By The Tobacco Road Scribe
Charlotte, NC – Wes Moore has spent nearly four decades as a head basketball coach learning that successful teams do not necessarily have to look alike. Sometimes a coach can protect the paint with length, control opponents with a conservative half-court defense and allow superior personnel to solve problems. Other seasons demand something different.
NC State’s 2026-27 women’s basketball team, Moore believes, falls squarely into the second category.
The Wolfpack enters the new season with experienced stars, promising newcomers and what Moore describes as excellent chemistry. What it does not possess, at least compared with some recent NC State teams, is overwhelming size and length. That reality has pushed Moore toward a defensive transformation built around speed, pressure, disruption and depth.
“We’re going to have to play faster, harder,” Moore said during his Oct. 5 media availability. “We’re undersized. We don’t have the length we had.”
The solution, as Moore described it, will be to attack rather than wait.
NC State intends to pressure the basketball, jump passing lanes, consider more post double-teams and generally make opposing offenses uncomfortable before they can take advantage of their size.
“We’re going to have to turn the heat up, so to speak, if we want to have a chance,” Moore said.
It is a revealing preseason assessment from a coach whose program is accustomed to entering the year with championship expectations. NC State finished fourth in the ACC last season at 13-5 in conference play and 21-11 overall, reaching the NCAA tournament for the 31st time before losing to Michigan in the second round.
Now Moore is asking a reshaped Wolfpack roster to trade some of its traditional physical advantages for aggression, conditioning and defensive initiative.
And in a league that sent a conference-record nine teams to the 2026 NCAA tournament, he knows the adjustment will have to work quickly.
Defense moves to the center of NC State’s identity
Moore repeatedly returned to one subject during his media session: defense.
It was not accidental.
NC State could score last season. The Wolfpack averaged 76.7 points per game overall while shooting 45.1% from the field and outrebounding opponents by more than six rebounds per game. Khamil Pierre led the team at 16.7 points and 11.9 rebounds per contest.
But for Moore, offensive production did not erase what he viewed as a defensive shortcoming.
He compared last season with NC State’s deeper postseason runs and drew a straightforward conclusion.
When the Wolfpack reached the Final Four in 2024, Moore said, its defense ranked among the best in the ACC. Last season, he said, NC State led the league in scoring during conference play but slipped to sixth defensively.
“We saw what happened,” Moore said. “We’ve got to buy in to the other end of the court.”
That statement may be the defining message of NC State’s preseason.
The Wolfpack’s ability to score should again create optimism. Zoe Brooks returns as one of the program’s most accomplished guards, Pierre is back after a productive season, and Moore believes the roster contains enough depth to sustain an aggressive pace.
But the defensive approach will look different.
“In the past [we] have played more of a just containment defense,” Moore said. “We always had this in our bag, and now this year it becomes to the forefront and becomes more prominent.”
Containment defense generally asks players to stay sound, keep opponents in front of them and force difficult shots without gambling excessively.
Moore’s 2026-27 vision is more assertive.
NC State will try to accelerate opponents mentally as well as physically.
That means ball pressure.
It means deflections.
It means attacking passing lanes.
It may mean helping aggressively against bigger post players.
Most importantly, it means forcing opposing teams to operate at NC State’s preferred tempo rather than allowing them to exploit favorable matchups deliberately.
“We’re going to have to dictate more on defense,” Moore said. “And to do that, we’re going to have to play really hard.”
A roster built differently
The official NC State roster illustrates some of Moore’s concerns.
The Wolfpack has only one listed player taller than 6-foot-2: freshman forward Annsley Trivette at 6-3. Pierre, Maddie Cox, Khady Leye, freshman Kamora Pruitt and freshman Favour Ossai are all listed at 6-2.
That is hardly a small basketball team in conventional terms.
But conventional measurements can be misleading in high-level ACC competition, where elite frontcourts combine height with wingspan, strength and depth.
“We just don’t have the size we’ve had,” Moore said.
Then, with characteristic dry humor, he added another observation about modern roster building.
“We found out size is expensive nowadays.”
