Will Wade Eyes Breakthrough Ranked Win vs. No. 19 Kansas
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RALEIGH — To this point in Will Wade's first season as head coach of the NC State men's basketball program, the Wolfpack hasn't secured a signature win. The Pack dropped two games in the Southwest Maui Invitational and couldn't upset No. 21 Auburn on the road in the ACC/SEC Challenge.
That could all change with Saturday's game against No. 19 Kansas in the Lenovo Center, a game NC State really could use in terms of improving its standing nationally. However, Wade knows the result against the Jayhawks won't be the end-all, be-all moment for his squad this year. Even so, it is a massive moment early in his tenure. He spoke Friday about the looming juggernaut.
Watch Wade's press conference
How Wade is handling the matchup
Some described the Kansas game as an opportunity for the Wolfpack to reboot its first season under Wade. The coach doesn't feel the same way. The season isn't decided in December and Wade knows that better than many coaches.
"It's an opportunity to play a really good team at home," Wade said. "If we win tomorrow, great. If we lose tomorrow, there's still 20 games left. There's a lot of games left. It's a long season. I don't look at tomorrow as some sort of reboot or must-win or anything like that, but it's certainly an important game."
If NC State is to have more success against Kansas, it needs to get more out of its star players. The most important part of that equation is forward Darrion Williams, a player who is intimately familiar with Kansas, given his time at Texas Tech over the past two seasons. He scored 30 points against the Jayhawks on a perfect 12-for-12 shooting night in 2024. Wade leaned on his star during preparations for KU.
"Darrion and Terrance (Arceneaux) both have experience against Kansas. They both said, 'Thank God we're not playing them at Kansas,'" Wade said. "Those guys have been helpful in the scouting. Both guys have very, very high basketball I.Q. They trapped Darrion last year when he was with Tech, so we want to make sure we're aware of that, so it helps a little bit just to have a sense of what they may do."
Wade joked about lucking out that former NC State head coach Kevin Keatts played the away leg of the home-and-home series with the Jayhawks for the Wolfpack. He's also well aware of the expectations his team faces, compared to those it faced a season ago on the road.
"It's awesome when you can have a historic, big-time program come to your place and play a home-and-home, so we're excited about it," Wade said. "... I know our fans and people around town are very, very excited about it as well."
Following the 85-45 win over Liberty leading up to the Kansas matchup, Wade said his team would need to perform much better if it wanted to take down the Jayhawks. He doubled down on that sentiment Friday and indicated that one aspect the Wolfpack improved during the win over the Flames needs to keep showing signs of getting better.
"I'd like to see our defense continue to get better. I thought we played with more edge, more purpose against Liberty," he said. "Liberty is a great program with great players, but guarding Liberty is a lot different than guarding Kansas... Look, the results aren't going to be the same... From a numeric standpoint, but I'd like to see the same sort of effort, the same sort of flying around that we saw."
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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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