The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1364233
34 ■ THE WOLFPACKER seconds remaining, the Wolfpack had the ball. In a possession that appeared to be go- ing nowhere due to the Cardinals' smothering defense, fifth-year senior point guard Raina Perez faked a pass down low to Cunane and knocked down the game-winning jumper from the top of the key with 2.1 seconds left. "It was funny because she had about that same look a few minutes earlier and she tried to get it to Elissa, which is a good plan, but I just told her, 'Hey, take the shot,'" Moore said. "She took it when it counted most. I'm just so thankful for what she's brought to our team." Louisville senior guard and ACC Player of the Year Dana Evans was able to get up a potential game-winning three-point attempt as the buzzer sounded, but it was no good. Cunane was named the MVP of the tour- nament after averaging 23.3 points and 9.0 rebounds per game over the three-day run. For the second straight season, NC State was crowned ACC Tournament champions as the No. 2 seed. "All weekend we had different players step up and make big plays," Moore said af- ter the championship game. "It's more about just the heart of a champion if you want to call it that. They just found a way to make plays, and as Jim Valvano would say, 'Never give up.' They just kept coming." A Disappointing End After earning the coveted No. 1 seed, NC State's ultimate goal was to reach the Final Four, which would have been its sec- ond time the program reached the sport's final weekend. The Wolfpack fell short of that after running into a red-hot Indiana team in the Sweet 16 with some unforeseeable adversity along the way. The Pack made quick work of 16th- seeded North Carolina A&T in the first round, defeating the Aggies 79-58. NC State got the result it wanted with the victory, but it lost one of its star players in the process. Senior forward Kayla Jones, a first-team All-ACC selection according to the league's head coaches who was the team's second-leading rebounder and third-leading scorer, left the first-round contest in the sec- ond quarter with an apparent lower body injury. She went to the locker room and never returned, and it was later dis- covered she had suffered a pa- tella tendon injury that would sideline her for the remainder of the tournament. The Wolfpack was able to get by eighth-seeded South Florida 79-67 in the second round without Jones, but its short handedness proved costly in the following round. The Pack scored the first seven points of the Sweet 16 contest, but Indiana responded with a 9-0 run of its own to take a lead it would hold for a majority of the contest. The Hoosiers grew its lead to as much as 14 points in the second half, but NC State re- fused to go away easily. The Wolfpack came back from a 10-point deficit with 2:51 re- maining to set up a potential game-tying layup attempt by Cunane with 30 seconds to go. The good look ended up rolling in and out of the rim, leading the Pack to put the Hoosiers on the foul line, where they extended their lead to four and ultimately hung on for a 73-70 upset. "It definitely sucks to get this far only to get nowhere," Cunane said after the loss. "I'm proud of us for getting to the Sweet 16, but that wasn't our goal. We knew we could go further than Sweet 16. We're a No. 1 seed; there's no reason why we couldn't have won this tournament." Getting Stronger For Next Season Now the Wolfpack will look to build from its success in recent seasons in 2021-22, and it's off to a good start with a promising offseason. Less than a month after the Pack's exit from the NCAA Tournament, seniors Jones, Perez and Kai Crutchfield jointly announced they would all return for a final season in 2021-22. That means NC State will return its top eight scorers from last season, in- cluding all six players that averaged at least 20 minutes per game. The Wolfpack will also welcome a three- woman 2021 recruiting class that ESPN ranked No. 13 nationally along with two transfers that should make an immediate impact. Freshman guards Diamond Johnson of Rut- gers and Madison Hayes of Mississippi State, who were both named to their respective con- ferences' All-Freshman squads, announced their commitments to the Pack in April. Johnson, the No. 6 overall player in the 2020 recruiting class according to ESPN HoopGurlz, averaged 17.6 points, 4.3 re- bounds, 2.5 assists and 2.3 steals per game in her debut collegiate campaign. She ranked seventh nationally last year in three- point percentage (45.5), reached double- digit points in 17 of 19 appearances and was the first woman to integrate a men's All-American Game, when she participated in the 24K Showcase at the 2020 Allen Iver- son Roundball Classic. Hayes, a 2020 McDonald's All-American, averaged 4.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game while shooting 44.0 percent from the field and 38.5 percent from beyond the arc last season. Despite ranking sixth on the team in average minutes played (20.4 per game), she was second in rebounding, scored six points or more in nine of her 19 appear- ances and emerged as a starter, opening the final nine contests of the campaign. With most of its production from last season returning along with the addition of two of the best transfers in the country and a nationally elite recruiting class, NC State could be even better in 2021-22 than it was during a season in which it accomplished so much. ■ Junior center Elissa Cunane was named consensus first-team All-ACC, the ACC Tournament MVP and a second-team All- American by the Associated Press. PHOTO COURTESY ACC MEDIA