Wade Breaks Down How NC State Took Down Virginia Tech
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RALEIGH — NC State pushed its already impressive ACC win streak to six games with Saturday's 82-73 victory over Virginia Tech. The Wolfpack continued to score the ball with great efficiency, even against one of the ACC's best 3-point defenses, putting head coach Will Wade in a position where he can push his team for one final charge through conference play.
While there were still some issues for the Pack, including losing the second half by two points, the performance pleased Wade for the most part, before he dove into the actual film. Coming into the matchup, he admitted there were some concerns about NC State's ability to play physical teams, with Mike Young and Virginia Tech holding that characteristic.
Watch Wade's postgame press conference here
How Wade and NC State pulled out the win
The Wolfpack shot a torrid rate of 41.6% from beyond the 3-point line in the first 10 games of conference play. Virginia Tech boasted one of the league's best 3-point defenses, holding opponents under 30%. Wade's team still found ways to get open looks for some of its most important players, particularly Paul McNeil and Tre Holloman. The Pack shot 9-for-21 from deep.
"They limited our attempts. We usually attempt 30, 35. We attempted a little over 20 today," Wade said. "Our best 3-point offense was in transition, getting guys going in transition... Paul is a weapon and Paul can really get going. He missed that first one, then he hit his next four... He got relatively quality looks for how they were playing it."
Leaving Tre open: a mistake. pic.twitter.com/2fBCpI9Uis
— NC State Men's Basketball (@PackMensBball) February 7, 2026
On the other end, NC State completely stifled one of Virginia Tech's leading scorers, Ben Hammond, as he failed to score on nine attempts from the field. The undersized guard was involved all day, but the Wolfpack defense suffocated his drives and he never got the looks he needed to get into a rhythm from the perimeter. Wade provided the reason why.
"I thought the pressure really bothered him. Tre (Holloman) did a great job," Wade said. "Tre has been phenomenal for us in the last couple of games. We wanted to make (freshman guard Neoklis Avdalas) initiate the offense because Hammond usually initiates a lot of the offense, so we were face-guarding him in the full-court, trying to make it difficult for him to get the ball."
The Wolfpack's star forward, Darrion Williams, struggled to score the ball on Saturday. He finished the game with just four points, going just 1-for-9 from the field, with his lone make coming in the first half from 3-point range. Still, the others for the Pack stepped up and Williams ended up with a team-high plus-16 despite his struggles to shoot.
"We just couldn't get Darrion going. He missed some threes early in the game and we went back to him in the porch," Wade said of his star. "We tried to get him in some long-post situations and he just struggled today. They did a great job... (Tobi) Lawal is a great athlete and when you put athleticism on (Williams), it's a bit tougher."
Diesel throws it DOWN off the lob from Tre. pic.twitter.com/EVSJ8bMxTo
— NC State Men's Basketball (@PackMensBball) February 7, 2026
Virginia Tech was able to battle back in the second half, even cutting the Wolfpack's lead to just three points in the middle part of the period. Hokie head coach Mike Young knew his team needed a win for its NCAA Tournament resumé and refused to go away, but Virginia Tech didn't end up having the firepower it needed.
"I think (Young) did a great job of using his timeouts. He did that in the first and the second half," Wade said. "We just could never get a critical stop when we needed to. When it got down to three, we got the barrage of stops there and we hit the three and we got going... This was a big game for them, it was a big game for us... Our guys answered those runs and answered those changes in momentum very well."
NC State moved to 18-6 on the season and 9-2 in conference play with the win. While Wade is happy with a sixth straight win, he did say he remains frustrated over the loss to Georgia Tech, breaking up what could've been a nine-win streak at this point had it gone the other way.
Wade and the Wolfpack are hitting the road for a quick turnaround, gearing up to face No. 24 Louisville on Monday.
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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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