Wes Moore said he would 'never doubt' integrity of official switched out at halftime of NC State game

RALEIGH – Wes Moore said he felt bad about the officiating change that happened at halftime of NC State women's basketball's NCAA first round game Saturday.

The Wolfpack coach has known official Tommi Paris since he recruited her when he coached at Chattanooga from 1998-2013. Paris was on the officiating crew that started NC State's game against Chattanooga on Saturday, but she was replaced at halftime. A change is typically only made if an official is injured during a game. This change happened due to a "background conflict," according to a statement from the NCAA.

Paris is from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and also got a master's degree from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga. Officials are not supposed to have any conflicts with either team in the game they are officiating.

"On the sideline sometime, I did say something about how in the world are you doing this game?" Moore said Sunday. "I hope that had nothing to do with it because, again, I was just bantering back and forth."

No. 3 seed NC State beat No. 14 seed Chattanooga 64-45. The Wolfpack led 26-17 at halftime when the change was made.

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Moore said he wasn't aware any changes were being made until he saw official Angelica Suffren, who replaced Paris, stretching on the sidelines. Suffren officiated the first game of the day between Tennessee and Green Bay.

"I would never doubt (Paris') integrity and those sort of things, but I guess, when they found out she had a degree from Chattanooga, I guess that maybe made it a little bit stickier," Moore said. "I kind of hate that it happened because, again, I would never question Tommi Paris' integrity."

The NCAA provided a statement on the switch after the game Saturday explaining the change and why Suffren replaced Paris instead of standby official Danielle Jackson. The NCAA said Suffren was picked because, despite already officiating a game that day, she "provided the most on-court experience and allowed the game to maintain and full officiating crew, plus standby."

"There was a switch of game officials at halftime of the Chattanooga-NC State first-round game because it was learned after the game had started that Umpire 2 Tommi Paris had a background conflict that, if known, would prevent her from working that assigned game," the statement said.