NC State head coach Will Wade met with the media to preview the matchup at SMU, the tough schedule ahead, and much more!
NOTE: Click the video player above to watch the full zoom call!
Coach, as you prepare for SMU tomorrow night, what stands out on them on film in this matchup?
I mean, their guard plays tremendous with Miller, Edwards, and Pierre, their ability to make really, really tough shots and, just dictate the game with their guards. I think Washington's an unsung guy, averaging double-digit points, but we've got really, really good personnel. They give them space, and they let them boogie, and we've got very good players.
And, Coach, to follow up that quickly, as you prepare on this back-end of the schedule to end conference play, what do you want to see just from your team overall to, remain consistent, tallying wins, defensive prowess? What do you want to see from the team overall?
I think we've just got to continue to improve, continue to get better. We've kind of handled business, but the back-end of our schedules, I think we're 6-1 right now against the bottom six teams, which, look, you've got to handle your business. We're 1-1 against the top 10 teams. I think all the rest of our games are pretty much against the top 10 teams in the league.
So we've got to be better defensively, and, look, we're going to face a form of resistance that we haven't faced in a couple games against SMU, and that's how it's going to be for the next month. So we've got a lot of work ahead of us.
Good morning. You've won, I believe, four in a row now. What are you liking from your team during this stretch to kind of explain the success you've had of late?
Well, we're sharing the ball. We're moving the ball offensively, and, you know, we've hit shots. So anytime you're playing well offensively, it gets the guys in a good mood and in a good place, and I think that, we're playing with some confidence, but we've also got to make sure that we have the proper humility at the same time.
Williams obviously did very well for you at Texas Tech. It did very well at Texas Tech. It is doing very well for you this year. What do you see from being around him day-to-day to explain his successful transition to the ACC?
Yeah, I mean, look, he's a great player. He's got great feel, when the ball's in his hands. Something, something good is going to happen for NC State, and so it's our job to make sure we put the ball in his hands more, but he's just one of those guys that's got tremendous feel. He's a very good shooter, very good playmaker, and so he can help your team win in a lot of different ways.
Yeah, well, I know, you talked about wanting more consistency, still having room to grow, but does it feel like this team is on an upward trajectory?
I mean, yeah, we're on a better trajectory than we were, you know, three weeks ago, but, I mean, I don't think we've peaked. I don't think we're playing our best. I mean, I think that there's a lot more in there, and so it's our job to get that out of our guys, but I do feel like, we're playing more consistent and we're playing better basketball than we were, a couple weeks ago.
Will, you mentioned in the last game that you really like the shots that you guys are getting from three. What kind of goes into, getting those kind of shots, the high-quality ones that you're looking for, and how long do you think it took to really, get that out of this team?
Well, I think just some of the spacing. We had some spacing issues early on, and so our spacing's been better. Our guys have a better sense of where everybody is, where our movements are on the drives. Look, it's unique. Most guys haven't played out of this. We kind of back Q and Darrion down.
We call it the porch, but, we back them down, and so there's some, there's some unique spacing when that happens, and early on, we were cutting on top of each other and we weren't really moving how we needed to move.
We still don't have it right. We turned the ball over to Tre when Tre should have exchanged to the corner and had Terrance cutting. We turned the ball over to Tre cutting in the Wake game. We still don't have everything right, but there's a lot that goes into that, and it's not something that's natural.
A lot of players, unless you played with Q last year, which we did it last year, you wouldn't be used to the spacing and playing that way, so I think just guys getting a better sense of the spacing and how, and where everybody's going to be has been helpful.
And then just to follow up on that real quick, Darrion has hit five threes in back-to-back games. What is that like for you to kind of see him, get consistent on that part of his game?
Yeah, I mean, it's great. I'm happy that he's making them. He's a very good shooter, and he's getting good looks. I mean, it's the quality of the looks. I mean, he took one that was off the bounce. It was a pretty tough shot, but it's the quality of his looks, and, I like the quality of his looks, and we just got to keep him firing.
Well, we've really seen Terrance Arceneaux take a pretty big step in his game in recent weeks, especially during ACC play. I know you kind of challenged him back in December and wanted to see him grow and develop. What have you seen from him that's helped him, first of all, earn more minutes, but also how critical has he been for this team in the last month?
He's been awesome. Look, he was going through a lot of stuff, and he had some injury stuff. He just had a lot of things going on early on, and so I'm very proud of him. He stuck with it. It's not easy to come back from two DNPs and start back playing and then to come in and make an impact, and so, look, he's our most athletic guy.
There's two or three plays defensively every game that he's the only guy on either team that can make them, and so having him out there, when you're in conference play, over 70% of your conference games are going to come down to three possessions or less.
