The Wolfpack’s first-year head coach is ready to bring the ‘Red Reckoning’ to the Lenovo Center.
RALEIGH — The wait is finally over. Monday night officially ushers in the Will Wade era for NC State basketball, as fans are set to pack the Lenovo Center for their first glimpse of the Wolfpack under their new head coach.
NC State will open its season against NC Central of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, with tipoff scheduled for 7 p.m. EST.
Speaking with reporters on Friday, Wade discussed the team’s growth, the takeaways from the preseason, and how prepared his squad is to handle the bright lights and big-stage atmosphere awaiting them in the Lenovo Center on opening night.
Watch Wade’s Press Conference
What Wade Had to Say
On the Wolfpack’s preseason struggles
“We haven’t been great when it comes to our assist-to-turnover ratio, and that’s been disappointing,” Wade said. “Across our two exhibition games, we’ve posted 26 assists and 26 turnovers — that’s a one-to-one ratio, which isn’t good enough. The bigger issue has come from our bench. They’ve combined for just two assists against 11 turnovers, and that’s definitely a concern.”
“I’ve also been frustrated with our free throw shooting,” he continued. “We’ve typically tracked around 75% as a team, but in our two scrimmages, we’re only hitting 66%. That’s roughly two points per game we’re leaving on the floor — and those are points we’re going to need.”
On reviving NC State’s basketball traditions
“I’m not exactly sure what’s been made public yet, so I’ll be careful with what I say,” Wade noted. “But I do believe it’s important to reconnect with our fans. This program has a rich basketball tradition and an incredible history, and I don’t see any reason to move away from that.”
“A lot of those traditions worked for a long time,” he continued. “For whatever reason, we drifted away from them — and maybe that’s part of why the program hasn’t been as consistently successful. You win for a reason, and you lose for a reason. If there were things we did that helped us win before, I don’t see why we’d stop doing them.”
On learning and embracing NC State’s history
“Reed Vial on my staff has done an outstanding job leading that effort,” Wade said. “I told him from the start — we need to really learn this place, understand its identity, and know what NC State basketball is all about.”
“We’ve brought in former players from different eras to talk to the team, and we’ve even got another one speaking before practice today,” he added. “It’s important that our guys develop a real appreciation for the program’s history and the people who built it.”
On the team’s reaction to preseason scrimmages
“After our first scrimmage, the players felt like things went really well,” Wade said. “From my perspective, I wasn’t nearly as happy with it. I came in fired up and made it clear that our performance didn’t meet the standards we expect. I was pretty vocal — let’s just say very colorful — but it didn’t seem to register much because the guys were focused on results instead of the process.”
“After that, our practices dipped a bit,” he continued. “We hit a lull and stopped progressing. We’d been climbing the mountain for a while, but then we kind of stalled out — plateaued a bit. I thought that really showed in the South Carolina exhibition.”
On the team’s mindset after the South Carolina exhibition
“South Carolina’s a really good team,” Wade said. “I thought by Sunday, our guys were much more receptive to the message I’ve been trying to get across than they were after the first scrimmage. We still have growing to do — some players need to mature and realize that just because we won doesn’t mean everything’s fine. A few guys get so caught up in the win that they overlook the problems we still have to fix.”
“We’re not here just to win games — we want to dominate,” he continued. “And to dominate, you’ve got to do it through discipline. That means having an obsessive attention to detail in everything you do. Anyone who’s truly great at what they do shares that same obsession with the details.”
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