The remark drew laughter, but it also carried a serious point.
College basketball roster construction has changed rapidly in the era of the transfer portal, name-image-and-likeness opportunities and direct athlete compensation. Coaches who once recruited primarily against other programs now navigate a marketplace in which retention can be nearly as important as acquisition.
Moore does not sound interested in lamenting the system. His response is essentially tactical: coach the roster he has.
That roster includes senior guard Brooks, senior forward Pierre, senior forward Cox, senior guard Qadence Samuels, senior guard Audrey Ericksen and fifth-year guard Desiree Wooten, among others. Brooks, at 5-10, enters the season already ranked among NC State’s career leaders in assists and with 1,321 career points.
Moore said he expects numerous players to contribute.
“We’ve got some depth with this team,” he said. “I think we’ll have a lot of people contribute.”
That could be essential if NC State intends to play the pressure-oriented style Moore described.
Pressure defense requires energy. Players who are expected to pick up opponents aggressively, deny passing lanes, trap, rotate and recover cannot conserve themselves possession after possession.
That is why Moore’s comments about depth and conditioning are intertwined.
“Everybody wants to play fast until you start saying the R word – run,” he joked.
The laughter does not change the basketball equation.
If NC State wants to overcome a size disadvantage through speed, the Wolfpack must be physically prepared to sustain that speed for four quarters.
Chemistry may be NC State’s most important advantage
For all Moore’s concerns about size and defense, he sounded genuinely encouraged by one element that coaches cannot easily manufacture: chemistry.
“What I love is I feel like our chemistry is really good,” he said. “Really in a good place.”
Moore called this his 38th season as a head coach and said most of his teams have shared that quality.
His explanation offered a glimpse into a philosophy that goes beyond simply collecting talent.
Moore recalled attending the wedding of a former player when another former player leaned over and told him that one of his strengths had always been recruiting players who liked one another.
Moore said the observation stayed with him.
“I think that’s important,” he said. “To have a team that will play for each other and enjoy the journey. I mean, it’s a long grind season. Got to have fun.”
Those relationships are particularly significant now.
College rosters turn over faster than they once did, and teams frequently blend transfers, freshmen and veterans who have little shared competitive history.
NC State is no exception.
Moore said the Wolfpack brought in three freshmen and three transfers while retaining six players. His challenge is to convert that assortment of backgrounds into a functioning team before conference play begins.
Veteran leadership should help.
Moore identified Brooks, Pierre and Cox as important locker-room figures and said they have embraced the responsibility of helping younger teammates adjust.
Brooks’ influence appears especially strong.
Moore recalled asking players last season who had the most positive influence in the locker room.
“Almost every one of them said Zoe Brooks,” he said.
Brooks is not necessarily NC State’s loudest player, Moore said, but her influence comes through example and consistency.
That matters to a coach trying to build a team whose defensive success will depend on collective commitment.
Pressure defense cannot work with four players exerting themselves and one taking possessions off. Rotations require trust. Traps require communication. Help defense demands confidence that another teammate will cover the next responsibility.
Chemistry, in that sense, is not merely a pleasant locker-room characteristic.
It could be a tactical necessity.
Brooks and Pierre become central figures
Brooks and Pierre enter the season with especially important roles.
The Wolfpack needs their production, but Moore appears equally interested in their leadership.
Brooks has remained at NC State throughout an era when transferring has become increasingly common.
Moore said she could have entered the portal and attracted considerable financial interest elsewhere.
“She’s just very loyal and, you know, a great leader for us,” he said. “We’re just very blessed that Zoe’s with us for four years.”
Her return also gives NC State something increasingly valuable: continuity.
Brooks knows Moore’s system. She understands the expectations. She knows how ACC games change as the season progresses.
And after dealing with an injury during the summer, Moore said she has returned to full participation in practice.
He is nevertheless taking the long view.
“If you need to take some reps off, you need to take a day off,” Moore said he tells Brooks. “We’ve got to make sure she’s healthy when we need her in February and March.”
That is a revealing comment from a coach with postseason expectations.
