Zoe Brooks Scores 23 as No. 25 NC State Opens Season With 80-50 Win Over Wofford

RALEIGH, N.C. The scoreboard at Reynolds Coliseum never showed Wofford in front on Monday night, and by the second half the only real question was how big the margin would get. NC State answered that one, too.

Zoe Brooks scored 23 points, Ky'She Lunan added 21 and Khamil Pierre opened the season with a double-double as the No. 25 Wolfpack beat Wofford 80-50 on Nov. 2 in the 2026-27 season opener. NC State led for 99 percent of the game according to ESPN's tracking, never trailed, and stretched the lead to as many as 44 points in front of 4,743 fans. The Wolfpack start the year 1-0.

Here is the ESPN box score (opens in a new tab) for the full line.

Three scorers, one easy night

The Wolfpack got almost everything they needed from three players. Brooks, Lunan and Pierre combined for 59 of the 80 points, and they did it efficiently. The trio made 23 of 36 shots from the field, a 64 percent clip, while the rest of the roster went 8 for 28.

Brooks was the best player on the floor. The guard made 10 of 15 shots, hit 2 of 5 from 3-point range, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out a team-high six assists with only one turnover in 28 minutes. Brooks also added two steals. That is the kind of all-around line that explains why Brooks was a preseason All-ACC pick for a second straight season, and it set the tone for the way NC State wants to play: get stops, push the ball and let the lead guard make decisions in the open floor.

Lunan supplied the outside shooting. Lunan went 8 of 12 from the field and 5 of 8 from deep in a team-high 31 minutes, finishing with 21 points and six rebounds. On a night when the rest of the Wolfpack made just 4 of 23 attempts from beyond the arc, Lunan's five 3-pointers were the difference between a decent shooting night and a good one.

Pierre did the interior work. The forward scored 15 points on 5 of 9 shooting, made 5 of 6 free throws, pulled down 11 rebounds, four of them on the offensive glass, and added three assists and three steals in 26 minutes. Pierre, the other half of NC State's preseason All-ACC pairing, opened the year exactly the way the Wolfpack hoped, finishing inside and cleaning up misses.

Defense first, transition second

The cleanest way to describe this game is that NC State turned defense into offense and Wofford could not do the reverse. The Wolfpack scored 28 fast-break points. Wofford scored two. NC State also scored 23 points off 14 Wofford turnovers, while the Terriers managed nine points off the Wolfpack's 15 giveaways.

That gap in transition led to a gap in the paint. NC State outscored Wofford 40-20 inside, and the 28 fast-break points suggest much of that damage came in the open floor. When a team shoots 48 percent from the field while making only 29 percent of its 3s, as NC State did, it is because the easy baskets are coming in bunches.

The rebounding battle fed the break as well. NC State won the glass 49-36, including a 38-22 edge on the defensive boards. Every one of those defensive rebounds was a chance for Brooks or Lunan to push the pace before Wofford could get set.

Wofford's shooting numbers show how hard the Terriers had to work for every look. They made 18 of 67 field goals, 27 percent, and 7 of 32 from 3-point range, 22 percent. They went 7 of 14 at the free throw line. Wofford did hang in on the offensive glass with 14 offensive rebounds, but too many of those second chances ended in another miss.

Gabby Mundy carried Wofford

The one Terrier who consistently found offense was Gabby Mundy. The guard scored 22 points in 27 minutes, going 7 of 22 from the field, 4 of 11 from deep and 4 of 6 at the line, and added three rebounds and two steals. Mundy accounted for 44 percent of Wofford's points and more than half of its made 3-pointers.

The problem was the support. Outside of Mundy, Wofford made 11 of 45 shots. Mearah Whitehead gave the Terriers nine points and five rebounds off the bench, though Whitehead needed 13 shots to get there. Angelina Pelayo was efficient with five points on 2 of 2 shooting, and Elli Porter added five. Emmanuelle Broude grabbed seven rebounds, five of them offensive, in 14 minutes.

Molly Masingale had the toughest night of anyone in a Wofford uniform, going 0 for 9 from the field and 0 for 6 from 3-point range in 27 minutes. Maddie Heiss was held scoreless in 22 minutes as well. With two starting guards combining for one point, Wofford never had the secondary scoring needed to keep pace with a ranked ACC opponent on the road.

Wofford also had trouble moving the ball against NC State's pressure. The Terriers finished with six assists on 18 made baskets and committed 14 turnovers. Mundy alone had four of those giveaways, which is the price of carrying that much of the offensive load.

The rotation behind the stars

Wes Moore used 12 players in the opener, and the box score gives a first look at how the Wolfpack's minutes may shake out. Desiree Wooten started at guard and played 23 minutes, scoring eight points with two 3-pointers and four rebounds. Khady Leye started in the frontcourt and played 20 minutes, contributing five rebounds and an assist but only one point.

The bench was quiet on the scoreboard. NC State's reserves scored 12 points in all. Annsley Trivette was the most efficient of the group with five points on 2 of 2 shooting and three rebounds in nine minutes. Adelaide Jernigan added three points in 11 minutes, Kamora Pruitt scored two in 17 minutes and Qadence Samuels had two points and three rebounds in 18 minutes, though Samuels went 0 for 6 from beyond the arc.

Maddie Cox, Favour Ossai and Audrey Ericksen also got into the game. Ossai's two minutes included a pair of free throw attempts.

That bench production is something to watch. The starting group did the heavy lifting against Wofford, but a team that wants to stay in the Top 25 through ACC play will need more than 12 points from its reserves on nights when Brooks or Lunan are not shooting this well. As a team, NC State shot 9 of 15 from the free throw line, another area that will matter more in close games than it did on Monday.

One more number worth noting: NC State committed only 13 fouls, compared with 18 for Wofford, and blocked no shots. The Wolfpack's defense was about hands and positioning rather than rim protection, which fits a roster built around active guards.

What it means for the Wolfpack

NC State started the season No. 25 in the AP preseason poll, the eighth time in the last nine seasons the program has opened a year ranked. A 30-point home win over Wofford is what a ranked team is supposed to produce, and it was never in doubt. The Wolfpack checked the important boxes: the stars played like stars, the defense created easy offense and the team won the rebounding battle by 13.

The concerns are small but real. The 3-point shooting outside of Lunan was cold, the bench was mostly a defensive and rebounding presence and the free throws were inconsistent. None of that hurt against Wofford. All of it will come up again when the schedule tightens.

The next test comes quickly. NC State hosts Campbell on Wednesday, Nov. 4, then faces No. 14 Kentucky in the Ally Tipoff on Sunday, Nov. 8, the Wolfpack's first ranked opponent of the season. If Brooks keeps running the offense like this, Lunan keeps hitting from deep and Pierre keeps controlling the glass, NC State will have a chance in that one.

For one night, the season started the way the Wolfpack drew it up. Follow every NC State story on our NC State team page.

Sources: ESPN box score, NC State Athletics and the Associated Press.

Photo: NC State Athletics.