Will Wade goes on fiery rant after NC State's 108-72 win over Texas Southern
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First-year coach Will Wade and NC State men’s basketball are off to a decent start in 2025, with an 8-4 record and its only losses to high-major programs Texas, Kansas and Auburn, along with Seton Hall.
And despite the Wolfpack defeating Texas Southern 108-72 on Dec. 17, Wade went on a lengthy rant diving into his concerns with his team.
“We have a 3.0 GPA,” Wade told reporters after the game. That’s wonderful, if we’re running a daycare. We run a competitive basketball program. We’ve got a lot of casual personalities on this team.”
Wade continued:
“(Expletive), it’s concerning it’s taken this long and we’re not there,” Wade said. “And we got all high-major games here on out. Kindergarten’s over. … Yeah, it’s concerning. I played some of those kids tonight, made their Christmas. It’s going to be miserable for me, I made their Christmas, they got their Christmas present a week early playing some of these guys.
“I’ve been concerned for weeks. We are who we are. I said it a few weeks ago, ‘If you’re not physical and you’re not tough then you better be alert and aware.’ And we’re still none of the four.”
I asked what was an infuriated Will Wade postgame about some of the concerns he has with his roster despite defeating Texas Southern tonight by 36:
“This is beyond concerning, it’s becoming a major problem. This isn’t kindergarten anymore.”
The full response is an all-timer 😳 pic.twitter.com/QxEDX6F1kM
— Charlie Gribble (@Charlie_Grib) December 18, 2025
Wade led McNeese to the Round of 32 last season in his third season with the program. The 43-year-old prior coached at Chattanooga, VCU and LSU, where he was fired in 2022 for recruiting violations.
Wade briefly praised McNeese transfer Quadir Copeland and North Carolina transfer Ven-Allen Lubin, touching on their evolving leadership qualities, before going back in on his rant.
Paul McNeil Jr. scored a whopping 47 points with 10 rebounds in 27 minutes, hitting 11 of 17 3-pointers in the win. He also made 12 of 12 free-throw attempts.
“Casual, lack of attention to detail, lack of focus,” Wade said. “And that’s great when somebody sets the ACC record for made (3-pointers) and the school record for made (3-pointers) in the first half, but we’re relying on hope that one of these cats is going to go ballistic every night. That’s why we rely on, just hope. And hope is a bad strategy in my book.”
Wade, regarded as one of the best hires in the offseason coaching carousel, has a talented roster of transfers, with seven ranked four stars or better by 247Sports, including Williams, a five-star transfer portal prospect.
It appears the first-year NC State coach is attempting to set the tone for the rest of the season, with a matchup against Ole Miss on Dec. 21 before ACC play starts.
“We got a lot of casual personalities on our team,” Wade said. “We don’t have people that are revved up and ready to go. I had one of the kids come to me, ‘I’m tough, I’m tough.’ I said, ‘(expletive) you’re not in the top 50 of toughest players I’ve coached.’ Not even in the top 50. I don’t want to hear that, you ain’t tough.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Will Wade goes on fiery rant after NC State’s 108-72 win over Texas Southern
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