3 things Will Wade learned after his first season at NC State

NC State coach Will Wade walked down the ramp inside UD Arena with a dejected face. He’d spent the last two hours of real time — 40 minutes on the game clock — working to get his team over the hump against Texas.  But, instead of finding a way to complete what would have been a double-digit comeback, the Wolfpack struggled to close out yet another game. It was what doomed the team for most of its last month and a half of games, losing late-game leads to both Miami and Notre Dame, and it came back to bite NC State one more time.  Only this time, ending the Pack’s season in the NCAA Tournament’s First Four in Dayton. “A disappointing end to a disappointing season,” Wade said once he reached the locker room door at the end of the hallway. “I wish some of these guys would have had that emotion a month ago. But, you can’t cheat the game. You can’t cheat what you earn. You get what you earn. We lost another close game. You are who you are in pressure moments, and this is the way our season was going to end one way or another. We just didn’t want it to be in Dayton. Very disappointing.” Although it wasn’t where Wade or anyone in an NC State-logoed shirt believed the team would finish its season, the 2025-26 campaign served as a critical learning experience for the staff. So much so that Wade was quick to double down on that fact, noting that changes were coming "up and down the program."  The ever confident coach delivered his most-honest assessment of the team just moments after his team’s final game of the year.  “I wouldn’t worry about us. We’ll be hell next year,” Wade said. “This will be the worst team we have at NC State right here. You just watched it. This is the floor of our program, and we will be much better moving forward.” Here are three things Wade learned from his first season in Raleigh.