Pierre Put Them on Her Back, and Trivette Is Playing Like She Belongs

NC State 80, Campbell 45.

The program’s 1,100th win. A 2–0 start. And exactly 80 points for the second straight game.

Sounds comfortable, right?

It was, eventually.

But this one did not start anything like Monday did. The beginning? A little slow.

Monday? State jumped on Wofford 25–7 before some people found their seats.

Last night took a little longer.

The offense needed time to get going, but the defense gave State something to lean on. Campbell scored 16 in the first quarter, then just 13 across the second and third quarters combined.

State finished with 24 forced turnovers, 20 steals, 58 points in the paint and a 31–2 advantage in fast-break points.

That’s how you help yourself when the offense hasn’t quite settled in.

Do the starts need to get more consistent? Absolutely.

But I liked the response. State found its energy through its defensive activity, and Khamil Pierre gave everybody a pretty good example to follow.

Pierre is so smooth that some nights she can almost look nonchalant, like the game comes easily to her.

Last night, her urgency stood out.

Post touches. Putbacks. Running as the trailer. Steals. She kept giving State productive possessions while the game was still finding its rhythm.

And her feet? We need to spend a minute there.

Her soccer background shows up in her balance, pivots and ability to create space without needing much of it.

But watch what happens before she gets the ball, too.

She runs down the floor, establishes herself on the block and seals her defender behind her. By the time the entry pass arrives, she has already done a good portion of the work.

That matters for the guard delivering it. Give me a clear target and an advantage we can recognize early, and that pass becomes much easier.

Then come the moves.

Second quarter, left block: drop step, bucket. Later, right block: face-up, drive middle, bucket.

Nothing overly complicated. She reads what’s available and uses it.

Simple and effective will get you a long way.

Pierre finished with 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting, 11 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks.

Her second double-double in 2 games, completed by the third quarter.

And that third quarter? Whew.

State opened with 4 straight transition baskets, and Pierre finished the 11–0 run with an and-one.

She gave the Pack production, activity and a little urgency when it needed all 3.

First player off the bench again, and Annsley Trivette made herself useful quickly.

She scored 8 first-quarter points on perfect shooting: an and-one, a 3 and a transition layup to close the quarter. She finished with 10 points in 13 minutes.

Freshman. First week of college basketball.

Not bad, right?

Coach Moore said afterward that her next step is defensively, locking in on her assignment.

That’s how she can build on these opportunities. Give the offense something, then make sure your teammates can depend on you at the other end.

The scoring has shown up early. Now she gets to keep adding to the reasons Coach Moore can leave her out there.

Desiree Wooten played a team-high 32 minutes and did not turn the ball over once.

Not once.

Her 5 assists came in transition. She found Trivette, rewarded Pierre arriving as the trailer and connected with Samuels twice.

Making the right decision in the open floor sounds simple. It isn’t.

You have to recognize who’s ahead, where the defender is leaning and how long that passing window will stay available.

And she created more opportunities than those 5 assists show. Some passes led to shots that didn’t fall, but the look was there. She recognized the opening and put her teammate in position to score.

As a guard, that’s what you want to keep doing. You can’t control whether every shot goes in. You can control whether you make the right read.

Samuels scored 4 baskets, all in transition. That’s what continuing to run can do for you. You don’t get the ball every trip, but you have to keep making yourself available.

And Ky’She Lunan played a different game from Monday.

Monday, she was the scorer: 21 points and climbing the scouting report.

Last night, she was the connector.

She finished with 5 assists and 5 steals, with 3 of each coming in the third quarter. She pushed the ball ahead, set screens and made help-side rotations behind the aggressive ball-screen coverage.

Your contribution can change without your impact disappearing.

The defensive activity was there last night. But heading into Kentucky, I’m watching how well State can contain the ball before help becomes necessary.

Because once the first defender gets beaten, everybody else has another responsibility.

Somebody steps up to stop the drive. Somebody covers the player she leaves. Now another teammate has to rotate behind her.

Campbell found that opening on a few possessions, drawing a second defender toward the ballhandler and delivering the pass before State could recover.

Against Kentucky, those decisions will come faster, with size inside and shooters waiting outside.

So what can you do early to make the possession easier on your teammates?

Stay connected to the ballhandler. Take a better angle around the screen. Stay ‘ready to pounce’ as Coach Moore likes to say.

Help is part of the defense. You just don’t want every possession to require a rescue.

Now, State’s pressure can be a strength. Keeping the ball in front makes that pressure easier to sustain without leaving somebody scrambling behind it.

And finishing the possession still counts. Campbell’s 3 fourth-quarter putbacks are a reminder that forcing a miss only helps if you secure the rebound.

No. 14 Kentucky awaits Sunday at 3 p.m.

Clara Strack presents a different challenge inside, and Kentucky’s guards will test State’s containment and rotations.

For me, the question is how much of last night's activity State can bring from the opening tip.

The Pack has shown it can create opportunities defensively and get useful contributions around its senior leaders. Sunday gives us a better look at how that translates against another ranked team.