NC State head coach Will Wade met with the media ahead of the Wolfpack’s First Four matchup versus Texas in the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
NOTE: Click the video above to watch the press conference.
Opening Statement...
Yeah, we're happy to be here. Look, we didn't finish the season as strongly as we would like. We put ourselves in this position. We're excited to be in the tournament. We're excited to be in Dayton. It's a great basketball city, great basketball fans, great basketball arena, everything.
We're very excited to be here, and it doesn't matter how we finish the season, everybody is 0-0. See if we can get a little momentum and play better here in the tournament.
You began talking about it right there. What was the initial reaction like once you guys saw your name pop up that you were coming to Dayton?
Well, if I'm being truthful, we were pretty surprised, but we're happy to be in it. I think we thought there was a slight chance we'd be in Dayton, but Dayton is the NCAA Tournament, so we're excited to be in it. Everybody was pretty quiet when it popped up, but we got a job to do, and we need to start playing our best basketball.
It's a great experience to be here. This can propel us forward if we use this the right way.
Quick turnaround, but does it help playing a team for a second time?
Yeah, it'll help. Look, we played them on a quick turnaround in Maui, too. It was the third day of a three-day tournament, so we played them on a quick turnaround there, as well.
Certainly helps a little bit. We have some familiarity with Texas. They have some familiarity with us. I'm sure it helps them some, as well.
Coach, what do you like about the qualities that this team has to be able to make a deep run in March?
Well, the number one thing we do is we can shoot the ball really well. We're one of the top 10 teams in the country in three-point shooting. That's our calling card for better or worse. Some nights we don't shoot it well and we get pounded, and some nights we shoot it well and we look really good. Hopefully tomorrow night is one of those nights where we shoot it well.
Is there something you'll take from that game in Maui into this game you think will help your team?
Well, hopefully we guard them better. We gave up 102 to them in Maui. Maybe the fans would like that, if everybody scores 100 or something like that. We need to be better defensively. We gave up 16 threes. We gave up a ton of stuff at the rim. We fouled them quite a bit. They do a great job drawing fouls. We need to do a better job cleaning that up.
I believe this is the second time now in a couple years -- your first year in a program you've been able to lead into the NCAA Tournament. With this different era of roster building and the way you go about things, especially with NIL, is there any kind of challenges you encountered during that time compared to your first year in other programs?
Yeah, it's a lot more challenging the higher level you go to because there's less and less players that get through the filter that can play for you and make an impact and help you initially.
I think we put this roster together the best we could, but as you'll see tomorrow, we're small. Ven was up here, he's our starting center. A lot of the A-10 teams have bigger starting centers than we have. But Ven has been an absolute warrior for us, reliable, dependable. He's been awesome for us all year.
When you're putting together a roster on the fly, you're going to have some limitations. We have some limitations but we've got some great stuff too, which is that we really shoot the ball. Ven is really efficient around the basket. There's some good things, as well.
It's certainly a challenge when you have to go get bulk players. I think it's a lot better when you've only got to get three or four. You can hone in on those main guys. But we went and got 11 or 12 out of the portal, and it certainly makes it challenging. You can't do as much research and you can't do as much intel as you would like to do on every kid.
Having a guy like Quadir or Darrion who had some great games in the tournament, how nice is it to have players that are proven to play better once they get to March Madness time?
Well, we'll find out tomorrow. We're hopeful. We have a lot of NCAA Tournament experience. Ven-Allen Lubin was here last year with North Carolina. Darrion was in the Elite 8 with Texas Tech. Paul McNeil was at NC State last year, but this is his first NCAA Tournament, Tre Holloman went to the Elite 8 with Michigan State. And Quadir was with me at McNeese where we won a game. That's our starting lineup.
We've got a freshman who comes off the bench, Matt Able, this will be his first tournament. We've got Terrance Arceneaux who comes off the bench, who was at University of Houston. I told him he's seen the full spectrum now, Final Four and First Four. So he's seen the whole deal.
Of our seven guys, five of our seven have extensive and deep NCAA Tournament experience, and hopefully that will show tomorrow. That was the idea in putting the roster together and getting some of these guys with tournament experience. Hopefully that will shine through tomorrow.
How has the transition been personally for you from one school to the other?
Well, all of them are different. This one at NC State has been pretty smooth. For better or worse, I've done this five times now, so you get a little bit used to it. I'm tired of doing it, so we don't want to do it anymore.
But you get a little bit used to it, and every time it gets a little bit easier. But it takes a minute to get into the rhythm of every school you go to and every place you go to. There's a different rhythm.
So it takes some time to get used to that. We've gotten in rhythm here at NC State.
When is NC State at its best?
At its best when we're making shots. Hopefully the rims are soft and we can make a few shots here at UD Arena.
Favorite memory in the arena?
Well, came here and got beat five times when I was at VCU. The last time I was here in the First Four was the first year of the First Four. I was an assistant at VCU when we beat Southern Cal and went all the way to the Final Four, so that would by far be the best memory here.
