Will Wade’s band of outlaws is racking up wins, points ... and technical fouls
No one has ever understood the assignment more than Will Wade has at N.C. State.
Three straight wins either pushing or reaching triple digits and beating the spread by a double-digit average.
Three straight games with at least one technical foul.
His first few weeks have checked all the boxes.
Wolfpack Unlimited awards for everyone! By God, that’s Karl Hess’ music!
Now, does Wade need to dial back his Band of Outlaws? Of course. He acknowledged that Wednesday night. The combustible scene in front of the UNC Greensboro bench wasn’t exactly exemplary in its display of discipline. Tre Holloman obviously crossed the line, although an ejection seemed steep given there were regrettable actions on both sides.
Four techs and an ejection in 10 days is probably not sustainable. No one wants to see these scenes! (That everyone wants to see!) It’s also not the worst way to get started, to set a feisty tone for Wade’s first season at N.C. State.
His team has shown fight, literally and figuratively, and that’s all State fans ever wanted from their basketball team. Well, that and winning. Kevin Keatts and Mark Gottfried weren’t shy to stand up for their team or the school, but the second part eventually tripped up both of them despite some notable NCAA tournament success.
So far, so good for Wade in the early returns, although it gets tougher Monday night with Virginia Commonwealth, no pushover and one of Wade’s former schools, and then straight to Maui where the Wolfpack opens with Seton Hall, and then back to the mainland to go to Auburn.
Still, he came in promising a “damn good” team and so far he’s delivered.
In only three games, N.C. State has gone from 38th in KenPom to 24th and 38th to 33rd in Torvik. That’s a lot of movement in a very short time at a point in the season when preseason rankings still have a heavy thumb on the scale — in part because the Wolfpack is covering the Las Vegas spread by an average of 10 points per game.
To put it bluntly: That’s exceeding expectations. It’s not just beating teams you should beat. It’s beating the pants off them.
The Wolfpack’s worst offensive performance so far this season would rank as its third-best of last season and fourth-best of the 2024 ACC championship and Final Four season. The other two? Better than any in either season. N.C. State is already playing a different game.
Part of that is just talent (and depth): Seven different players have scored in double figures, three in all three games. Wade knew he brought in a good roster, it’s just going to be a matter of time to find out how good — with special mention for sophomore Paul McNeil, the lone returning starter, who has more points in all three games this season than he did in all but one game last season.
We’ll know more about the Wolfpack over the next few weeks as it gets into the meat of its nonconference schedule, but there’s no question it has shown the fight everyone wanted to see. Just maybe a hair too much.
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This story was originally published November 13, 2025 at 12:26 PM.
