Following an impressive win over No. 9 Louisville at the buzzer in overtime, the NC State women’s basketball team will travel to Atlanta on Thursday to take on Georgia Tech before returning to Raleigh on Sunday to square off against Virginia Tech.
The Wolfpack (17-6, 7-3 ACC) is now in sole possession of fifth place in the conference and has jumped to No. 17 in the AP poll, while the Yellow Jackets (14-9, 3-7 ACC) are near the bottom of the standings.
The Pack, having already defeated four ranked teams in ACC play, will finish out its conference slate by not playing any teams currently ranked. With just six games left in conference play, the team will need to avoid a letdown against a bottom-tier ACC squad in order to avoid dropping from its currently projected four seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Senior guard Miah Spencer was the hero against Louisville, hitting the game-winning floater as time expired, and she will need to continue to be the heart of this Wolfpack team going forward. Spencer connected on 11 of 17 field goals against the Cardinals, scoring 22 points while racking up six rebounds and two assists.
This season, Spencer is averaging 11.2 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.
Redshirt senior guard Dominique Wilson is also an important piece for the Pack. Wilson is averaging a team-high of 11.5 points per game and shooting 86 percent from the free-throw line. In the upset of Louisville, Wilson went 6 of 13 from the field and 3 of 7 from 3-point range, logging a critical 15 points in the process.
State’s first opponent this week, Georgia Tech, has endured a rough season so far after a tough conference schedule and recently snapped a five-game, conference-losing streak when it defeated Virginia Tech last week. The Yellow Jackets do not have a marquee win thus far, but do own a victory over Syracuse, a team the Wolfpack lost to.
Despite the team’s struggles, the Yellow Jackets have a good scoring presence inside with junior forward Zaire O’Neil, who is averaging a team-leading 12.7 points per game while starting just 12 games thus far.
The Wolfpack’s opponent on Sunday, Virginia Tech, finds itself near the bottom of the ACC after six-straight conference losses. After starting out ACC play with wins over UNC-Chapel Hill and Clemson, the Hokies have since lost seven of eight games and fell to 3-7 in the ACC. More notably, the team began the year 15-0 with wins over a ranked Tennessee team and a road win at Auburn, but has faltered while facing excellent ACC competition. The Hokies climbed as high as No. 15 before its rough stretch of play.
The next two games are winnable for NC State, who has knocked off high-ranked opponents such as Florida State and Notre Dame, but also lost to a middling UNC-Chapel Hill team. For the Wolfpack to keep its stock steady for the NCAA Tournament, the next two games are a must-win.
The game against Georgia Tech will take place in Atlanta at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Wolfpack will then travel back home and face Virginia Tech in Reynolds Coliseum at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Redshirt senior guard Dominique Wilson shoots a quick fadeaway jumper during the 83-70 loss to UNC on Jan. 29 in Carmichael Arena.
