Why Wade Isn't Giving Up on This NC State Season
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RALEIGH — NC State men's basketball suffered a loss at the hands of Georgia Tech on Saturday, sinking the program to a 12-6 overall start and a 3-2 record in conference play. The Wolfpack is behind schedule, both from the perspective of a fan base starving for a competitive team and from coach Will Wade's point of view.
Even with the disappointing results and the up-and-down nature of his first season, Wade isn't giving up on a group. The Wolfpack is flawed in its nature, but still has the right pieces of the puzzle. It's just a matter of getting them to fit together. That is the challenge Wade and his coaching staff face the rest of the season, starting with a road matchup against No. 18 Clemson on Tuesday.
Why Wade won't pull any plug
In the immediate aftermath of the Georgia Tech loss, Wade was dejected and disappointed in the effort of his team. The inconsistency of the Wolfpack appeared to be eating at him, an issue made even more obvious by his comments in Saturday's press conference.
"We're going to have to grit it out as best we can," he said after the loss. "This is not a team that's like a rocket ship that's just going to shoot up. We're going to kind of level off and go by. That's just kind of how it's been and I didn't anticipate that and I haven't done a good enough job of getting us to be able to take off."
One of the things Wade felt most confident about before the season got underway was the fiber and connectivity of his team. Most of the roster spent the summer together in Raleigh, training before the official practice window opened for the program. At times throughout Wade's first season leading the Wolfpack, that connectivity has disappeared, and the team looks at best disjointed and at worst fractured.
"We're certainly testing our fiber and testing our connectedness. That's for sure," Wade said Monday. "We're going to find out what we're made of. We're going to a tough environment. They play a style that can really frustrate you... That's very unique and very disciplined. Everything is going to have to be earned."
Wade and the Wolfpack were in a similar position exactly two weeks ago. NC State was throttled by Virginia, now ranked 14th in the country, in the Lenovo Center. The team hit the road, hoping to unlock whatever was missing against the Cavaliers. Star forward Darrion Williams returned to form in the two road victories over Boston College and Florida State. The Pack looked in sync once again.
A week away from the court seemed to disrupt the momentum the team found. Every time NC State has looked close to figuring things out in the 2025-26 campaign, there is a setback of some sort. After losing to Georgia Tech, Wade called that the nature of the season and expressed his concern about his team's ability to respond. However, he took a different approach just two days later.
"I still believe in our group. I still believe in our team," the coach said Monday. "We're not where we want to be, but we're within striking distance of where we want to be. It's on us to find a way to make this work... We're going to go in there and I think you'll see a team that's going to play hard and a team that's going to be a little bit better with our attention to detail."
Rough patches are part of any season, especially in conference play. The ACC is a new beast for Wade to tame, having spent previous seasons in the Atlantic-10, SEC, Southland and Southern Conference. Like his team, Wade is still learning the intricacies of the league and the program he took over in his return to Power Conference basketball. His belief stems from the fact that NC State has been right there and from the fact that he's seen similar things before.
Whether or not the Wolfpack can get out of the rut it landed in remains to be seen, but Wade isn't the type of coach to quit on any season early. A win over Clemson on Tuesday would change the trajectory of the year greatly. There's no doubt the leader of the Pack will put his team in the best possible position to make that happen.
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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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