Nothing went right in No. 4 NC State women’s basketball’s 73-59 loss to Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The loss snaps the Pack’s six-game win streak over the Hurricanes and marks its second loss in its last three games after starting the season 14-0.
Miami (12-5, 2-4 ACC) entered the game with the top-ranked defense in the ACC and showed why, holding the Wolfpack (15-2, 3-2 ACC) to 59 points — 20 points below its average — on just 28% shooting from the field. The Hurricanes implemented a zone defense for a majority of the game that prevented the Pack offense from getting to the rim.
NC State’s typically stout defense also struggled to slow down the Hurricanes’ offense, which shot 54% from the field and 44% from three. Surprisingly, the Wolfpack entered the contest allowing an ACC-best 33% opponent field goal percentage and was second in the conference allowing just a 28% opponent 3-point percentage.
Basketball games are not won in the first quarter, but they can certainly be lost during it. It was a back-and-forth first quarter with each team trading buckets for the first five minutes, but the Pack did not score for nearly the last five minutes of the frame.
Junior guard Saniya Rivers knocked down a pull-up jumper with just under five minutes to go in the first quarter to make it an 11-10 game in favor of Miami, and that was the last point NC State scored in the frame. The Hurricanes went on a 10-0 run to end the quarter to go up 21-10 and shot 75% from the field in the first 10 minutes.
The Hurricanes’ zone defense flustered the Pack the entire quarter as it shot just 20% from the field. The Pack had a hard time getting the ball into the paint and struggled to knock down its open looks from deep.
While the red-and-white found more offensive success, scoring 22 points in the second quarter, it still had no answer for the Hurricanes’ offense. The Canes got whatever they wanted, whether it was open looks from three or easy drives to the basket. Miami especially punished the Pack in the paint in the first half, outscoring NC State 24-8.
There is no doubt that the Wolfpack is severely missing the presence of graduate center River Baldwin, who anchors the inside both defensively and offensively for the Pack. Graduate forward Mimi Collins picked up the offensive slack, scoring 11 points in the first half, but couldn’t prevent Miami from getting buckets inside the paint.
NC State went into halftime down 43-32 and needed to lock-in on the defensive end to have a chance to prevent the upset. It did just that, allowing just eight points to the Hurricanes in the third quarter, but the Pack couldn’t capitalize as it scored just 11 points of its own in the quarter.
There was still hope for Wolfpack nation entering the fourth quarter with NC State only down eight points. That hope was short-lived — the Pack had a disastrous final quarter that saw it accumulate seven turnovers and make just three of its 12 shots.
The red-and-white also gave up its third 20-point quarter of the night, with Miami shooting 61% from the floor in the quarter. Miami had a balanced attack all night long, with three players recording 18 points and a fourth with 10 points.
On the other end, NC State got a combined 10 points from junior guard Aziaha James and senior guard Madison Hayes. James — NC State’s leading scorer — had her worst shooting performance of the year, going 2-16 from the field and 0-6 from beyond the arc.
NC State will have to bounce back quickly, facing Duke at Reynolds Coliseum on Sunday, Jan. 21. Tip-off is set for noon and can be found on the ACC network.
