NC State opens Will Wade era as significant favorite against NC Central

A new era of NC State men’s basketball has arrived. After months of building up to Will Wade’s first game on the sideline of the Lenovo Center, the Wolfpack is set to host NC Central on Monday night. 

The Pack is a 30.5-point favorite against the Eagles, according to BetMGM, to kick off Wade’s tenure in Raleigh. 

Although NC Central is the lowest-rated team on NC State’s schedule, according to KenPom, as the No. 327-ranked team going into the new season, that didn’t discourage the Wolfpack from scheduling the local team. Instead, Wade was intentional about putting the Eagles on the non-conference slate. 

The 42-year-old coach, who has been longtime friends with NC Central coach LaVelle Moton, elected to add the Eagles to the Wolfpack’s non-conference competition in an effort to make buy-game funds the most impactful for the mid-major program. 

“If we’re going to spend the money, we might as well keep the money in state. We might as well help out our people around us,” Wade said. “That’s more my philosophy than the overarching athletic department philosophy, and they may get mad at me for saying that. My point being, it makes a big impact for NC Central.”

NC Central, who will receive $90,000 for playing Monday night, will be able to use most of that payment for its athletic department as NC State is an easy 18-mile bus trip on the day of the game instead of spending a significant amount of it for a flight and hotel. 

Wade, who also has UNCG and UNC Asheville on the schedule over the next two months for the same reason, can’t see a reason bad enough to avoid playing in-state mid-majors — even though most Power Conference programs refuse to schedule those around them nationally.

After all, Wade was on the other side of the negotiations the past two seasons at McNeese. 

“It’s good for them, it’s good for the state and it’s good for the fans,” Wade said. “I don’t see much downside to it. The downside, for me and this is why people don’t do it, is that these teams are fired up to play against us. Every kid at Central thinks they should be playing at NC State. They’re all going to think that, especially when you have the in-state kids. Those kids are all going to be excited to play us, and they’ll have an extra edge to them. That’s the tradeoff, but I think the positives outweigh the negatives.”

As NC State prepares to embark on its path back to the NCAA Tournament, it will do so in front of a sold-out crowd against NC Central. The program’s ticket sales are up, and the home schedule features two other in-state mid-major programs with the likes of Kansas, Duke and UNC later in the season, and it is partly a direct result of Wade’s scheduling philosophy.

“It’s great to play any of the teams in this state,” Wade said. “I think it’s good for our fans. If you’re going to ask people to pay to watch us play … you might as well do it with teams they’re familiar with.”

How to watch or listen to NC State vs. NC Central

TV:
Tipoff time: 7 p.m.
Location: Lenovo Center (sold out)
Streaming: ACC Network Extra
Talent: Andrew Sanders (play-by-play) and Casey Morsell (analyst)

Radio:
Network: WRAL 101.5 FM or The Varsity Network App
Talent: Matt Chazanow (play-by-play) and Chucky Brown (analyst)

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