October matters because habits are being formed.
February and March matter because championships are decided.
Pierre gives the Wolfpack another cornerstone.
After averaging 16.7 points and 11.9 rebounds last season, she returns as NC State’s most proven interior producer.
She will also face a different challenge without as much surrounding size.
Moore indicated that Pierre and Leye, both athletic 6-2 forwards, could be central to NC State’s effort to compensate for its lack of traditional length.
The Wolfpack may not consistently overpower opponents.
It may have to outrun them.
Ronny Fisher adds another experienced voice
NC State also made a notable addition away from the playing roster.
Ronny Fisher joined the program as director of player development and operations after Moore lost longtime staff member Houston Fancher to retirement. NC State’s current staff directory lists Fisher in that role.
Moore described the transition as an important one.
Fancher had spent years alongside him and brought previous head-coaching experience to the bench.
When Moore considered how to replace that perspective, Fisher emerged as a natural possibility.
Moore said he called Fisher almost on a whim.
The timing turned out to be ideal.
Fisher, according to Moore, was interested in a position that would allow him to remain heavily involved in basketball while spending more time with family. Moore said the role does not require Fisher to handle regular recruiting travel, leaving more weekends available.
From a basketball standpoint, Moore believes Fisher can have a particularly strong influence on defense.
“I think he’s going to be a big asset on the court,” Moore said. “Defensively, I think he’ll bring a lot to it.”
That could prove especially important this season because NC State is not simply tweaking an existing defense.
Moore is changing its emphasis.
Experienced coaching voices can become particularly valuable when a veteran team is being asked to play in unfamiliar ways.
The ACC leaves little margin for experimentation
NC State will not have unlimited time to figure itself out.
The ACC sent nine teams to the NCAA tournament last season, a conference record. Duke, Louisville, North Carolina and NC State occupied the top four spots in the league standings, with the Wolfpack finishing 13-5.
Moore called the league “brutally tough.”
“You’re playing against great athletes every night, great coaching every night,” he said.
The depth of the conference has changed the meaning of an ordinary league game.
There are fewer nights when a contender can survive simply by having more talent.
Moore said even teams that once occupied the lower portion of the standings have improved.
Athletes are more skilled, more explosive and more capable of scoring from multiple levels.
“Their athleticism’s off the charts,” he said.
Moore mentioned Duke, Louisville, North Carolina and Notre Dame among programs he expects to contend near the top of the league again.
His inclusion of NC State in that conversation came with a qualification.
Last season’s fourth-place finish was respectable.
For Moore’s program, respectable is not necessarily the goal.
“When you’ve won five ACC championships, been to an Elite Eight one year, Final Four one year, finishing fourth isn’t what you aspire to,” Moore said.
That standard explains the urgency surrounding his defensive message.
NC State is not rebuilding from irrelevance.
It is trying to bridge the gap from good to championship-caliber.
Portal era changes the meaning of development
Moore also reflected on one of the defining challenges of modern coaching: players are no longer as likely to remain in one program for four years.
For much of his career, development could be measured across a long arc.
A freshman might play sparingly, improve as a sophomore, emerge as a junior and become a star as a senior.
The transfer portal can interrupt that progression.
Moore pointed to former NC State standout Aziaha James as an example of what long-term development once looked like.
James did not immediately become a star, but she remained in the program, developed and eventually became a first-round WNBA draft pick.
“That’s what you really love about coaching,” Moore said.
The difficulty is that coaches cannot assume every player will remain long enough for such a progression.
Moore said NC State historically ranked among the better programs nationally in player retention.
Now, facing former players on opposing teams has become part of college basketball.
He said he tries not to dwell on it.
“I’m more worried about the ones that are here and I got for 30 games instead of the one that we may face one time,” Moore said.
That statement is consistent with his broader message.
Focus on the roster in the building.
Develop the players who stayed.
Make the pieces fit.
College sports’ changing rules create another layer of uncertainty
The transfer portal is only one component of a larger period of instability in college athletics.
