When North Carolina State women's basketball took on the Texas Longhorns in Sunday's Regional 4 final at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., they did so on court with faulty 3-point lines.
According to ESPN, the game was played on a court with 3-point lines of different distances at the top of the key.
The NCAA confirmed the error in a statement, saying the association "was notified today that the 3-point lines on the court at Moda Center in Portland are not the same distance."
Prior to discovering the problem, the court had been used for four regional semifinals on Friday and Saturday. The error was discovered just prior to Sunday's game and both coaches were given the option to to the 3-point lines re-taped, but eventually both agreed to proceed with the court as it was marked.
NC State and Texas are playing for a trip to the Final Four on a court where the lines aren’t painted correctly pic.twitter.com/bLJYnzloB6
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) March 31, 2024
According to NC State's Wes Moore, the line in front of his team's bench -- the left side of the court on the television broadcast -- was noticeably shorter than the standard distance of 22 feet, 1.75 inches from the center of the basket to the top of the arc, while the other 3-point line was correct.
"At first Vic [Schaefer] was hesitant about it," Moore said, "and then he finally said, you know, 'I didn't want to wait an hour or something to play the game.' I was ready to get going. But Vic probably figured out, you know what? This line down here is what we're used to. That line down there isn't.
"And if you'll look, I think we shot the ball better on the other end both games, because that's the normal line. But I'm not going to blame it on that. I mean, these kids, like I said, they shoot so far behind it sometimes nowadays, who knows where the line is?"
According to ESPN Stats & Information tracking, teams during the five games so far in the Portland regionals shot 29% (23-of-79) from the 3-point line that was too short, as compared to 33% (29-of-87) from the standard 3-point line. Additionally, teams averaged 66.8 points per game from the standard line and just 62.0 PPG from the shorter one.
Schaefer despaired that once again the NCAA had neglected to give the same care to preparation for women's basketball as it had to the men's tournament.
"Well, I hate to say this, but I have a lot of colleagues that would say, 'Only in women's basketball,'" Schaefer said. "I mean, it's a shame, really, that it even happened. But it is what it is.
"I mean, I'm not the culprit here. You guys are asking me about something that I had no control over. So, Vic Schaefer ain't the problem."
The Wolfpack ended up defeating the Longhorns 76-66.
