By Louis Fernandez, WRAL Sports

In No. 9 NC State’s lone exhibition before the season gets started, the Wolfpack and head coach Wes Moore had plenty of opportunity to watch new players get used to their new home. Part of the reason they got the opportunity was most of the starters were resting because of injury.

Guards Aziaha James, Madison Hayes and Zoe Brooks all sat on Tuesday. Moore said he thinks all three are in a pretty good spot, with James being the “furthest out.”

“Her’s was a knee situation, thankfully MRI, no ligament damage, whatever, so that’s good, but did have a little bit of a bone bruise, so she’s going to probably, we’ll see,” Moore said.

He added that Hayes and Brooks are dealing with ankle injuries, but he anticipates getting them back soon.

Grad transfer forward Caitlin Weimar, who is joining the Wolfpack from Boston University, has a hip condition that required surgery.

“She was somebody we were hoping could really help us inside. She’s probably out for a while,” Moore said.

As for those that played, freshman five-star guard Zamareya Jones led the way with 19 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists.

“I’ve been telling her since Day 1, since she got here that she’s special, even before when she was coming on visits, I told her that I would love to play with her,” senior Saniya Rivers said after the exhibition about her new first year teammate. Rivers dropped 14 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists against Anderson.

“It felt good, just being out there, getting used to it, I’ve got some work to do, but first game, so we just keep going,” Jones said.

The other starters in the exhibition included returners Maddie Cox, Lizzy Williamson and Laci Steele.

Even with the result, Moore said the team has a lot to sort out. In particular with turnovers (the team had 16 tonight) and defense.

“We have East Tennessee State, 20-something wins a year ago at the Division I level and then boom, South Carolina, so we better figure it out in a hurry. It’s going to be a big challenge, the thing is in those games, you’re definitely going to get all your weaknesses exposed,” Moore said.

NC State’s season begins on Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. when the Wolfpack host ETSU. NC State will raise its Final Four banner that night as well.

Source: wralsportsfan.com