There have been a couple of huge modifications at NC State this summer season.
Essentially the most headline-grabbing, after all, is that former Vanderbilt standout Khamil Pierre will run with the Wolfpack through the 2025-26 season—an enormous departure from her former program, and a improvement head coach Wes Moore described as “an ideal match” whereas chatting with reporters on Wednesday.
Pierre’s relationship with NC State isn’t precisely new. She was recruited by the college earlier than enrolling at Vanderbilt, and Moore stated she “made it clear” throughout this 12 months’s transition she “needed to be at NC State.” After all, her path getting there’s admittedly “uncommon,” as he additionally stated. As a result of Pierre’s exit from Vanderbilt got here after the NCAA switch portal had closed, she needed to drop out of Vanderbilt and enroll at NC State with out contacting the crew forward of time.
Pierre opted to enlist the assistance of “a recruiting service in Texas” that reached out to the college after that course of was full. Moore additionally credited Vanderbilt with aiding with compliance; as he put it, as soon as the college despatched over the required data, NC State made the ultimate levels of Pierre’s switch occur.
Including Pierre to an already dynamic roster is an thrilling step ahead for NC State, who misplaced graduating seniors Aziaha James and Saniya Rivers to the Dallas Wings and Connecticut Solar, respectively, within the 2025 WNBA Draft. Having two gamers get drafted and keep within the league isn’t a nasty downside to have, Moore additionally identified. Actually, it could have contributed to the rise in curiosity in this system.
He pointed to each Pierre and Qadence Samuels as two gamers who had been probably extra drawn to NC State as a result of WNBA Draft success Rivers (No. 8 general) and James (No. 12 general) loved. Moore emphasised:
I’ll say, , in Khamil’s case, I feel having two gamers drafted within the first spherical, with Saniya and Aziaha, it didn’t damage any as a result of clearly these youngsters have aspirations of enjoying on the subsequent degree.
The addition of Pierre and Samuels helps increase a roster that many had been starting to query. Pierre ended the 2024-25 season averaging 20.4 factors, 9.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists and a couple of.0 steals. Samuels didn’t fairly boast these numbers, however she has a vibrant future forward of her, and the choice to depart UConn for NC State will give her extra room to develop.
Moore now enters the season with an 11-player roster, which he stated he’s proud of. “For some time there, once we had been at 9, I used to be on the point of name Elliot [Avent] and see if we might share the Pack 9 model,” Moore stated, a reference to the college’s baseball crew. “Fortunately, we didn’t have to try this.”
