NC State head coach Will Wade met with the media after the Wolfpack's 85-45 win over Liberty.
So, Will, is that kind of what you're looking for, from your team on both ends of the floor?
No, it's closer, but it's not where we need to be, but it was closer. Everybody's so shocked because we hadn't looked anywhere close to that all year. But, no, it was closer to what we're supposed to be, but we're still not there.
So, we've got to get a lot better here over the break. Typically, we've been able to get better when we don't have academics, we haven't been to the gym, we don't have time limits and that sort of thing.
So, we can get in there and get better. So, we have to get massively better, but this was a little bit – this was a step in the right direction.
What has the push been like from you and Brandon Chambers to get this defense back in check and back in order now at this point?
Well, we've got problems on offense, too. Our distribution has been horrific on offense. So, our distribution was quite a bit better tonight.
So, the offense helps the defense. We've put our defense in some bad spots with some of the terrible shots we take. We have the wrong lineups out there sometimes.
So, we've put our defense in some horrific spots. It's not all on the defense. You can't guard and transition 25 times a game. It's the highest points per possession. So, part of it is controlling the offense, too. It's not just the defense.
The half-court defense hasn't been terrible. The transition defense has been horrific. And we shoot about eight turnovers a game on top of how many other times we turn it over.
And so, getting that under control. But just in this game, we had a shooting turnover in the first half. They hit a three. We had a shooting turnover in the second half.
They came down and hit a three. Those were two six-point swings just in this game.Now, those – we limited our shooting turnovers this game because this was a game of limiting possessions.
But, I've been – we've been very dialed in on the defense. But, the biggest part – the other biggest part of the defense is our press. We have to press to throw the rhythm off. And we sped them up tonight. We had them all sped up tonight.
Cleveland was sped up. Those guys were sped up. But you have to press to do that. For whatever reason, we haven't wanted to press. In the last two games, we've been a little bit better at the press. It all goes together.
The offense, the defense. You have to play complementary basketball. You get into a game like this with these guys like playing an option football team. They'll control – they'll have the ball for 32 minutes. You'll play defense for 32 minutes if you don't run good offense. They will have you spinning like a top.
They were one of the last three point shooting teams in the country coming in. What do you think of them off rhythm? Just things outside of just pressing and finding success.
Well, I think we sped them up. They're very based on rhythm and pace. And we had them sped up.
And we gave up a couple of the flare slips. They slipped us to the rim a couple times, but we didn't give up a ton of the pin-in threes. When Metheny hit that step back in front of our bench to make it 6-6, I was like, oh, here we go.
But we dug in and we threw off the rhythm and we didn't have enough time. They didn't have enough time to keep hunting the match-ups and hunting the open shots. So I thought we got 40 deflections tonight, which is a season high.
So I thought that helped. Our activity helped defensively.
You talked a lot about needing that effort, and I know that's something you talked about. I guess where does this rank among the games that you had this season? Is it the best?
I don't know. I'd have to go watch the film. It's probably the best.
But that's not a very high bar to clear to be the best effort game for us. It's not a very high bar to clear. But it was probably up there.
I thought we played hard against Asheville. The thing against Asheville is we came in at 7:15 in the morning, I taped them, and we practiced the morning of the Asheville game. We were doing live practice, good on good.
They were worn out when we were playing Asheville, and I practiced for an hour and 45 minutes the morning of the game, or an hour and a half the morning of the game. That was our shoot-around. We played, actually, with pretty good effort.
We were just a step slow because we practiced for about three hours the day before and about an hour and 30 minutes the morning of for our shoot-around. I think that we played with decent effort there. It's getting better, but it's nowhere near where it needs to be.
Everything looks so shocking tonight because it's like, oh, my God. But that's what it should look like every night, and then we should be able to build from there.
And once you can get the effort down, then we can start correcting some of the details. But we have to coach effort all the time.
I'd say it's a step in the right direction. It's a high bar to clear. Does that bar change? With a ranked Kansas team coming in on Saturday?
If we play like that against Kansas, we'll score 45 on them. They have the eighth-best defense in the country. We got blocked by Seton Hall.
Seton Hall was top ten in the country in blocks. Kansas is third in the country in blocks. I mean, it's going to be a totally different deal on Saturday.
I mean, it's going to be a totally different deal on Saturday. We'll be a big underdog, and, we've got to play this times about three.
The last four games, Quadir has been hitting his stride and the offense is there, but he's got, I think, 6 assists in the last three or four games. What has that been like?
It's good. We talked about Q's been good. Q's been good. Now, you always have to make sure he stays good.
