Will Wade says they will look for Terrance Arceneaux for help down the stretch, expect him to play more minutes

Will Wade talked about a topic we have been discussing here on PackInsider.com recently. During his Weekly Radio Show at The Pit in downtown Raleigh, Wade was asked about Terrance Arceneaux’s role down the stretch, with some strong offensive opponents looming.

Here is what Wade had to say about Terrance seeing an increase in minutes..

“I hope so. I hope so. He hurt himself in the Louisville game. He hurt his ankle again, ankle and Achilles area again. That’s why we pulled him out in the Louisville game. But we need Terrence. Terrence brings an athleticism. He can make some plays that other guys can’t make. We need Terrence to really, really help us down the stretch. So yeah, we need him to play more, and that’s a big part of things.”

We recently released a piece that suggested more Terrance during this tough stretch might be just what the Wolfpack ordered. Here’s an excerpt from that piece…

NC State has faced 6 teams with an offensive efficiency of 120+. They’ve lost 5 of those.

Meanwhile, NC State has yet to lose a game when Terrance Arceneaux plays 20 mins or more.

Is there a correlation?

We dig in 👇https://t.co/1I4w5mIKgv

— PackInsider.com (@PackInsider) February 11, 2026

I think this is one area where you can buy yourself some possessions, get some stops, and cover up some of the roster flaws on the defensive end.

But I know what Wade is likely thinking. When you take Holloman off the floor, you’re becoming more one-dimensional. You have Copeland creating rim pressure, and that’s it. No one else is really a factor at beating you and creating something off the bounce.

But in these bad performances against elite offenses, we’ve never seen Arceneaux in extended minutes.

Against Louisville, he put up a +2.9 DPBM. Everyone else who played significant minutes wasn’t even close. Matt Able was next with +1.1 and everyone else was in the negatives (aside from DW, who had a +0.01).

Here are Arecenaux’s minutes against those top teams…

• Louisville: 17 Minutes LOSS
• Auburn: 13 Minutes LOSS
• Texas: 13 minutes LOSS
• SMU: 21 minutes WIN
• Virginia: 11 minutes LOSS
• Kansas: 14 minutes LOSS

See a difference? Arcenaux only eclipsed 20 minutes in one of these games, and it happened to be the one we won.

In fact, NC State hasn’t lost a game all season where Terrance Arceneaux has played 20+ minutes.

(Note that I’m not saying Arceneaux playing 20 minutes would have made us beat Louisville. Nothing was beating Louisville on that night. Just saying it would have likely helped.)

As we get into this final stretch, where you are going to face 3 offenses (Duke, UNC, UVA) in the 120+ efficiency range, and NC State is going to have to find ways to get stops, and while the current rotation has gotten you here, I think it’s worth wondering if a simple uptick in minutes for Terrance would help NC State get over the hump against offensively elite teams.