Will Wade Talks NC State Basketball Ahead of NC Central Opener

RALEIGH — The time has finally come. Monday night marks the official start of the Will Wade era at NC State as fans are expected to pour into the Lenovo Center for their first look at Wolfpack men's basketball under its new head coach.

NC State is set to take on NC Central of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference at 7 P.M. EST.

Wade spoke to members of the media Friday about his group's progress, what it learned after the preseason and whether it will be ready for the bright lights and pressure of the Lenovo Center on Monday night.

Watch Wade's Press Conference

What Wade Had to Say

NC State basketbal — Will Wade and the N.C. State men's basketball team on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, during the first official day of practice inside the Dail Basketball Center. | Rodd Baxley/The Fayetteville Observer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

On some of the problems the Wolfpack had in the preseason

"We haven't been very good assist-to-turnover-wise either. I've been pretty disappointed with that. Overall, our assist to turnover in the two exhibitions we've had is one-to-one, 26 assists, 26 turnovers. Our problem's really our bench. Our bench has two assists and 11 turnovers, that's certainly problematic."

"I've been disappointed. We're leaving points at the free throw line as well. Been tracking as a 75% free throw shooting team; we're shooting 66% in the two scrimmages. We're leaving, 1.8, you round it up, probably two points a game. We're leaving two points a game on the table, which we're going to need..."

On bringing back old traditions for NC State

"I don't know what of all this I can comment on. I don't know what's out there and what's not. But I think it's important for our fans. I think it's important to connect with our fans. And look, we have an incredible tradition. We have an incredible history of basketball here. So I don't know why we would just throw that stuff to the side"

"That stuff's worked for a long time, and for whatever reason, we've gotten away from that. Maybe that's why our program's gotten away from being a consistent winner. You win for a reason, and you lose for a reason. If there was stuff that we were doing when we were winning for a reason, I don't understand why we would necessarily stop doing that."

"Reed Vial from my staff has done a great job with it. I told him, we've got to go learn this place. We've got to understand what this place is. We've got to know about this. We've had players from every era speak to our team. We've got one speaking today before practice. And you know, we want our guys to have an appreciation for that."

"Reed Vial from my staff has done a great job with it. I told him, we've got to go learn this place. We've got to understand what this place is. We've got to know about this. We've had players from every era speak to our team. We've got one speaking today before practice. And you know, we want our guys to have an appreciation for that."

On the team's response to the scrimmage performances

"After our first scrimmage, I mean, in their minds the scrimmage went very well. In my mind, I was not all that pleased with the scrimmage, and I came in here and went berserk and let everybody know what I thought, that I didn't think this was very good and our standards weren't met. I was very colorful with what I thought, but that seemed to fall on deaf ears because they're just results-oriented, not process-oriented."

"So we had a lull where we didn't practice very well, and I thought we were kind of stuck in neutral. We had been moving up the mountain for a while, but we were stuck in neutral. We kind of plateaued a little bit. I thought that the South Carolina exhibition."

Oct 8, 2025; Charlotte, NC, USA; NC State head coach Will Wade answers questions from the media at The Hilton Charlotte Uptown. Mandatory Credit: William Howard-Imagn Images | William Howard-Imagn Images

"South Carolina's a good team. I thought that Sunday, they were way more receptive to my messaging this week than they were after that first one. There are things that we've got to grow as a team, and we've got to have some folks that grow up and understand that, look, just because we won doesn't mean we don't have problems. We've got some people that are just so excited about winning that they can't see the issues."

"We don't want to win, we want to dominate. To dominate, you've got to dominate with your discipline. You've got to have an obsessive attention to detail with what you're doing. Obsessive attention to detail. Anybody that has excellence has obsessive attention to detail."

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