No. 25 NC State head coach Will Wade met with the media following the Wolfpack's' 85-79 win over VCU Monday evening.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Wade’s press conference.
On closing out the win…
I thought VCU played great. They’re a tremendous team and a tremendous program. We were able to make our free throws down the stretch which was huge. We got a couple of timely turnovers which helped us, but give them credit. They played hard. They went to the offensive glass hard. Before the first media [timeout], they had four offensive rebounds. [Lazar Djokovic], man, he's motored up. He's a really good player. Then [Barry] Evans from Bryant, he plays hard the entire game. It's hard to sustain how hard he plays the entire game, and he's a really, really good player. We're fortunate [Tyrell Ward] missed some corner threes, and that's where his bread's buttered, there in the corner, and he missed some open threes. We're fortunate with that. Look, it was a good game between two really good teams, and VCU is a great team. They're picked to win the Atlantic 10 for a reason. It was good for us to step up in competition and play a really good team before we head to Maui.
On scheduling a high-level mid-major team…
Well, it's a Quad II game for us at home. It’ll be a Quad I game when we return the game up there next year. It makes sense to me, two hours away. I don't know why we wouldn't do it. You want to test yourself. You want to play good teams. VCU is not some charity program. It's a real program. They win 20-plus games every year, 22, 25 games every year. They're two hours up the road. It's a good home-and-home. It’s a Quad II game at home. It’s a Quad I game up there. I mean, I don't know why we wouldn’t. I don't know why we wouldn't schedule. They're as good as many teams in our league, so I think it makes sense when you've got to build a resume to play good teams. The games are going to be tough, but it makes a lot of sense to play good teams. It's a good home-and-home for us. I mean, they'd be on the bus and be home before midnight, and hopefully we'll be on the bus and be home before midnight next year. It's a good game and good series.
On playing Ven-Allen Lubin and Musa Sagnia together…
I just thought we needed to be a little bit bigger, particularly on rebounding. I thought that those two gave us the best chance to rebound. We played with those lineups in practice. We just hadn't played with them much in a game. Sometimes, you need different things. Sometimes, you need shooting; you put Jerry [Deng] out there. When you need defense and rebounding, Musa and Ven give us a great chance. I know Paul [McNeil] didn't make any shots tonight, but he had nine rebounds — I think that's a career high — eight defensive rebounds, so he did some things to contribute to help us winning. Musa and Ven played well out there together. They did exactly what they'd done for us in practice. I thought that that was important, and that shows some of the versatility of our team and our lineups.
On the turnovers…
It's a major focus. You can't turn the ball over. Look, we were very fortunate to win. We got out shot by 12 balls which is hard to do. I mean, we won it at the free-throw line; we drew a bunch of fouls. We didn't make nine plus threes. [Phil] Martelli's teams have never won when the opponent makes nine-plus threes, out-shoots them,and out-rebounds, and we only got one of those three, so you're living very, very dangerously when you when you can’t get two or three of those things. We were fortunate. We were hot from three to start which masked some of our other issues offensively. We turned it over 17 times. We shot about another six turnovers. We had five shooting turnovers in the first half. We had another one or two in the second half. It's hard to give away possessions like that and score how you need to, so we've certainly got to get that cleaned up. I thought we got sped up, but you’ve got to give VCU credit. They've got long athletes. They don't let you reverse the ball. They're sitting in the passing lanes. They've got a very good defensive scheme that's very disruptive. Teams turn it over 22 percent of the time against them. We probably hit that number tonight, so they’ve got a good group.
On scheduling this home-and-home in his first year with the Wolfpack…
It's important to play good teams. I look at the scheduling from a numeric standpoint, and the numerics fit. They’re close, so it makes a lot of sense. It's pretty much that simple.The fact that I had familiarity, it was easy. Ed [McLaughlin] texted me and said, "Do you want to play?” Then I just ran the numbers, and I'm like, “Well, shoot, this makes a lot of sense. We need some Quad II and Quad I games. This makes a ton of sense. Let's play!” It wasn't real hard. Anytime you can get on a bus and go play somewhere, it makes sense for a lot of people if it's two good programs, and so it just made a lot of sense. The fact that I had a history at VCU and that I'd coached there, that was all part of the relationship to get the game. I will say this: we sent that contract, and Ed Mac had that sucker back. We sent it at noon. That sucker was back at three o'clock. I don't even know if they ran it through legal. I don't know they ran it through the GC's office of VCU. That thing was back. That was the quickest I've ever gotten the contract back when we sent that bad boy out. It was just a good game [between] good programs. Teams that are going to win a lot are teams that help in the metrics. We help them in the metrics tonight, and they're going to help us in the metrics moving forward. It’s a win-win.
