Reacting to NC State's Turnaround Win Against Boston College

NC State men's basketball split the two games in the opening week of ACC play, handling Wake Forest easily before disappointingly falling to Virginia. The Wolfpack needed to right the ship in its first week on the road and it got that process started with a gritty 79-71 win against lowly Boston College.

The victory over the Eagles in Chestnut Hill offered the Wolfpack a chance to regain some rhythm on the offensive end. Star forward Darrion Williams regained his scoring confidence, finishing with 22 points in the win. On this episode of the NC State Insider Podcast, get a comprehensive breakdown of the game from host and lead beat writer Tucker Sennett.

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Wade's postgame thoughts

Only up from here @iammattable 📈 pic.twitter.com/jr0XL4TxKn
— NC State Men's Basketball (@PackMensBball) January 7, 2026

NC State needed more from its offensive stars, with Williams being at the center of that attention from the outside. Wade embarked on his passionate defense of the forward after the Wake Forest win, but admitted that the staff needed to do more to force Williams to be aggressive. The Pack found Williams more shots and allowed him to regain his shooting stroke in the win.

"BC's defense is one of the best ones we've played," he said. "... A great defense. We just made a concerted effort to get (Williams) the ball, which we haven't done in other games for whatever reason. We've gone away from that, but he makes the right play when he gets the ball... It really wasn't anything about their defense. We try to... Get different matchups and put different people on our players."

During the pregame radio show, Wade mentioned that he was taking the "restrictor plate" off of freshman guard Matt Able. The four-star recruit was dealing with the growing pains of adjusting to college basketball over the last month after popping with flashes of greatness in the Maui Invitational. Boston College offered a chance for Wade to let Able off the chain more and he took advantage, scoring 11 points.

"I thought Matt played pretty well," Wade said. "He shot it well from three, which was great to see. He's a hard worker, really, really tough kid, great kid. Very proud of him. This is his dad's alma mater, so it meant a little bit more to him and the family."

Dubs after dark. pic.twitter.com/JrgpM0CiFH
— NC State Men's Basketball (@PackMensBball) January 7, 2026

NC State stays on the road for another matchup on Saturday, heading south to face Florida State in Tallahassee. The Wolfpack needs to keep the positive momentum going from the Boston College win.

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