NC State head coach Will Wade met with the media to discuss the 82-58 win over No. 16 North Carolina.
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What did you like about the response today after the last two games and kind of getting back on that, playing with that edge you wanted?
I thought we played with more of an edge today. I thought our guys were locked in and ready to go. I felt that the last couple of days. We had a couple of good days of prep, so, guys got off the mat. We talk about you always got to do your tough, your best work in tough circumstances. And our guys, our guys certainly, certainly did that. I thought we played with way more kind of bite into us today.
And then just to follow up, how much of a step forward is that for this group? They've been pretty inconsistent throughout the year. How much does that show kind of the growth they've made?
We'll see. It's one game Noah. Let's see if we can, see if we can maybe carry that forward a little bit. So, it's a good, good step tonight.
Just, a lot was made in the offseason and right before this game about Ven-Allen Lubin and him coming to NC State. What's your thoughts on his game, the way he performed in this one? And what would be an emotional game for him?
Yeah, I mean, he was reliable, dependable, does what he does. And so, very, very proud of him. He's not the most, vocal guy in the world, but it meant a lot. I told him today, I said, man, we got your back. We'll get it for you. We got your back. It meant a lot to him.
He's not one that's going to outwardly show it too much, but I know he had a little extra in it. So, I was proud of being able to channel his emotions and play well.
And Darrion Williams going down with the injury in the first half, a lot of blood on the court. Goes back, gets stitches. I mean, what does that say about the type of player that he is? Not only come back, but come back out there in the second half and compete as well.
Yeah, I thought Darrion, it's too bad he got hurt. He was getting ready to go for a big game, I think. I know he was getting ready to unload. But, he got banged up and came back. Shows how much this game's meant to him and meant to our guys. And so, very, very proud of him.
Matt [Able], with 19 points today off the bench, just your thoughts on how he's developed?
Yeah, he keeps setting career highs. And so, Matt's playing great. Matt's playing great. And he's really coming on and, very, very proud of him. I think he was 5 of 7 from 3. And so, when he shoots it like that, he's very, very difficult to guard. And, he's really going to help our team here as we try to get across the finish line these next couple weeks.
You talked about how much it means to the guys. But for you in your first year, what does it mean to get a rivalry win like this?
I mean, look, I represent NC State. I represent our fan base. I represent our school. And if it's important to our fans, it's important to us. It's important to me. I mean, you could feel when you walked out in that arena tonight. It was just different, right? You could just feel it was different.
And so, it's my job to try to represent the program and our school and our administration as best we can. And I know how much it means to everybody. And so I'm glad we could put a smile on everybody's face and make work a little bit easier, tomorrow morning.
Coach, Carolina came in 23-6 all the time in the Lenovo Center against NC State. But tonight, largest margin of victory since 1962 against them. Given the injuries that Carolina had, is that something you were looking for?
No, I mean, look, they're a great team. They're obviously down, two potential, I mean, one block first-round pick and another, I mean, top three or four pick. And then, another potential first-round pick. I mean, they were down some bodies, but they're down those bodies against Pittsburgh and played really, really well. It gives other guys opportunities.
Zayden High has really come on. He's been playing well. But, I mean, we just needed to win. Coming off of what we went through on Saturday, we just need to find a way to win. And I do think it helped that it was North Carolina. I'm glad it was North Carolina and not, I won't say another team, but, not somebody that our guys wouldn't be as maybe as excited to play. So I do think that helped us.
Will, you guys, Copeland was able to back down their defender at will almost. Was that something you saw going into the game?
I thought he did a great job. I thought Darrion did a great job with that. We were much more physical on our porch actions. I thought we were way more physical, which was certainly helpful.
Leading up to this game, was there anything that you saw from their offense that would help you be able to jump their passing lanes? Because, tonight you guys had several steals, I believe seven tonight.
No, I mean, look, we wanted to be aggressive. We knew we had to be overly aggressive on the perimeter because there were mismatches in the post. And they were trying to pick at some of those mismatches in the post. And so we knew we had to be overly aggressive on the perimeter. And I think that aggression led to a lot of those steals.
How much does Quadir's demonstrative play sort of ignite you guys, ignite what you do, not just the ability to score, but the posing, the flexing seemed to really have an impact on the team?
Well, he gives everybody a spirit. He gives everybody a lot of confidence. He's one of those guys that you love him if he plays for you. You don't really like him very much if he doesn't play for you. Sometimes I don't like him, and he does play for me.
But for the most part, I always tell him, my love's unconditional. That doesn't mean I like you all the time, but my love is unconditional. But, he gives us some life. He gives us some pop. It's just about channeling that in the right way. But for him tonight, I think seven assists, no turnovers, four steals was really solid for us.
