Night-Of Thoughts and Takeaways From NC State's Second Win

In its second outing of the season, NC State found different ways to win the game. The Wolfpack took down Alabama-Birmingham 94-70 in a late Friday night game, with Paul McNeil and Quadir Copeland helping lead the way.

Head coach Will Wade wasn't entirely impressed by his team's performance, particularly on the defensive end.

On this episode of the NC State Insider Podcast, get the inside-the-arena thoughts from lead beat writer and host Tucker Sennett. Find out what went right for the Wolfpack, the key performers and what the team needs to improve as the non-conference portion of the schedule moves along throughout November.

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Wade spoke to members of the media after the game and expressed some of his frustrations about the performance. Find out what the first-year coach had to say about his team just minutes after it left the court:

UAB scored 44 points in the paint against the NC State defense tonight. Will Wade: not happy about it. Here are his thoughts:

(@jwatsonfisher with the question) pic.twitter.com/sSabVS88b0
— Tucker Sennett (@SennettTucker) November 8, 2025

On the paint defense and allowing UAB to score 44 points in the paint

"We've got to guard the damn ball. Our defenders have to guard the ball one-on-one. We gave up 44 points in the paint tonight... Now luckily, they shot four of 25 from three, but we just got blown by, blown by, blown by. Started subbing guys out as they got blown by."

"We've got to be able to sit down and guard the ball and our gap help gets too extended and we've got to sit in the gaps and rake at the ball and not let them just straight-line-drive us to the paint. It was 44-44 in the paint..."

Mar 22, 2025; Providence, RI, USA; McNeese State Cowboys head coach Will Wade talks to an official during the second half of a second round men’s NCAA Tournament game against the Purdue Boilermakers at Amica Mutual Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images | Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images

On Darrion Williams being the team's extra playmaker and facilitator and the team's turnover woes

"We should probably let him handle the ball more. He doesn't turn it over as much and (Ven-Allen Lubin's) turnovers killed us. We had a chance to run away there in the first half... Two cross-court outlet turnovers and they stayed back..."

"... We just made some mental mistakes, but in big games, all those mistakes add up. So we've just got, we've got to be way cleaner on those details. We've got decent attention to detail. But if you want to be a championship-level team, you have to have obsessive attention to detail. You have to have obsessive attention to detail in everything that you do. And ours is just fair to middling right now and we've got to be better than that."

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