On rebounding and limiting Terrence Hill in the second half…
Terrence hit three threes. He's a great shooter. He had three threes in the first half; we lost him a few times. The defensive rebounding, we had four [offensive rebounds]. I think they had 12 offensive rebounds for the game. They had four at the first media [timeout]. We did a better job of that, and that was a huge, huge point of emphasis coming in. Look, we're not the biggest team. We've got great guards. We've got good bigs, but we're not huge, so we have to rebound as a team. One thing that's unique about VCU that stresses your rebounding is most teams send three to the glass; VCU sends four to the glass. In theory, we can rebound five-on-three against most teams. Here, it's five-on-four, so there's an extra body you've got to check, and it's a 6’6” athletic body most of the time just with who they have. It puts a lot of stress on your defensive rebounding just because of their personnel.
On takeaways heading to the Maui Invitational…
We're just going to continue to step up in competition. This was just the first step. We've got a big game with Seton Hall to open in Maui next Monday, a week from tonight. It's a natural progression. We scheduled [North Carolina] Central, and then we scheduled UAB who's traditionally been really good — they just beat High Point — and we scheduled [UNC] Greensboro, and then we scheduled VCU. We’re trying to progress up, and I think this was a good test, and we've got a lot of stuff we've got to learn from it. We've got to value the ball more. There's a lot of lessons that we're going to learn from this that you can't learn until you play a great team, and things are moving at a fast pace. We'll break down the film and get better from this in the next couple days.
On his concerns for the technical fouls…
Zero. We’ve had a conversation, but some of that's just luck. I'm not worried about that. You've got to play with an edge. I'd rather tell them “Whoa” than “Go.” We'll back them off a little bit. I mean, [Darrion Williams] made a three tonight, whatever. I'm not worried about that.
On Williams’ efficiency…
First thing, he plays at his own pace. He plays at his pace, and he's got great vision and can move the ball around. It's great when your best player is your most unselfish guy, too. He led us in assists coming in tonight. He had 14 assists to one turnover. I think he had two assists and three turnovers tonight, something like that, but he led us in assists coming in tonight. The vast majority of the time, he makes the right play, and you know he can score it. He's just efficient. In the first half when VCU went on the run, we went about three minutes and couldn't get him a shot, and then we got him in the back-down on the 41 pistol, and he hit the fade away, and then he got the and-one. We were able to get him back going, but we can't go that long without him. He didn't touch the ball during that that span. He’s got to touch the ball because good things happen for NC State when he's touching the ball, whether it's for him or for somebody else.
On the six-minute game…
We work on the six-minute games. That's a huge part of what we do. Look, we weren't clean. We didn't value the ball like we needed to, but we made our free throws which was enough in this game. We made our free throws. We got enough stops. We made a mistake at the end when we were up five, and we didn't push back on them. We let them throw it over top the 1-3-1, and we freaking guard the elbow which— who cares about the elbow when there's a guy in the corner for three, and you're up five? Like, let him throw it to the elbow and do whatever the hell they want with it from there. There's some stuff like that we've got to get cleaned up, but you can only clean that stuff up when you're in those situations which we were in tonight. We'll learn from it and get better. Our group's been really good at getting better when we need to every game, and I think we'll continue to do that.
On playing programs with familiar faces…
It’s been good. It’s been fun. It was good to see Coach [Mike] Jones, and it’ll be good to see ol' [Mike Morell] here in a couple of weeks. Look, they're all close, too. Jones needed some money in Greensboro. They came the day of the game; it was an easy trip for them. Mikey Moe been begging me for a game, so he'll come here to try to whip our ass. It just kind of happened that way, but we're all still close. We're on a group text. Ed puts us on a group text. It’s kind of a cool deal. We're all so close to each other. You know, Richmond's up there. Greensboro is an hour. Asheville is a little bit further. It just kind of kind of works out.
On Tre Holloman’s shooting…
Tre’s been really, really good. I've been very pleased with him. He shot it well his sophomore year; he didn't shoot it well his junior year. We’re banking on the fact we could get him back to how he shot it sophomore year which, so far, that's checking out. We've got to cut down on some of the turnovers. We've got to cut down on some of the silliness on some things, but he's getting more and more professional. He's getting more and more business-like, and I think that he's going to continue to grow throughout the season, so I've been very pleased.
On Lubin growing as a rebounder and a scorer…
He had 11 points and nine rebounds tonight. I believe he had five offensive rebounds. He did a great job keeping balls alive. The unfortunate part about the last couple of games is he's picked up a foul before the first media. He did it against Greensboro. He did it again tonight, and that makes him a little bit timid. He's not used to playing for a coach that'll play a guy with two fouls in the first half. We're going to make the officials foul us out. We’re not going to foul our players out and sit him on the bench. It's made him a little bit more timid, and that really shows up on the defensive end because he's our he's our paint protector, not necessarily blocking shots at the rim — that was a hell of a block Musa had tonight — but not necessarily blocking shots the rim, but meeting people at the red zone, keeping people out of the red zone, keeping people out of the paint. If we can get him off to where he doesn't foul as much, he's going to be in there even longer, and he's going to be even more effective, and he's going to be better. I’m really proud of him, and he's really picking it up. He hit the three tonight which was great. I know some people were oohing and ahhing or gasping, but that hitch is a lot better than what it was. It’s still got a hitch in it, but it had a major hitch in it before. Our staff's done a good job with him, and I think he's going to continue to progress and continue to get better. I’m very proud of him.