Jordan Snell, one of the lone holdovers from last year's team, you talked early on in the season about how much he helped to kind of bridge that gap for you guys.
He also talked about how much he kind of let the guys know about this rivalry throughout this week, how important was he in this one, and how much did it mean to be able to put him out there in this game?
It was great to put him out there. Snell's awesome, and it was great to be able to play him. Our guys really wanted him to play, and so I probably put him in with a little more time left than I typically would.
But, I know it means a lot to him. He has a great pride about NC State. He has a great pride about being here. He loves his place. He loves being here. And, everybody knew what was at stake.
We were meeting yesterday, and I had to kind of walk Snell back a little bit. He was kind of going a little bit. You could tell how important that was to him. I was sitting there thinking, the season's not over if we lose tomorrow. Snell was like, we're just going to pack our bags and go home if we can't win.
But, that's the pride that you want, and that's the excitement that you want. And, look, in today's transfer world age, it's important that you got guys that have pride to keep the rivalry like it is.
I know you said it's just one game, but is this sort of the team that you were expecting? Matt Able from three, McNeil out there, they have to stay with him, and Darrion really playing a lot more physical in that post. Is this kind of what you expected coming in?
I thought we played better. I thought we played better. We need to close strong here. We positioned ourselves in a decent spot. We've got to close strong. And so, I talked to our guys this week about sprinting through the finish line. We don't want to just kind of putter across the finish line. We want to sprint through the finish line. And I thought tonight was a good step.
And I think Darrion's, we had a long talk yesterday for about 45 minutes, and we texted last night for a while. I think he's in a really aggressive mindset to try to finish the year off right. And I feel very good about where he is with things.
Yeah, it sold out crowd as well. How impactful was that in this game?
The crowd was awesome Saturday. I felt terrible we couldn't close that out Saturday. Our crowd was awesome. Fans were loud. Everybody was into it. So it was tremendous. I think the next home game sold out too. So just I think if we sell out the last one, that's maybe the most sellouts we've had. Is that right? Yes, yes. Who says yes? Who says buy tickets?
But, look, our fan support has been phenomenal. They told me the students were lining up early today, and so the student section was awesome, and everybody was great. And, look, I'm glad we could deliver for our folks. That's important.
Just, I mean, given, again, the intensity of the rivalry and also the fact that you're not able to play UNC at its healthiest, any sense of, like, I don't know, frustration over this only being the one matchup between the teams? I mean, you could face off against the ACC tournament.
Yeah, I mean, look, I think it's a great rivalry. I think it means a lot to both fan bases. I think it's, it's a little odd we don't play twice, but understand, like, that's just part of how conference expansion is and scheduling is. I mean, scheduling's tough when you go from 20 to 18 games, which by all accounts is the right call by the league. If you look at how many teams we're poised to get in, we should get, hopefully 9 or 10 teams in. At minimum, I think we'll probably get 8 in. We should get 9 or 10.
Virginia Tech should get in. I think Cal's got a chance to get in. I think it was, look, I think it was the right call to go from 20 to 18. I don't think there's any doubt that it was the right call to go from 20 to 18.
But when you do that, sometimes you've got to do what's best for the collective good, even if it's not maybe what's best for your program. And that's part of being in a conference. That's part of being a part of a conference. And so this is just one of the casualties, of that. But I don't think that means that we're going to play once every year. I think we could get back to playing twice, but, with the conference schedule like it is.
Ultimately, the goal is to get as many teams in the NCAA tournament as possible from our league. And, the scheduling change is going to help accomplish that, along with some other initiatives that they've done. It's going to help accomplish that.
So, this is part of it. Yeah, it's a tough pill to swallow for the fans. I think both administrations probably want to play at home. It's a game both teams sell out.Like, I think that's important. But, like I said, it's all for the greater good, I believe.
Yeah, Coach. With everything going on in the college basketball landscape, how do you keep the main thing the main thing?
In terms of?
Just outside noise, competing.
Yeah, man, I think the bigger the game, the narrower your focus. You've got to narrow your focus in. And, you can't control what's going on on the outside. Not all we can control is, what we're doing and what we've got going on. And so, certainly there's all sorts of distractions.
But, our guys are good at being able to block that out and do what we need to do and accomplish what we need to accomplish. So, I don't think it's a – look, everybody goes through it. Everybody's going through it. But I don't think it's anything that gets in the way of winning. Our guys wanted to win this game. Whatever else was going on was going on. But our guys wanted to win this game, we were desperate to win this game and we needed to do whatever we could do.