Well, when you've got a guy that can help manipulate two or three of those possessions in your favor and, he's very, very valuable, so you add his defensive value to him being very, very efficient right now, offensively making open threes and then, catch, shoot, rip, drives.
He's doing everything that we ask him to do, and, that's led to him playing well. It's led to our team playing well, too, but there's more in there. We're not settling with Terrance. I think there's more in there, and we're going to keep working and trying to bring that out.
As a quick follow-up to that, I mean, how critical will his defense be along with, your bigger guards that you have going against this SMU team that does rely heavily on its top three guards?
Yeah, I mean, we're going to have to guard a lot better than we did Saturday. We gave up 19 middle drives on Saturday to Wake Forest. They missed some stuff at the rim.
They missed some open threes off the middle drives. I mean, if we give up 19 middle drives to SMU, they'll score 120 points on us, so we're going to have to be much more solid defensively, and Terrance will be a big part of that equation.
Will, you've got two pretty difficult road games coming up in your next three, but you're 5-0 on the road this season. I was wondering, is there anything in particular that has made you so good on the road this year?
No, I mean, I couldn't point to one thing. I mean, we're pretty routine-oriented, but we're routine-oriented at home as well, so sometimes, getting on the road, I've had teams that are really good on the road. We had a team that went undefeated in a power league on the road one year.
I've had teams that have just been mediocre on the road, but I think the biggest thing is you've just got to be together. You've got to have a next-play mentality on the road where you can stop, reset, next play, and so, that's going to be critical tomorrow.
They're going to hit some wild shots. I mean, Pierre is going to hit an 18-foot turnaround fadeaway, and then, the challenge is at home, it's a lot easier to not, you've got to come down and then run solid offense and not try to match them shot for shot.
Now on the road with the crowd going crazy, sometimes it can get away from you, and you can come down and shoot the same shot, and your guy doesn't make them as high with as much frequency as Pierre does, so, I think just having that next-play mentality and when things get tougher, you've got to get tighter together, and I think that that's been helpful for us on the road, but, we've got some big challenges left on the road.
Yeah, facing Boopie Miller for SMU this week. How would you describe his game? What are some things you think you need to kind of focus on to try and slow him down?
I mean, he does a great job operating out of the pick and roll. Look, he's a small – anytime you're a small guard, you've got to be able to shoot it, and he can really, really shoot it. He shoots over 50 percent from mid-range, shooting 53 percent from mid-range, shooting at 37, 38 percent from three.
He draws a lot of fouls, does a good job, gets to the free-throw line about eight times a game in league, and he's over – he's an 80 percent free-throw shooter in league, 90 percent free-throw shooter overall for the year, 88 percent, I believe, for the year.
He's just – he's a really, really talented player. He's a good player at Wake Forest. his high school coach is one of my best friends, and so knowing about him, I followed his career, and he's a really, really good player.
Lubin has been rock solid, consistent the last six games. How do you kind of see that center matchup against a very, very large human being?
Look, Lubin has been our most reliable and dependable guy all year. We wouldn't – I mean, he's been incredible for us. I appreciate you asking about him because he kind of gets lost in the shuffle, and I don't think he's appreciated nearly enough in terms of everything he does for our team. He's been phenomenal, and, obviously a big 24 will be a big, big challenge, and so, 24 is physical and huge and ducks in, and he does a lot of things that help him win.
So it'll be a big challenge for Ven, but Ven's answered every challenge. He doesn't miss – he hasn't missed hardly anything for us. He's been just absolutely phenomenal for us, and, very, very proud and pleased of everything he's done for our team.
Hey, Will, just curious, talking to some of the coaches on this call, what for you in particular stands out about this freshman class just across the country as opposed to maybe some of the freshman classes we've seen in recent years?
Yeah, I think that, the depth – the depth of it is pretty impressive. Obviously the top-end talent is elite, but there's some guys that, we're kind of in the middle that have really that have really risen up. Look at the kid from Illinois and how well he's been playing, how well he played last night, and we've got some of the best freshmen in the country in our league with Wilson in North Carolina, obviously Boozer at Duke, Mikel Brown at Louisville.
I think Freeman's really talented at Syracuse, so, I mean, we've got – we've got – I'm sure I'm leaving some out. I mean, our kid Matt Able is really coming on, and he's going to have some big games down the stretch here for us. I believe that, especially from a scoring standpoint. He's been doing all the other little things. So, you look nationally with – and we played against Darryn Peterson, Dybantsa.
I mean, look, there's incredible depth in this class.Usually you'll have, maybe one or two top-end guys. I think what stands out is that there's great depth, but also, of the top ten, we've got three or four of them in our league here, which is great for the ACC, and it's why we're going to get a lot more NCAA tournament bids than we've been getting. And, look, it's about players, and these guys are good, and they've made their imprint on college basketball this season.
