No NC State Exodus to LSU, But One Player to Watch
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RALEIGH — While NC State has moved on from the Will Wade era after the coach opted to leave the program and return to LSU after just one season, the ripples of his exit are still being felt. The Wolfpack landed on its feet, hiring Justin Gainey, a program alumnus and veteran Power Conference assistant, to lead the team into the future.
When coaches leave a program, there's often a significant number of players that follows said coach to his new destination in the modern era of collegiate athletics. However, that is not expected to be the case for NC State, as Wade played mostly senior transfers and did not leave on the best of terms with some of the players with remaining eligibility. Still, one could follow him to LSU.
Why most of the team won't follow Wade
After NC State bowed out of the NCAA Tournament in the First Four, Wade promised sweeping changes to his roster and staff. As it turned out, the main change was going to be him walking away from the Wolfpack, leaving several players in limbo following his departure. So far, just freshman Cole Cloer announced his intention to transfer before the April 7 open date, but it doesn't appear like he'll follow Wade to the bayou.
Wade appeared to lose some faith in many of his players down the stretch. When asked who from the 2025-26 team helped build a foundation for the future, he only named three members of the group: Paul McNeil (the only potential returner), Ven-Allen Lubin and Quadir Copeland. McNeil became close with Wade, but is from North Carolina and would be more likely to make a move to the NBA.
The former NC State coach told Matt Norlander of CBS Sports that he didn't plan on poaching the Wolfpack roster and wanted to move on from that part of his coaching career, hoping the Pack could do the same. The primary reason for that is the fact that Wade likely didn't want any of the remnants he abandoned in Raleigh, outside of maybe McNeil or freshman Matt Able, but Able already sat on the fence about returning.
Who could follow Wade?
Newest NC State commit Trevon Carter-Givens brings an athletic presence to the interior. At 6'11 and still quite raw, TCG is an elite rim protector. Offensively, his hands still need some work but he's got a knack for finding pockets in the defense and making himself a big… pic.twitter.com/Tgn3Je4dqg
— Gabe (@Hoops_GE) September 14, 2025
The only "member" of the NC State program who could reasonably follow Wade to Baton Rouge would be a player who never even joined the team for real: four-star recruit Trevon Carter-Givens. He was the first high school commit during the Wade era, but he didn't join the program early like Cloer did.
Being from the West Coast, there weren't as many connections to the area as there were for Cloer. Givens hasn't announced anything officially, but it seems unlikely he'll ever wear a Wolfpack uniform and more likely he suits up for Wade at LSU.
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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