Wolfpack Can't Get Outlast No. 9 Louisville

Home court advantage is often a key aspect of NC State’s success. A packed Reynolds Coliseum brought the energy the Wolfpack needed against the ninth-ranked Cardinals, but it needed reasons to be engaged with the game. An impressive offensive start for NC State helped ease some of the early nerves, as Zamareya Jones exploded out of the gates with 11 points in the first quarter. 

However, it was when the Pack struggled during the second quarter that the crowd was most important. The shots weren’t falling for either team at a high clip, but the defensive intensity for the home team maintained the lead. NC State forced a key turnover before Qadence Samuels caught a pass in transition. She pump-faked on a 3-point attempt, forcing the Louisville defender to fly by, then buried her shot attempt to ignite the crowd. 

As NC State made its push in the third quarter, Louisville became more and more rattled. The cheers and jeers cascaded with every Wolfpack basket and every Cardinal error. 

Overcoming droughts 

For much of the 2025-26 season, Wes Moore’s group finds itself dealing with lengthy droughts on the offensive end. The Wolfpack’s major dearth of scoring came in the second quarter against the Cardinals. Star junior guard Zoe Brooks sat with a pair of fouls picked up in the first half. The Pack built up enough of a lead that it could survive without Brooks on the floor, but it wasn’t easy. 

Louisville made one of its best pushes and ramped up the defense in the minutes when Brooks watched from the bench. NC State suffered a scoring drought longer than five minutes, before Moore saw enough. Cardinal forward Laura Ziegler went to the line after being fouled on a make. Brooks subbed in before the make with 26 seconds on the clock. She wound the timer down before making her move, blowing by a defender on the right and floating a shot over the defense and in the basket to put the Pack up 33-28 at halftime. 

The poor offense leaked into the third quarter before Brooks and Jones buried a pair of triples to get things going once again. NC State ripped off a 12-2 run as Jeff Walz tried to get his Louisville offense some semblance of rhythm. It was a change from some of the Wolfpack’s losses to ranked opponents earlier in the season, as droughts against Oklahoma, USC and TCU ultimately cost Moore’s team those games. 

However, Louisville wouldn’t go quietly and overcame its own scoring issues. The persistent effort on the glass, combined with NC State running out of steam once again in the fourth quarter, started to snowball once again for the Wolfpack. 

Taking away strengths 

Louisville came into Saturday’s game as one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the ACC, knocking down shots from beyond the arc at a 35.1% clip. NC State’s perimeter defense caused significant problems for the balanced scoring attack of the Cardinals, however. Louisville knocked down its first 3-point shot with under a minute left in the third quarter after missing its first 11. 

Imari Bailey buried another 3-point shot to cut the Wolfpack lead to just three points at the end of the quarter. The Cardinals were able to throw multiple bodies at the NC State frontcourt, which ultimately wore them down. Tilda Trygger was scoreless through the first three quarters as the road team snatched the lead at the start of the fourth quarter. Eventually, the sophomore Swede buried a 3-pointer to tie the game at 54 in the fourth quarter. 

The levee broke at the wrong time for Louisville’s offense, turning the game from a dominant NC State march to victory to a back and forth showdown where NC State was playing from behind down the stretch. Many of the calls stopped going the Wolfpack’s direction in the fourth quarter. 

Final word 

The latest loss marked the third blown double-digit lead in a game against a ranked opponent for the 2025-26 edition of Wes Moore’s Wolfpack. The two ranked losses at home also mark a change from the NC State teams of old, which traditionally dominated opponents in Reynolds Coliseum. 

The Wolfpack finds itself back in the position of searching for answers after a ranked loss. However, the group gets a week off before taking the court against Virginia next Sunday.

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