Around Raleigh With Coach Wade: Zymicah Wilkins (with transcript)

NC State Men’s Basketball released their final episode of Around Raleigh With Coach Wade recently. Coach Wade sat down with Freshman Forward Zymicah Wilkins, who was a 4-star prospect in the Wolfpack’s 2025 recruiting class.

You can read the transcript below, and watch the video underneath.

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WW: Welcome back to our 15th and final episode of Around Raleigh. We’re fired up to be joined by Zymicah Wilkins. We saved the best for last.

We’re right here in front of the David Thompson statue. We thought this would be the perfect place to interview Zymicah. David Thompson, of course, from Shelby, North Carolina and Western North Carolina.

Zymicah from Rutherfordton, North Carolina, about 30 minutes apart from each other, so we thought this would be the perfect spot to end our series.

We started at the Bell Tower. We’re ending at one of our all-time greatest players statues. So very excited to have Mikey here with us, and I know our fans are excited about Mikey.

He’s the State Player of the Year. It’s one of only the few times in our history that the State Player of the Year has come to NC State. We’re very, very pleased he decided to stay with us through the coaching transition.

Talk about just growing up, having an older brother to look up to, who was a good basketball player. How your mom and dad’s work ethic has really fueled you.

ZW: Growing up in a small town…it’s not a lot of people. Everybody knows a lot of people. Unfortunately, I watched my brother at the top of the road. He used to dribble the ball. I used to look outside the window, and was like, ‘Man, I want to be there one day.’ Then eventually, around four or five years old, I started playing at the Spinda House. Just a rec league game was going on there, just having experience with basketball. Once I got older, I started playing AAU and getting experience with all that.

WW: Your first two years in RS Central were great. Let’s talk about your time there. There’s always something special about playing for your local community high school and how that community high school supports you. They watched you grow up. They watched your brother play. There’s something about carrying on that legacy that’s really, really cool. So talk about those first two years at RS.

ZW: Well, a lot of people know me from my brother because my brother did pretty good in high school at RS Central. So they knew once I got there, it was going to be good.

Once I got there, it was just on and popping from there. Just the hype around it.

Everybody was coming out to the games, just coming to support. It was really fun two years. We had a good coach named Coach Wright. He used to help me and all that. So it was a pretty good two years from there.

WW: After your sophomore year, you decided to transfer to Christ School, which is actually not that far,  for your final two years. Played for Coach Coley at Christ School, who’s now a scout in the NBA. Talk about your time at Christ School and the transition to Christ School.

ZW: The transition was different because, it’s a private school, stay on campus, have to wear a suit and tie. So the transition…

WW: You were looking dapper.

ZW: Yeah, Lord Jesus. The transition was kind of hard. So, you know, I had to get used to it.

Took me about a month and a half to get used to everything. Coach Coley helped me out pretty good. He told me, ‘Just come in, work every day, go to class, do your work, and just get in the weight room, just get stronger.

WW: Just talk about being able to win that state title, play so well with a double-double and then do it with family on the team as well.

ZW: So that whole year we’d been locking in. Our coach, Coach Coley, believed in us, and we believed in him.

We believed in the process, coming to practice every day, just working, weight room, working. So we knew when it all came down to it, we were going to be at the top and were going to win it all.

WW: Talk about what it was like to finally get here, and to make sure you were doing everything this summer to continue to improve yourself, to pick up where you left off from Christ school.

ZW: I had to do work before I came here, Lord Jesus. But when I got here, it was good. Met you, met all the coaches, met all the players, met all the resources that are here for you.

There’s great resources here, so just taking advantage of all that, and I was good.

WW: Mikey’s going to be a fan favorite for the Pack. He’s somebody that has an infectious personality, as you can tell.

He’s always positive. He’s always bopping around, and we’re going to continue to get him better. We’re going to continue to get him in the best shape of his life, and he’s going to be a very, very good player for us as he moves through our program.

So thanks everybody for joining us on this episode of Around Raleigh.

Get to know Zymicah Wilkins in Episode 15 of Around Raleigh with Coach Wade! pic.twitter.com/lRDlo0pouK

— NC State Men's Basketball (@PackMensBball) October 13, 2025