Will Wade talks to the media in Dayton on eve of ‘First Four’ NCAA matchup with Texas (FULL TRANSCRIPT)

Moderator: All right, really excited to welcome Will Wade, head coach of North Carolina State, to the stage in his first season with the Wolfpack. He’s got him in the NCAA Tournament. It’s the fourth team that he’s led to the NCAA Tournament. Coach, before we open up questions, just a statement on your squad being here for March Madness.

Wade: Yeah, we’re happy to be here. Look, we didn’t finish the season as strong as we’d like, and, you know, we put ourselves in this position, and so we’re excited to be in the tournament. We’re excited to be in Dayton. It’s a great basketball city, great basketball fans, great basketball arena, everything, and so we’re very excited to be here, and doesn’t matter how we finish the season, everybody’s zero and zero, and see if we can get a little momentum and play better here in the tournament.

Reporter: Hi, Coach. Steven Wright, Dayton Daily News. You began talking about it right there. Just what was kind of the initial reaction like once you guys saw your name pop up that you were coming to Dayton?

Wade: Well, I mean, if I’m being truthful, we were pretty surprised, but, look, we’re happy to be in it. You know, I don’t think we thought there was maybe a slight chance we’d be in Dayton, but, look, Dayton’s the NCAA Tournament, so we’re excited to be in it, and, you know, everybody was pretty quiet when it popped up, but, you know, we got a job to do, and we need to start playing our best basketball, and it’s a great experience to be here. This can propel us forward if we use this the right way.

Reporter: Quick turnaround, but does it help in playing a team for a second time?

Wade: Yeah, it’ll help. I mean, look, we played them on a quick turnaround in Maui, too. I mean, it was the third day of a three-day tournament, so we played them on a quick turnaround there, as well, so it certainly helps a little bit. We have some familiarity with Texas. They have some familiarity with us. I’m sure it helps them. I’m sure it helps them some, as well.

Reporter: Coach, what do you like about the qualities that this team has to be able to make a deep run in March?

Wade: Well, the number one thing that we do is we can shoot the ball really well. We’re in the top ten teams in the country in three-point shooting, and so that’s really what that’s our calling card for better or worse. Sometimes we don’t shoot it well, and we get pounded, and some nights we shoot it well, and we look really good, so hopefully tomorrow night’s one of those nights where we shoot it well.

Reporter: Is there something you’ll take from that game in Maui into this game that you think will help your team?

Wade: Well, hopefully we guard them better. We gave up 102 to them in Maui, so maybe the fans would like that. Everybody scores 100 or something, but we need to be better defensively. We gave up 16 threes. We gave up a ton of stuff at the rim. We fouled them quite a bit. They do a great job drawing fouls, and so we need to do a better job cleaning that up.

Reporter: I believe this is the second time now in a couple years in your first year in a program you’ve been able to lead it into the NCAA tournament with this different era of roster building in the way that you go about things, especially with NIL. Is there any sort of different challenges that you kind of encountered during that time compared to your first year in other programs?

Wade: Yeah, I mean, it’s a lot more challenging the higher level you go to because there’s less and less players that kind of get through the filter that can play for you and make an impact and help you initially, and so I think we put this roster together the best we could, but as you’ll see tomorrow, I mean, we’re small. You know, Ven was up here, right? I mean, he’s our starting center. A lot of the A-10 teams have bigger starting centers than we have, but Vin’s been an absolute warrior for us, reliable, dependable. He’s been awesome for us all year, but, you know, look, when you’re putting together a roster on the fly, you’re going to have some limitations. We have some limitations, but we’ve got some great stuff, too, which is that we really shoot the ball, and Vin’s really, really efficient around the basket, and so there’s some good things as well, but, you know, it’s certainly a challenge when you have to go get bulk players. I think it’s a lot better when you only got to get three or four. You can hone in on those main guys, but we went and got 11 or 12 out of the portal, and, you know, it certainly makes it challenging. You can’t do as much research, and you can’t do as much intel as you’d like to do on every kid.

Reporter: Having a guy like Quadir or Darrion who, you know, they had some great games in the tournament last year, how, you know, nice is it to have players that, you know, are proven to, you know, play better once they get to March Madness time?

Wade: Well, we’ll find out tomorrow. We’re hopeful. You know, we have a lot of NCAA tournament experience. Ven-Allen Lubin was here last year with North Carolina. Darrion was in the Elite Eight with Texas Tech. Paul McNeil was at NC State last year, but this is his first NCAA tournament. Tre Holloman went to the Elite Eight with Michigan State, and Quadir was with me at McNeese where we won a game, so that’s our starting lineup. We got a freshman who comes off the bench, Matt Able, to be his first tournament. We got Terrence Arceneaux who comes off the bench, who was at University of Houston. I told him he’s seen the full spectrum now, final four and first four, so he’s seen the whole deal, but, you know, so, you know, look, we’ve got, you know, of our seven guys, five of our seven, you know, have extensive and deep NCAA tournament experience, and hopefully that’ll show tomorrow. That was the idea in putting the roster together and getting some of these guys with tournament experience, and hopefully that’ll shine through tomorrow.

Reporter: Coach Wade. How are you?

Wade: I’m doing well. Good.

Reporter: How’s the transition been personally for you from one school to the other?

Wade: Well, all of them are different. This one at NC State’s been pretty smooth, for better or worse. I’ve done this five times now, so you get a little bit used to it. We don’t want to… I’m tired of doing it, so we don’t want to do it anymore, but, you know, you get a little bit used to it, and every time it gets a little bit easier, but it takes a minute to get into the rhythm of every school you go to and every place you go to. There’s a different rhythm, and so it takes some time to get used to that, and, you know, we’ve gotten in rhythm here at NC State.

Reporter: Just a reminder to our members of the media, if you could say your name and affiliation before every question, we’d greatly appreciate that. Coach, when is NC State at its best?

Wade: At its best when we’re making shots, so hopefully the rims are soft, and we can make a few shots here at UD Arena.

Reporter: Favorite memory in the arena?

Wade: Well, came here and got beat quite a few times when I was at VCU, so the last time I was here in the first four was the first year of the first four. I was an assistant at VCU when we beat Southern Cal and went all the way to the final four, so that would by far be the best memory here.