The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1497827
42 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY MATT CARTER h e NC S ta te wo m e n 's basketball team endured an inconsistent season in 2022-23. The Wolfpack defeated four opponents that made the Sweet 16, including two victories on the road. Yet, the team finished 20-12 overall, with several in- explicable losses mixed in. Playing without its leading scorer, ju- nior guard Diamond Johnson, who was out with an injury, NC State saw its sea- son end with a 64-63 loss to Princeton in the first round of the NCAA Tourna- ment. After that defeat, in which the Pack scored just 2 points in the final six minutes, coach Wes Moore was asked about the coming offseason. "It's a new era," he said. "The transfer portal is up and running. We have to start looking at our roster and how we want to try to rebuild that. "Right now, we're just really dis- appointed in not being able to finish this game off and help them get over the hump. We were right there. It's the tough part about losing a game like this as a coach. You second-guess every- thing that you did. I'll have to live with that for a few days. "But we've definitely got to, at some point, look at our roster and try to build it from there." Here's a look at where the Pack stood in that process as of mid-April: Guards Jakia Brown-Turner entered the trans- fer portal after the season and has cho- sen to use her extra year of eligibility at Maryland. During the past four seasons, she started 123 of 124 games played and maintained a career scoring average of 10.3 points per contest. She was first- team All-ACC and an honorable mention All-America selection in 2021. Diamond Johnson also recently en- tered the transfer portal. She took on a starting role this past season and led NC State in scoring at 12.3 points per game after being the ACC Sixth Player of the Year in 2021-22. Johnson missed 10 contests this past season with a nagging ankle/foot injury, including the entire postseason. With Johnson out, South Carolina transfer Saniya Rivers became the Pack's primary ball-handler, and the sopho- more stepped up to lead NC State in as- sists (91), steals (57) and rebounds (5.2 per game). She also scored 8.6 points per game but made just 14 of 65 threes (21.5 percent) and shot 62.5 percent from the free throw line. Aziaha James' emergence as a sopho- more was one of the year's highlights. She averaged 6.8 points per game overall but steadily grew into a larger role, eventually starting games at point guard. James was a fixture with the first unit for the final six games of the season and played at least 23 minutes in each contest. She hit the tying shot to send the Wolfpack to overtime against UNC, a game it eventually won 77-66. Madison Hayes averaged 7.0 points and 3.8 rebounds and made 32 of 88 threes (36.4 percent). She also tied senior for- T REBUILDING BOOM The Pack Must Remake Its Roster After An Up-And-Down 2022-23 Season Coach Wes Moore has gone 242-80 in 10 seasons with the Wolfpack. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS