By The Tobacco Road Scribe
Charlotte, NC – Zoe Brooks has spent much of her basketball career learning how to get through traffic.
At 5-foot-10, the NC State guard routinely drives into the lane against defenders several inches taller, absorbs contact, changes direction and somehow finds enough space to finish at the rim. Entering her fourth season with the Wolfpack, Brooks is confronting another kind of traffic: the expectations that come with being a senior, an established All-ACC player, a veteran recovering from an injury and one of the players responsible for defining what NC State basketball will look like next.
This time, she says she is ready to embrace it.
“I actually want to be a leader now,” Brooks said Monday during the ACC Tipoff in Charlotte. “Before, I wasn’t really too big on the leadership role, but I actually am embracing being a leader.”
That distinction – between having leadership assigned to her and choosing it – may be one of the most important developments for an NC State team trying to restore itself among the ACC’s championship contenders.
Brooks enters the 2026-27 season as one of the conference’s most accomplished guards. She is a two-time All-ACC first-team selection, has scored 1,321 career points and ranks 10th in NC State history with 388 assists. Last season, she averaged career highs of 16.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.7 steals while starting all 31 games in which she appeared.
But her junior season also ended painfully. Brooks was unavailable when NC State’s season concluded with a 92-63 loss at Michigan in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, a defeat that left the Wolfpack 21-11 after finishing fourth in the ACC.
Her response was an offseason built around rehabilitation, introspection and, perhaps most important, a dramatic increase in confidence.
“I feel great now,” Brooks said. “All summer it was kind of rough … doing rehab literally five days a week, sometimes six. But I’m a lot stronger. I gained a lot of muscle, like, all over, and I feel great now on the court.”
For Brooks, the comeback has become about considerably more than getting healthy.
It has become preparation for what could be the defining season of her NC State career.
From reluctant leader to willing one
Brooks did not pretend Monday that becoming a team leader came naturally.
A year ago, she said, the responsibility felt imposed on her.
“Last year I didn’t really want to be the leader,” Brooks said. “I was kind of thrown into the leader role.”
Now her perspective has changed.
Part of that is age. Brooks jokingly described herself as “an oldie” on a roster that includes three freshmen and several players adjusting to new roles. The official NC State roster lists Brooks as one of five seniors, along with Maddie Cox, Khamil Pierre, Qadence Samuels and Audrey Ericksen, while Desiree Wooten is listed as a fifth-year guard.
But Brooks views leadership as something deeper than class standing.
She sees herself helping freshmen understand NC State’s system, helping transfers adjust to a new environment and helping teammates navigate college life away from the basketball court.
“Being a leader is actually fun,” Brooks said. “Just helping the younger kids, because we have three freshmen now and then we have transfers, so it’s a lot of new people. Just helping them with the system and everything, and even off the court, helping them.”
The evolution is notable because Brooks has always been comfortable letting her game speak.
“I lead by example,” she said. “But I know as I’m older, I’ve got to lead vocally.”
That means talking more in practice. It means reinforcing the pace NC State wants to play. It means holding teammates accountable rather than assuming someone else will do it.
Brooks believes her previous experiences – particularly NC State’s run to the 2024 Final Four during her freshman season – have taught her what championship-level leadership requires.
Her most vivid memory of that team is not a play, a statistic or even a particular tournament victory.
It is chemistry.
“When we went to the Final Four, we all got along,” Brooks said. “We did stuff off the court. We held each other accountable. And I think that took us a really long way.”
Asked whether subsequent teams had achieved that same level of chemistry, Brooks acknowledged a difference.
“I think our chemistry wasn’t as good as that year specifically,” she said.
That lesson now belongs to the senior version of Brooks to help apply.
A difficult summer away from the game
For players accustomed to measuring progress through shots taken, drills completed and hours spent in the gym, injury rehabilitation can create a particular kind of frustration.
Brooks experienced it firsthand.
Instead of her normal offseason routine, she found herself limited by a foot injury and spending much of the summer doing upper-body strength work, conditioning and physical therapy.
She described workouts on an assault bike, extensive rehabilitation sessions and even “toe yoga” designed to rebuild strength in her foot.
There were days when basketball itself had to take a back seat.
“I didn’t really have time off even though I was hurt,” Brooks said.
She estimates she returned to full basketball activity roughly six weeks before ACC Tipoff.
The work was relentless.
Brooks said she attended rehabilitation five or six days per week, iced her foot three or four times daily and continued doing exercises even when she was away from her physical therapist.
That commitment revealed something to her.
