NC State Lands in Must-Win Situation Against Stanford
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RALEIGH — Earlier in the 2025-26 season, NC State made a living surviving with its back against the wall. Since the six-game win streak, the Wolfpack went on to lose five of its next six games, creating some threatening possibilities, including missing the NCAA Tournament if the cards fell a certain direction. However, the solution is simple: win games.
The first opportunity to test that solution comes on Saturday, as the Wolfpack hosts Stanford (19-11, 8-9 ACC) at the Lenovo Center in the regular-season finale. A win would push Will Wade's Pack to its 20th win and essentially secure a firm hold on a spot in the field of 64 teams for the NCAA Tournament and lower the pressure of a Wednesday game in the ACC Tournament.
What to expect from Stanford
The Cardinal represents a bit of a nightmare matchup for the Wolfpack at this point in the season. Kyle Smith's squad is loaded with talented shooters and boasts one of the best point guards in the conference and the nation, freshman Ebuka Okorie. The young stud leads his team in scoring, averaging 22.8 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game.
As Wade put it during his appearance on the "Wolfpack Weekly" radio show, the pieces for Stanford all come together cohesively. Okorie is surrounded by talented shooters like Benny Gealer and Ryan Agarwal, with Gealer fresh off a 30-point outing against SMU on Feb. 28. As a team, the Cardinal shoots 35.2% from beyond the arc.
After successful stints all over the country, Kyle Smith landed at Stanford ahead of the 2024-25 season, leaving behind a successful rebuild of Washington State. He brought many of the same principles that helped him ascend the coaching ranks and reach the ACC, all of which are still practiced by the Cardinal, particularly defensively.
"They're very physical on the drives, so they're able to play your drives one-on-ones," Wade said. "They do a good job with physicality on the drives, showing their hands, fouling you with their chest, which is legal. ... They really do a nice job ... And that allows them to stay home on the shooters."
How the Wolfpack can attack Stanford
If NC State wants to beat the Cardinal, it must find a way to control the paint. Stanford allows conference opponents to shoot 49.3% on 2-point shot attempts, ranking 15th in the conference in that statistic. Players like Quadir Copeland and Ven-Allen Lubin have to turn things around after struggling to get anything going inside against the elite Duke defense earlier in the week.
3-point shooting won't win the day, as the Cardinal has the ability to run opponents off the line. Darrion Williams shot the ball relatively well against Duke, but hasn't shown any consistency of late. A locked-in version of the senior forward would go a long way in helping the Pack keep up with Stanford in the scoring column.
Wade might stick with the zone look he threw at the Blue Devils out of desperation, but Stanford's 3-point shooting might not make for the best matchup to utilize that defense against. The coach's primary goal must be to have his team come out with some edge and quickly establish the home-court advantage.
Saturday's matchup is scheduled for 2:15 P.M. EST and will be televised on The CW Network.
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Tucker Sennett graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Sports Journalism from the esteemed Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. A former basketball player, he has gained valuable experience working at Cronkite News and brings a deep passion for sports and reporting to his role as the NC State Wolfpack Beat Writer On SI.
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