By The Numbers: A Closer Look At South Carolina's Final Four Opponent In The NC State Wolfpack

Andrew Lyon | Apr 1, 2024

Mar 31, 2024; Portland, OR, USA; NC State Wolfpack guard Saniya Rivers (22), head coach Wes Moore, and guard Aziaha James (right) celebrating their Elite 8 win over Texas / Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports

For Gamecock fans who are planning to head to Cleveland, OH, for the Final Four, where South Carolina will take on the NC State Wolfpack, you might be a bit more worried right now about finding a hotel trying to find a flight that won't cost more than 1100 dollars. So, with all that potentially wearing on your mind, if you're also wondering what you need to know about NC State, have no worries because we're going to cover all of that below.

Starting with their rotation, the Wolfpack have seven players who average ten or more minutes per game: their five starters and two bench players in Zoe Brooks and Laci Steele. Compared to South Carolina, NC State doesn't have a deep bench, but if a team is conditioned to running with just a seven-player rotation, the impact might not be as significant as expected. In terms of overall height and length, this will be an area where the Wolfpack will be able to match up with the Gamecocks, as only one of their starters is listed below 6'0 (Aziaha James is 5'9), and State's starting frontcourt of River Baldwin and Mimi Collins is listed at 6'5 and 6'3 respectively.

In terms of areas where NC State excels statistically speaking, their most notable strength is field goal percentage defense, with the Wolfpack holding their opponent to an average shooting percentage of 35.9% per game, the 12th-best in D1 women's basketball, just 3.9 percentage points behind Carolina, who ranks 1st. State also doesn't frequently put themselves in disadvantageous positions on the defensive end, as evidenced by their low average of 12.7 fouls per game, tied for the 4th-best mark in D1 women's basketball.

One area where the Wolfpack does struggle, which is intriguing given the length in their starting five, is rebounds allowed, as no team in America gives up more rebounds to their opponent than NC State (1,371 | 92 more than 2nd place Troy). This weakness could be exploited by Kamilla Cardoso and the rest of this Gamecock team, who rank 1st in the country in total rebounds (1,664) this season. Outside of these statistical categories, there's minimal separation between both teams when it comes to proven production.

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