“I really realized, like, I really want it,” Brooks said. “I went through a lot of mental slumps, maybe you could say. I really could have just kind of gave up. Didn’t go to rehab five days a week. I could have went maybe once or twice and slowed my recovery.”
Instead, she attacked rehabilitation with the same stubbornness she often brings to the paint.
“I kind of forced the issue,” she said. “Like, I want to come back on the court.”
The timing made the challenge especially difficult because Brooks had developed a familiar offseason routine in previous years.
“Summertime sometimes, I just put my head down and work every year,” she said. “So not being able to really do that was kind of hard.”
She found another way to work.
Building confidence without taking shots
Brooks calls confidence perhaps her greatest area of improvement this offseason.
That may seem surprising for a player who has already earned consecutive first-team All-ACC selections.
Her junior season included a 37-point performance at Virginia in which she set NC State single-game records by making 19 free throws on 20 attempts. She completed the season at 16.0 points per game while shooting 43.7 percent from the floor and 86.8 percent from the free-throw line.
But Brooks said confidence has not always come as easily as the statistics might suggest.
“I feel like I struggle a lot with my confidence,” she said. “So I feel like I really improved that because I had a lot of time I couldn’t really be in the gym as much as I normally was this summer because of my injury.”
Unable to accumulate her usual volume of physical repetitions, Brooks began emphasizing what she called “mental reps.”
She watched more video.
That required an adjustment in itself.
“I actually don’t really like film,” Brooks admitted.
But she started studying her own play, looking for details she could improve once she returned.
She also began writing.
Brooks, a communication major, started journaling during her recovery and said the practice helped organize her thoughts and reinforce her confidence.
“I write a lot,” she said. “Just stuff to help me, I guess, continue to be confident.”
The change appears to have carried onto the floor.
Brooks said her mindset has shifted toward approaching everything at full effort. Teammates, she noted with a laugh, have started pointing out how well she has been shooting in practice.
“I’ve been pretty hot lately,” Brooks said.
She attributes that less to a dramatic mechanical change than to her mental state.
“My confidence just went to a different level,” she said. “I feel like it’s showing a lot, just even in practice, and my mindset has changed. Everything’s going to be 100%. Everything’s going to be my all.”
Brooks and Khamil Pierre give Wolfpack a proven combination
One of the biggest reasons for optimism at NC State is the return of Brooks alongside senior forward Khamil Pierre.
Both represented the Wolfpack with head coach Wes Moore at ACC Tipoff on Monday. NC State announced Brooks and Pierre as its player representatives after both earned unanimous first-team All-ACC honors last season.
Their partnership matters.
Brooks sees herself and Pierre as complementary players who place defenses in uncomfortable positions.
When Brooks drives, Pierre’s presence around the basket creates a decision.
“If I drive, her man either has to help on me, which means I have to dish it to her and she’ll get a layup, or they can stay with her and then I’ll get a layup,” Brooks said. “It’s like pick your poison.”
The connection extends beyond tactics.
Brooks said the two have grown considerably closer since Pierre arrived at NC State.
“I think we play really well together,” Brooks said. “I think we’re a good one-two punch, and I feel like we’re going to be a lot for other defenses.”
Their relationship has developed enough that each understands when the other needs encouragement.
“If I’m not doing well one game, I know she’ll come and get on me and help pick me up,” Brooks said. “And if she’s not doing well, she can know that I’m going to come pick her up again.”
That bond could become particularly important for a roster seeking consistency after last season’s uneven finish.
Brooks and Pierre were two of the ACC’s most productive players in 2025-26. Brooks earned her second consecutive All-ACC first-team selection, while Pierre joined her as a unanimous first-team choice. Brooks entered the postseason among the league leaders in scoring, assists and free-throw percentage.
Brooks also believes Pierre has another level available.
She said Moore has pushed Pierre to increase her already elite rebounding production rather than becoming satisfied with impressive numbers.
“That’s kind of how he coaches,” Brooks said. “He knows he can get more out of every player.”
Smaller Wolfpack intends to play faster
NC State’s identity this season could be shaped as much by what the Wolfpack lacks as by what it possesses.
Brooks acknowledged that the team does not have the size of some opponents. NC State’s official roster lists Brooks at 5-10 and Pierre at 6-2, with several other guards and wings expected to carry major responsibilities.
The Wolfpack’s proposed solution is speed.
“We have to run because we’re so much smaller than probably a lot of other teams,” Brooks said. “Our only option is to run.”
Running, however, sounds considerably easier in an October interview than it feels during the final minutes of an ACC game.
Brooks said the Wolfpack has been practicing at an aggressive pace, emphasizing pressure defense, deflections and steals while immediately transitioning into offense.