He can get off the rails here quick. So you've got to make sure he stays in his lane. But I thought today we did a good job of him and Darrion running parallel lanes.
A lot of times when Q's in the fast lane, Darrion's in the slow lane. We've got to have both of them in the same lane, and we've got to divert the other guys to the side streets. Those are the only two that can be on the interstate at the same time.
The problem we've had is with that Q, we've had about four other guys on the interstate, we’ve had a traffic jam. And so that's been our problem with our distribution of things. If you look tonight, those two, I think, had, 10 or 11 assists, 12 assists between the two of them and two turnovers.
That's what we have to have. It's not just him. We've got to distribute the thing right to everybody else. That's why Breed's such a valuable player for us. He's low usage and gets the job done.
Arceneaux coming on tonight. Arceneaux was great tonight. He's been struggling, but he's a good player. There's nobody on our team that's different, that has a bigger difference between how he's playing and how he's capable of playing.
He's also a low usage guy that can play with those other guys. That's why Musa is valuable. Those guys are valuable.
When you've got a bunch of high usage guys out there, we've got to make sure those two are the ones making most of the decisions. A lot of times when Q's making all the decisions, we're in trouble. I mean, that's great, all those four games.
How many of them have we won? We're 2-2. Right? All right? So the whole goal is to win, right? Not for Q to play great.
I mean, we want Q to play great for us to win, but the whole point is to win. Well, when Q's the only one there and we're leaving the second one behind, we're in trouble.
Wanted to ask you about Matt Able too. Nice little shiner for him tonight.
Yeah, he got popped in practice. It was good. He actually practiced hard and he got nailed. Ven-Allen Lubin nailed him. Florida on Florida crime.
What does it say about the toughness for him? Actually, from Baltimore, right?
Well, I told him he can now claim he's from Baltimore. He lives in Sarasota, so I told him. He lives in a retirement community. I told him now he could claim Baltimore a little bit.
But, I mean, look, I was proud of him tonight. The best play of the game was him shot faking the first drive and driving it for an and one, I've been begging him to do that.
To settle into the game instead of just bombs away from the five-point line. I've been begging him to do that. I mean, the last game, his first three, he was almost standing out of bounds in front of UNC Asheville.
It was a pass, and he had 23, UNC Asheville's big guy closing out on him. He should have just ripped it and dunked it. And he's fading away and throwing it off the rim.
And so, it was good to see him apply that and being able to get into the game and do what he's supposed to do and then settle into the game, and then the shots come. So I was very proud of his progress.
He's going to keep getting better. He's a freshman. He's got to learn, but he's going to keep getting better.
We had a spirited one-on-one film session yesterday.
That dunk he had. You called the same play twice?
Yes. If it works, we tend to go back to it.
Coach, you faced this Liberty team last year. Obviously, you know, they have a little bit of a different personnel and a different style for you as well, but what was different about this team? I know they don't have Taelon Peter. They have a guy like Brett Decker Jr. in that spot, but what did you notice about their team this year?
Peters with the Pacers, right? I mean, that makes a big difference. But, look, they're a good team.
I think our athleticism, I think our speed, we were able to pick at the match-ups. We got Decker in the post. We got Porter in the post a little bit. So, I think that we sped them up. I mean, Cleveland's a great player. He got his five assists, but he turned it over.
They're a great team, and they're way better than they played tonight. But sometimes it just snowballs when you miss those threes. They missed a couple open threes at the beginning.
I think 11 missed a couple in the corner. If they hit those, it could be a different game. They're going to win Conference-USA. They're going to win 25-plus games again. But, look, they're a great program. There's a reason I'm the only high major team that will play them.
I think us and Dayton are the only two, right? Dayton's the other team. I mean, there's a reason we're the only two that will play them.
This is my fifth or sixth time playing them with Coach McKay. I've played twice at VCU, once at LSU, once at Miss, my fifth time playing them. So, I mean, not everybody's as dumb as me to play them.
But, I mean, look, they're a great team, great program. I think the biggest difference is, the kid number seven killed us last year. The big kid, I think, look, they've got a really good team, but I think there's a difference in some of the front line with Cleveland.
I think seven and eight from last year, those guys were a little bit bigger bodies than nine is this year. Nine can hit threes. He was 10 of 19 coming into the game, but it didn't look real fluid to us.
So, we kind of were going to live off of him. If he hits some threes, it may be a little bit different. But, I think, some of the physicality on the front line is the biggest difference.
Now, I'm sure Coach McKay will put that post-trap in here pretty quick for conference play, and they'll be swarming people.
