NC State coach Will Wade spiritedly defends Darrion Williams after win over Wake Forest

NC State coach Will Wade seemed ready for the question about star forward Darrion Williams, who has scored a combined 9 points on 3-of-20 shooting in his last two outings. He was ready to fire whenever it was sent his way. 

And when it was teed up for him after the Wolfpack’s 79-57 win over Wake Forest on Wednesday afternoon, the first-year coach was there to back his coveted offseason transfer portal addition.. 

Que the exchange.

Reporter: “What’s your concern level where Darrion’s game is?”

Wade: “Absolutely zero. I’m tired of hearing about freaking Darrion. He’s f****** playing well, alright? It’s a terrible question. It’s a terrible question. Let me be frank with you, he affects winning. Everybody’s out here bitching about him and all this stuff. He affects winning. He was plus-13 against Ole Miss and didn’t hit a shot, and everybody’s acting like the world’s caving in. The guy’s a damn good player. 

“He didn’t shoot it well today. What did he have? Who had zero turnovers for us today? Darrion Williams! Six rebounds, four assists and zero turnovers. Everybody needs to shut the hell up about him. He’s a damn good player, and the shot’s going to fall. I’m tired of answering questions about him. He’s really good. We’re thankful to have him.”

Wade, whose voice rose with frustration and complexion was different from how he answered other questions in his eight-minute long press conference, was there to defend his star player. He’s never been one to shy away from saying what he feels, and this was no different. 

Williams, who was ranked as the No. 5 player in the transfer portal cycle by On3, entered the season with high expectations surrounding his play. He was named the ACC’s Preseason Player of the Year, despite not playing a second of basketball in the conference before his arrival from Texas Tech. That only poured gasoline onto the sky-high standards that those outside the program were going to hold on him. 

While the Sacramento, Calif., native opened his one-season Wolfpack tenure with eight double-digit scoring efforts — highlighted by an electric two game stretch 32 points with six made 3-pointers in a 110-64 win over UNCG and 28 points against VCU five days later — he has since cooled off. It wasn’t by his own accord, either, rather a shoulder injury sustained at the Maui Invitational seemed to play a factor. 

Over the Wolfpack’s last five games he’s played in — he missed the blowout win over Texas Southern due to the injury — Williams has averaged 8.6 points with 6.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists on a 33.2 percent shooting clip. He turned in 8 points with six rebounds, four assists, a block and a steal on 3-of-12 shooting in 21 minutes in the ACC-opening win over Wake Forest.

As Wade put it, the injury was “really bad.” Williams could have sat for a month’s time to let it recover, but he wanted to play, according to Wade.

“Most kids making the money he is would have shut it down for five games,” Wade said. “He laid it on the line for NC State for five games with a shitty shoulder.”

While Williams hasn’t provided the scoring punch that fans expected from him over the past month of action, and some on social media have grown vocal in their displeasure. It seems like Wade, a coach that isn’t on Twitter but has his assistant show him pertinent things each week, has noticed that, putting his energy into defending his player. It’s something he’s willing to do for anyone on his roster, especially the one that is likely at the top of the team’s payroll.

“I’m tired of people picking on the kid, man. I got it, he makes a lot of money for us,” Wade said. “But there’s about 10 other schools that would pay as much or more than we paid for the kid. The kid’s not perfect. I understand that. The kid’s not perfect, but he’s a damn good player and we are lucky to have him at NC State. He picked us over a lot of schools with a lot better situations than we had at the time he picked us. Let’s be frickin appreciative, let’s support the kid, let’s help the kid.”

While Wade acknowledged the elephant in the room in the current era of college basketball where high annual salaries are a given at this level, he was quick to point out what Williams has done for the team while playing through the injury. 

From his point of view, he isn’t just a warm body on the floor each night. Even though his shooting hasn’t been where anyone would like it, averaging just 3.4 made baskets in the last five games compared to the 7.3 he had in his first half dozen, Wade believes that Williams’ presence alone contributes to winning. Add in his rebounding and ability to rack up assists and the forward has been a critical piece of the Pack’s winning ways. 

“At the end of the day, it’s our job to win for NC State. He helps NC State win. Period. End of discussion,” Wade said. “And all this other stuff is a bunch of noise that people don’t know what they’re talking about. … He’s a damn good player. He’s going to help us win a lot of games in the ACC, so I’m tired of it.”

Wade isn’t going to change who he is. That was a given from the day he accepted the job at NC State. He’s a passionate coach that is going to stick up for his program where he sees fit, and the veteran coach did just that when it came to defending his star player in Williams.