NC State puts ACC, road streaks to the test. What’s at stake

The joy of extending an historic winning streak was fresh when N.C. State men’s basketball team found itself wheels up to Louisville on Saturday night.

N.C. State coach Will Wade allowed his team very little time to celebrate its sixth straight win. Monday night’s game with the No. 24 Cardinals loomed, part of a challenging stretch of ACC games.

The Wolfpack defeated Virginia Tech, 82-73, on Saturday at Lenovo Center to pick up another win for its NCAA Tournament resume. Four players scored in double figures, led by Quadir Copeland and Paul McNeil. The duo scored a combined 42 points in the win.

N.C. State (18-6, 9-2 ACC) is on its longest winning regular-season streak in 51 years. It’s a stark contrast to where it was this time last year: a nine-game losing streak, the longest in program history.

While everyone is happy about the consecutive victories, Wolfpack head coach Will Wade is neither content nor is he overly confident. He said as much in his radio show on Thursday and postgame after upsetting SMU two nights earlier.

“Everybody’s all intoxicated on the winning and all that stuff, the winning is going to come to an end like that, if we can’t get that stuff fixed,” Wade said Thursday. The Wolfpack beat the Mustangs 84-83 on Holloman’s block, despite being up 12 points with six minutes left. . “I’m so mad about the six-minute game. We watched every dribble, every bounce of the ball today with my commentary on that. I was furious. … We should have won that thing by double digits.”

His team joins North Carolina as having the two hardest remaining strengths of schedule. The Wolfpack — after pulling off an unlikely win at SMU on Tuesday and topping the Hokies Saturday — face their biggest test yet.

Five of its last seven games are against teams in the Top 50 of the NET rankings: Duke, UNC, Louisville, Miami and Virginia for the second time. Four of those games are currently Quad 1 contests.

Next up: Louisville

The Pack heads to the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville on Saturday night in preparation for its Big Monday matchup against the Cardinals (17-6, 7-4), one of its Quad 1 and NCAA Tournament resume-boosting opportunities. N.C. State has not lost on the road in ACC play this season.

The Cardinals have won five of their last six games, including victories over Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, SMU and Wake Forest. They also have three Quad 1 wins and N.C. State’s visit will count as a big chance for Louisville.

Last year, under coach Kevin Keatts, the Pack was blown out at home, 91-66, by the Cardinals when coach Pat Kelsey was in his first season at Louisville.

“We’ll get embarrassed if we’re not on point,” Wade said after Saturday’s win over Virginia Tech. “It’s very important. We’re actually flying out tonight. We’re gonna go there tonight and start our preparation tomorrow. It’s a great opportunity for us. It’s a great opportunity for our program. First year we’re on Big Monday. We have one of those time slots with Louisville, so it’s a big opportunity for us. Hopefully we’ll be able to prepare the right way to meet the moment on Monday.”

The 3-point line will be busy

The Wolfpack and Cardinals are, on paper, relatively similar. N.C. State averages 82.5 points scored and 72.8 points allowed during ACC play. Louisville, meanwhile, scores 79.4 points against conference foes and holds league opponents to 73.4 points per game.

Wade and Pat Kelsey’s squads love shooting the 3, as well.

The Cards lead the conference by taking 52.1% of their shot attempts from 3 in ACC play. They hit 32.8%.

Roughly 43% of N.C. State’s shot attempts are from distance. It leads the conference with a 41.7% 3-point efficiency.

“We’ve been very good in spurts. We’ve been great in spurts, but we need to be great consistently,” Wade said. “We’ve talked about that. I think we’re making progress toward that. We’re not there yet.”

There are, however, a couple of key differences. Louisville’s lineup is larger and plays with physicality. The Wolfpack, which is undersized in the frontcourt, has sometimes struggled against larger opponents.

Wade previously said it’s hard to know how his team will respond, whether after a loss or after a win. Its inconsistency has been a liability this year. But, in some ways, it’s been a strength. N.C. State’s squad hasn’t let losses or bad stretches stick. It’s only lost back-to-back games once this season and survived tough contests or bad shooting nights.

“I wish we were more consistent, but I think we found different ways to win. We’ve just got a way about us where we find it,” Wade said. “Sometimes Darrion (Williams) is playing great and we win. Sometimes he didn’t play great, like today, we win. (Quadir Copeland) has made some mistakes. We’ve just found different guys. … I think we’ve found different ways, which is the mark of a solid team; being able to do it a lot of different ways.”

Wade knows his team should have confidence in its ability to get things done, but it shouldn’t be complacent and should be open to instruction and correction. It’s one thing to win. It’s another to win and learn from whatever mistakes took place in the game.

Monday, the Wolfpack will face a historic program on the rise led by another young, somewhat up-and-coming coach. Over the last few weeks, N.C. State has its work cut out. Those are also opportunities to become securely in the NCAA Tournament conversation. It’s been teetering in the middle of the seed projections, but at least a few more wins would go a long way in the bracket predictions and ACC Tournament seeding. Wins in the championship, even if it doesn’t win it all, could go a long way in the eyes of the selection committee.

The first half of the ACC schedule was good. It got the job done. The Wolfpack must be better than those performances in order to continue rising.

Will that happen? To borrow Wade’s words, “I guess we’ll see.”

This story was originally published February 8, 2026 at 6:05 AM.