The defensive philosophy also appears to be changing.
Brooks contrasted this year’s approach with versions of NC State’s defense that could sit back more conservatively and protect the half court.
This year, she said, the command is closer to “go, go, go.”
“We practice pressing, getting after it, push defense, just trying to get deflections, steals every play down the court,” Brooks said.
The goal is not simply creating turnovers.
The Wolfpack wants defensive pressure to initiate offense.
That places additional responsibility on Brooks as the point guard and one of NC State’s primary decision-makers.
She wants to push the basketball, force teammates to sprint the floor and make opponents defend before they can organize.
“I feel like everybody’s going to have to be forced to run if you want to score,” she said.
It requires conditioning.
It also requires commitment.
“It has to be a mindset,” Brooks said.
A scorer who wants more assists
Brooks has already demonstrated she can score.
Her 1,321 career points put her 27th in NC State’s record book entering the season, and her 388 assists rank 10th. She also owns the second-most career triple-doubles in program history with one.
Yet when asked to script an ideal senior season, Brooks quickly turned toward passing.
“I really want to get my assist number up,” she said. “I get a lot of assists, but I want to average more.”
The motivation is connected to leadership.
Brooks sees passing as a way to give teammates confidence, improve the entire offense and make those around her better.
“I feel like that helps the team a lot,” she said. “Really just getting everybody involved more, making them more confident.”
Brooks has always possessed a powerful driving game.
She said her physical strength is one reason she can repeatedly attack taller defenders around the basket.
“I know I’m really good at going to the basket,” Brooks said. “I’m also very crafty. So even though I’m really small and I’m going in there against people who are 6-4, 6-5, whatever, you’ve got to figure it out.”
Her midrange jumper has become another essential weapon.
Brooks recalled being bigger and stronger than most opponents when she was younger, allowing her to overpower defenders.
A middle-school coach warned her that would eventually change.
Brooks was skeptical.
Then she arrived in college.
“Freshman year of college, I was like, ‘Dang, these girls are kind of big,'” Brooks said.
The pull-up jumper that her former coach had encouraged her to develop became essential.
Now?
“That’s my favorite shot,” Brooks said.
Improvement from 3-point range would make her even more difficult to defend, and Brooks said her shooting has looked strong in preseason practices.
If those perimeter shots become more dependable while her ability to penetrate remains intact, opposing defenders will face a complicated choice between giving Brooks space and allowing her to attack the rim.
Small details replaced freshman assumptions
Brooks can identify another major difference between the freshman who arrived in Raleigh and the senior preparing for her final guaranteed season at NC State.
She understands details now.
As a younger player, Brooks said, she occasionally viewed defensive mistakes as correctable because a teammate behind her could rescue the possession.
During her freshman season, veteran center River Baldwin sometimes provided that safety net.
“I would get beat, and I know that she would come and save me and take a charge or maybe block their shot,” Brooks said.
Her perspective has changed.
“You can’t do that,” she said. “You’ve got to hold your ground.”
It is a small example that represents a broader maturation.
Championship basketball is built on possessions that initially appear insignificant: a defender containing the ball, a guard making the extra pass, someone sprinting in transition, a teammate diving on the floor or rotating into help position on time.
Brooks specifically praised Qadence Samuels as the kind of player who can function as a team’s connective piece, describing her as someone who supplies energy and pursues loose balls.
“She’s like the glue,” Brooks said. “She’s like the piece that every team needs, I feel like.”
She also pointed to sophomore guards Ky’She Lunan and Adelaide Jernigan as players whose development could strengthen NC State’s backcourt.
The two have moved beyond the uncertainty of their freshman seasons, Brooks said, and are investing additional time in the gym while pursuing larger roles.
“They take it really seriously,” Brooks said.
For the Wolfpack, those contributions will matter.
A championship contender rarely survives on two stars alone.
Why Brooks stayed at NC State
Continuity has become increasingly unusual in college basketball.
The transfer portal, NIL opportunities and shifting rosters have made four-year players more noticeable than they once were.
Brooks had opportunities to consider alternatives.
She stayed.
Her explanation was characteristically straightforward.
“I’m a person who doesn’t like change,” Brooks said.
She laughed while illustrating the point with something much less consequential: even changing her longtime hairstyle required deliberation.
But her connection to NC State is serious.
She likes Raleigh. She trusts the staff. She has friends there. She has succeeded there.
“I’m really comfortable here and I like it here a lot,” Brooks said. “So I feel like, why leave and chase money or chase whatever when I’m successful here and I genuinely like it here?”
