A sellout crowd. A resounding win. NC State basketball delivers under Will Wade
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- N.C. State launched Basketball 365 to grow year-round fan engagement and alumni ties.
- Opening night sold out; team set records with 57 made 3s and high scoring.
- Program revived traditions, hosted alumni, giveaways and reintroduced noise meter.
Shortly after Will Wade was hired as N.C. State’s men’s basketball coach, he worked with a group of roughly nine university employees to create “Basketball 365,” an initiative to market basketball with the fan base year round.
It’s something he’s done at multiple stops, but this was a new challenge. N.C. State has a loyal support system, but it lacked engagement at times, even in the immediate aftermath of the 2024 Final Four run. Lenovo Center wasn’t sold out when the team raised the banners during last season’s opener.
“We all kind of looked at each other like, ‘How the hell are we going to do this?’” Wade said on Monday, recalling the meeting.
Wade previously told the media he, and his staff, set out to understand N.C. State, learn its history and develop an appreciation for those who came before.
About seven months later, it all came together with N.C. State beating N.C. Central, 114-66, in front of a sold out crowd at Lenovo Center. The school had not sold out a season opener since Nov. 19, 1999, when the Wolfpack beat Georgia, 67-63.
Even with a brand new coach and virtually brand new roster, the whole night felt like an ode to years past. The Wolfpack wore the throwback jerseys — Wade’s assistant, Reed Viall, may stop getting social media messages about it every morning — and re-introduced the historic “noise meter.”
It also featured a giveaway of rally towels, T-shirts, Tuffy stuffed animals and commemorative tickets. That comes after weeks of welcoming alumni to practices to speak with the team. Several members of previous Wolfpack teams, including the 1983 national championship team and 2024 ACC championship team, attended the opener.
Wade said the Basketball 365 group wanted to connect current fans, and those with children or grandchildren, with multiple eras of N.C. State men’s basketball. Monday was different than Reynolds Coliseum was in the 1980s, but they still connected generations.
“I tell our guys all the time, we drink from a good well, but don’t forget, there’s a lot of people that dug it,” Wade said. ”There’s a lot of hard work that went into making this program what it is.
“We’ve tried to honor the right stuff. I think that’s where we’ve been toeing the line there. It’s great to connect with our fans. It’s all of us together. It’s not the Will Wade Wolfpack. It’s not the Darrion Williams Wolfpack. It’s the N.C. State Wolfpack: Our students, our fans, our administration, our team. It’s all of us together. And I think that some of these things bond everybody together a little bit.”
Even N.C. Central head coach LeVelle Moton, despite his team being on the losing end, felt a connection to the Pack’s history. Moton grew up just blocks away from Reynolds Coliseum and played against the program when he was a student-athlete at NCCU.
“I know the energy that surrounds this program. I know the craziness. I know the madness,” Moton said. “I was a kid when Jimmy V was here with Dereck Whittenburg and all those guys. I know the fan appreciation.”
The game wasn’t just about the vibes, though the environment was loud and boisterous. The team capped off the environment with a dominant win, too.
The Wolfpack had seven players in double figures, seven made a 3-pointer, 11 pulled down a rebound and nine recorded an assist. N.C. State set a program and Lenovo Center record with 57 points made from 3-point range, and it scored the most points since 2017.
It’s a new chapter in N.C. State men’s basketball history, and it was more than anyone could’ve ever expected.
“I thought the atmosphere was phenomenal, and our fans were great. Our students were awesome,” Wade said. “The students bring a ton of energy and a ton of juice. Our pep band’s, good. It’s huge. We just got good energy in the building. Credit to our guys. You have to embrace that, and you have to be able to use that and channel it in a proper way. I thought we channeled it for the good of the team tonight.”
This story was originally published November 4, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
