-25, there are several opportunities for the Pack to establish its dominance and make it known to the public that it is going to compete for a National Championship.
Nonconference games
The Pack’s first big test will come in its second game of the regular season when it travels to Charlotte on Nov. 10 for the Ally Tip-Off against the defending National Champions, the South Carolina Gamecocks. South Carolina comes into this game as the preseason No. 1 team, led by head coach Dawn Staley. This game will serve as a rematch of the 2024 Final Four game, in which the Gamecocks won 78-59.
Over the week of Thanksgiving, NC State will travel to Nassau in the Bahamas with three other teams for the Pink Flamingo Championship. Depending on the result of the first game, fans may get treated to a matchup against the Kim Mulkey-led No. 7 LSU Tigers, who won the National Championship in 2023.
Another big nonconference top 25 matchup for the Wolfpack will be when it hosts the No. 20 Ole Miss Rebels in Reynolds Coliseum on Dec. 5. This has the potential to be yet another statement win against a team that also made the NCAA Tournament last year.
Conference slate
In the past, NC State’s ACC schedule was filled with top 25 programs that continually made the NCAA Tournament. Now the conference is getting even bigger with the addition of three new teams. The ACC currently has six teams ranked in the preseason top 25.
The Pack will open conference play on the road against the No. 17 Louisville Cardinals. Louisville and NC State have competed against each other to be the ACC’s top team for the past few years. At an 8-8 in the all-time series, the Pack has had the Cardinals’ number in recent memory, as it has won the last five matchups.
The next big game for NC State will come at home when it hosts the No. 11 Duke Blue Devils in Raleigh. Last year, NC State and Duke split their regular season series, but NC State ended up winning the game where it mattered most in the ACC Tournament, 54-51.
NC State will square off against a second team it beat in the ACC Tournament — the Florida State Seminoles. FSU comes into the season ranked No. 19, and the Pack will travel to Tallahassee, Florida to play the Seminoles on Feb. 9.
In what is always a big game, the Wolfpack will travel to Chapel Hill to take on the No. 15 UNC-Chapel HIll Tar Heels. With this being the first season in program history where the Pack will not play the Heels in Raleigh, this game becomes much more important.
NC State has an all-time record of 64-55 against the Tar Heels, but it is only 21-31 in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels no longer have Deja Kelly, but they still have graduate guard Alyssa Ustby, who currently has a career average of 9.5 rebounds per game.
The last game that the red-and-white will play against a preseason-ranked team will be on Feb. 23, when it hosts the No. 6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. This game will serve as a rematch of the 2024 ACC Championship game, where the Irish emerged victorious in a 55-51 defensive battle. Notre Dame’s biggest key player is sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo, who finished the 2024 season as a first-team All-American.
While the Wolfpack does not play any other preseason top 25 teams in the ACC, there are still several good teams in the league that are unranked and can make some noise against the Pack. It will play at Stanford, at Syracuse, Miami in Reynolds and at Georgia Tech. All these teams mentioned received votes for the preseason poll.
Overall, there is a lot for Wolfpack fans to be excited about for this upcoming season. There are several games where NC State can make a big statement and establish itself as a national championship contender.