Comfort, of course, creates its own potential danger.
Brooks was asked whether remaining somewhere familiar could lead to complacency.
She said the NC State staff has not allowed it.
Assistant coaches challenge her in different ways during practices – making 3-pointers, creating a certain number of assists, manufacturing open shots for teammates.
The goal is ensuring comfort never becomes stagnation.
NC State also provides something Brooks values deeply: an environment that feels like family.
She sees that atmosphere extending into Reynolds Coliseum.
Brooks described the arena as one of the most difficult places in women’s basketball for visiting teams, not because it is the sport’s largest venue but because of the intensity generated inside it.
“They know how to pack it out, and it’s super loud in there,” Brooks said. “If I was on the other team, I wouldn’t want to play in Reynolds.”
Wolfpack supporters, she said, carry that devotion on the road.
“If we’re an hour away, they’re coming an hour away,” Brooks said. “If we’re two hours away, they’re coming. If we’re a flight away, they’re taking that flight.”
For Brooks, that loyalty is one more reason staying made sense.
The standard remains championships
Brooks arrived at NC State when the program was accustomed to competing deep into March.
She experienced the breakthrough herself as a freshman when the Wolfpack reached the Final Four.
She knows the expectation has not changed.
“The standard here is to win,” Brooks said. “Win everything. Win all types of games, championships.”
That history is part of why she wants her final season to include something she has not yet personally captured: an ACC Tournament championship.
“Hopefully for my last year, I can capture an ACC tournament championship,” she said.
NC State has work to do to return there.
Last season produced 21 victories but also an early ACC Tournament departure, with Notre Dame beating the Wolfpack 81-63 in the quarterfinals. NC State then defeated Tennessee 76-61 in its NCAA opener before Michigan ended the season two days later.
That final game came without Brooks.
The upcoming season offers another opportunity.
NC State opens exhibition play against High Point on Oct. 8 and UNCW on Oct. 24 before beginning the regular season Nov. 2 against Wofford.
Brooks believes the Wolfpack has the personnel to make another postseason run despite questions about size.
“I think we can go really far,” she said. “I think we have a lot of potential, even undersized. I feel like we can go really far in the tournament and win a lot of big games.”
One final college season – perhaps
Brooks is approaching the season with professional basketball in mind.
“My main focus is really just getting drafted,” she said.
Because of the eligibility structure affecting college athletes, another season could remain available to her, a possibility Brooks acknowledged brings some relief.
But she is not approaching 2026-27 as a placeholder before another attempt.
She wants this season to count.
Being selected in the WNBA draft alongside a teammate would be a dream scenario, she said.
For now, however, the more immediate test is returning completely from the injury, turning her offseason confidence into regular-season production and helping NC State reestablish itself as an ACC championship threat.
There will also be reminders along the way of how much has changed.
Brooks recently found herself dressed in graduation attire, a scene that made the passage of four years suddenly tangible.
“I remember just being a freshman riding scooters around campus,” she said. “Now I’m in my little cap and gown.”
She laughed.
“I made it.”
Her academic progress gave her another reason to celebrate: Brooks said she recently earned all A’s.
Basketball has produced a similar transition.
She arrived at NC State as a talented freshman surrounded by veterans and capable of relying on older teammates to set the standard.
Now she is one of the veterans.
The teammates around her will increasingly look toward Brooks when games tighten, practices become difficult or the season creates adversity.
That responsibility no longer feels like something assigned to her.
She wants it.
She wants the ball.
She wants to make teammates better.
She wants another championship opportunity.
And after a summer spent rehabilitating instead of following her normal basketball routine, she understands perhaps more clearly than before how much the opportunity matters.
Moore has taught Brooks that basketball should still contain joy amid all those expectations.
“The biggest thing” she has learned from her coach, Brooks said, is simple: have fun.
“He says if you look at it as a job, if you look at coming to practice every day as a job, just don’t do it,” Brooks said. “It’s not fun.”
For a player entering a season filled with serious goals, Brooks appears to have found an important balance.
There is pressure, but there is perspective.
There are expectations, but there is excitement.
And there is leadership – this time not because somebody told her she had to provide it, but because she has decided she wants to.
For NC State, the difference could prove significant.
What’s next: NC State begins its exhibition schedule against High Point on Oct. 8 at Reynolds Coliseum, followed by an Oct. 24 exhibition against UNCW. The Wolfpack opens the regular season Nov. 2 against Wofford. Fans can follow the program through NC State Athletics and the Wolfpack women’s basketball social-media accounts as Brooks begins her senior season.