With the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament and a regular season co-championship in its grasp, NC State showed no interest in fooling around with SMU, jumping out to a 15-2 start in the first five minutes to assert control.
The depleted Mustangs, who are among the country’s worst shooting teams, simply did not have the offense necessary to make this game interesting after falling behind by double figures early. They were able to string runs together here and there, but NC State kept them safely at arm’s length even so.
Aziaha James canned a couple threes early on as the Pack dictated terms against SMU’s lax defense, which gave up plenty of good scoring opportunities. State mostly took advantage, and led 24-9 after one quarter. The second quarter was a bit of a mess—James was on the bench with two fouls—as Wes Moore worked well into his bench to mixed results. SMU was able to cut the margin to single digits, but the Pack had answers and took an 11-point lead into the break.
NC State pushed ahead by over 20 points in the third quarter, and ended up outscoring SMU by 13 after the break. The Pack led by no fewer than 15 points in the fourth quarter as it coasted home.
James and Zoe Brooks each scored 19 points, while Madison Hayes tallied 18 points and 11 rebounds. Saniya Rivers did a little of everything, finishing with six points, 13 rebounds, 11 assists, and three steals.
Notre Dame beat Louisville later in the afternoon, making the Pack and Irish regular season co-champs at 16-2, and NC State is the top seed in the conference tournament by virtue of its head-to-head win over the Irish. It’s been a damn good season, and now we’re on to money time.