Moore was also asked about athlete compensation, legislation and court decisions affecting eligibility.
His answer reflected the uncertainty many coaches face.
Moore said he follows the basics but does not attempt to track every legal development.
Eligibility cases can move through courts and jurisdictions while academic calendars continue moving.
NC State, Moore said, had explored possibilities involving players whose eligibility situations remained unresolved, only to reach academic deadlines before receiving answers.
“We still have academic rules, restrictions, believe it or not,” Moore said.
Once the semester reaches a certain point, basketball eligibility becomes only part of the equation.
A player must still be able to enroll and satisfy university requirements.
Moore said that for now, he is concentrating on the players already on campus.
That may be one of the few dependable strategies available to coaches in an uncertain regulatory environment.
Why Moore still coaches
Amid discussion of money, transfers, lawsuits, officiating, roster construction and the relentless challenge of the ACC, Moore was asked a simpler question.
Why continue coaching?
His answer revealed why chemistry and player development occupy such a large place in his thinking.
“I still love people,” Moore said.
He spoke about being around players, assistant coaches and others in the profession.
He spoke about teaching.
He spoke about helping players improve.
And he spoke about watching former players remain connected years after leaving the program – seeing them at weddings, meeting their children and encountering them at recruiting events.
For Moore, the relationships remain a counterweight to the instability of modern college athletics.
The sport around him has changed dramatically.
His reason for remaining in it has not.
First exhibition offers an early laboratory
NC State will not have to wait long to test Moore’s new formula.
The Wolfpack hosts High Point in an exhibition at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 8, at Reynolds Coliseum. A second exhibition against UNCW is scheduled for Oct. 24 before the regular season opens Nov. 2 against Wofford.
Moore said the unusually early exhibition schedule could be beneficial.
He wants to see how the newcomers react against outside competition.
He wants to see how rotations fit together.
Most of all, he wants to see whether the style he has discussed throughout the preseason translates from practice to games.
The nonconference schedule will quickly raise the difficulty.
NC State meets Kentucky in Charlotte on Nov. 8, Kansas State and LSU at the Fort Myers Tipoff later in November and Ole Miss on the road Dec. 2. ACC play begins Dec. 13 at North Carolina.
That schedule should reveal relatively quickly whether the Wolfpack can overcome the physical limitations Moore has identified.
A season built around adaptation
NC State’s 2026-27 season begins with an intriguing contradiction.
The Wolfpack possesses many traits usually associated with a veteran contender.
There is experience.
There is proven production.
There is postseason history.
There is leadership.
There is a coach who has already taken the program deep into March.
And there is, according to Moore, unusually strong chemistry.
Yet NC State is also attempting something of a reinvention.
Moore cannot rely on the same size and length that helped define previous Wolfpack teams.
So he intends to change the terms of engagement.
Instead of allowing opponents to comfortably enter their offense, NC State wants to pressure them.
Instead of waiting for larger players near the basket, the Wolfpack wants to attack passing lanes before the ball gets there.
Instead of relying exclusively on half-court containment, Moore wants his team dictating.
And instead of asking a small rotation to carry the load, he hopes depth can sustain the pace.
The central question is whether those ideas can survive against the ACC’s best teams.
Moore knows the answer will not come from preseason conversation.
It will come through effort.
When asked to complete the sentence explaining what would have to happen for NC State to win an ACC championship, Moore initially joked about the responsibility falling on the coach.
Then he provided the serious answer.
“For us to be successful, we’re going to have to play really hard, really fast,” Moore said. “We’re going to have to speed people up.”
That may be the clearest preview of NC State basketball this season.
The Wolfpack may be shorter.
It does not intend to be slower.
And if Moore gets the defensive transformation he wants, NC State hopes opponents will discover that playing against a smaller Wolfpack does not mean playing against an easier one.
What comes next: NC State’s first public test comes Thursday, Oct. 8, against High Point at Reynolds Coliseum. The exhibition should provide the first look at the Wolfpack’s pressure defense, new rotations and the roles of its newcomers before the regular season begins Nov. 2 against Wofford.