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Texas battles NC State for fifth place in Maui Invitational

by: Keenan Womack2 hours ago

Much like my own disappointing performance at the office during Thanksgiving week, Texas fell flat in their opening game of the Maui Invitational, blowing a 10-point lead late in the second half against an Arizona State team that was ranked outside of the top 80 on KenPom heading into the tournament. Moe Odum came up bigger than an XL Tommy Bahama shirt for the Sun Devils, scoring 36 points in a foul-heavy, three-hour-long matchup that featured 49 whistles and 63 attempts from the stripe.

The Longhorns bounced back against Chaminade last night, scoring 119 points in a game that will not count towards much of anything, given the Honolulu-native Silverswords play Division-II basketball. The only tangible result of the matchup was that Texas will now face a Will-Wade-led NC State squad for the honor of fifth place at the Maui Invitational.

NC State roster

Like Young Jeezy circa 2007, Will Wade and the Wolfpack made it rain with dollar bills in the offseason, signing several high-profile transfers while retaining some of their important pieces from last year’s team, most notably Paul McNeil, who is getting some NBA Draft buzz.

Their starting lineup is as follows.

Here are the other important contributors.

The most notable of all of these players is preseason all-ACC forward Darrion Williams, a Texas Tech transfer that had one of the highest price tags in the portal. He’s living up to the billing so far, leading NC State with 20.2 points per game on 58.7% from the field, as well as adding 5.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists, grabbing the attention of NBA scouts in the process.

Michigan State transfer Tre Holloman is the primary ball handler, and his 12.2 points per game are third on the team behind just Williams and McNeil. Though he has a decently high usage rate, he is not an elite passer by any means, with an even assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.3 a piece.

The offense flows more through wing Quadir Copeland, who followed Will Wade from Murray State to Raleigh to help rebuild the NC State program. Copeland’s 4.5 assists per game leads the team, with no one else really close.

UNC transfer Ven-Allen Lubin is the closest thing to a “big man” in the Wolfpack’s starting lineup, something of which Sean Miller has surely taken note. A journeyman that has played at Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, and North Carolina, Lubin lead the ‘Pack in rebounding with 7.2 boards per game, though he will certainly have his work cut out for him against the size of the Texas front court.

The player with the highest ceiling as a professional is off-guard Paul McNeil, whose knack for shooting off of the dribble and ability to connect from three (38.1% on 7.0 attempts per game) make him a player that can be extremely dangerous once he catches fire. Many scouts and analysts have projected him right outside the first round of a loaded 2026 NBA Draft class.

Paul McNeil NC State Wolfpack
Mar 1, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; North Carolina State Wolfpack guard Paul McNeil (2) dribbles against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the first half at McCamish Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Will Wade offense

Offensively, Wade emphasizes ball screens on every possession, early and often. The goal of his offense is to get the defense to switch in order to create mismatches, as opposed to the functional chaos of Bobby Hurley’s system (functional chaos? What is this, my sophomore year of college?). In the case of a player like Darrion Williams, the idea would be to get him into advantageous positions against smaller Texas defenders (like Jordan Pope or Chendall Weaver) by using screens to create switches.

The difference between a Miller offense and a Wade offense is that Wade does not push for threes as much as most NBA-inspired coaches do; instead, he pushes for rim attempts and short roll passing. This is why his small-ball centers and forwards have to be at least decent passers; it makes sense that Williams is his second-leading assist man instead of guards Tre Holloman or Paul McNeil. If they do shoot threes, Wade wants them in the corners, meaning the Texas bigs will have to balance staying around the rim to prevent paint touches as well as stepping out to defend potential baseline jumpers.

Will Wade defense

The Wolfpack will switch 1-through-4, with heavy emphasis on nail help and preventing penetration through the middle. This includes stunting with the wing defender (Copeland and/or Williams typically) to prevent easy drives down the middle. In essence, it’s a defense that will on paper be very difficult for this current iteration of Texas to score against likely in their typical way, as they have relied heavily on Dailyn Swain‘s and Tramon Mark‘s attacking the basket head on through the paint.

The way that Texas will be able to beat Wade’s pack line-esque system will be post entries to Matas Vokietaitis; though the Wolfpack guards will be instructed to dig on such plays, Texas may just have too much size on the interior for NC State to effectively stifle.

The typical weaknesses for Wade’s defenses are twofold in that they (a) give up a lot of offensive rebounds and (b) struggle to deal with hot shooting teams on bad switches. They also can get into foul trouble due to their physicality in bumping cutters and bodying up post players. Considering how many fouls have been called in Maui, this could be an area to take advantage for Miller and company as well as getting as many second-chance points as possible.

Darrion Williams, NC State
NC State senior power forward Darrion Williams had 28 points Monday in a 85-79 win over Virginia Commonwealth in Raleigh. (The Associated Press)

How Texas can win

Texas has relied upon cleaning the offensive glass throughout their two games in Maui and should be a major part of their strategy today against NC State. This skill combined with the Horns’ major size advantage means that attacking the paint through post entries and going hard after misses could result in points in the paint for Sean Miller’s team, even though such points will not be based upon drives from the top of the key. Though they won’t be able to take advantage of the gap help holes due to a poor shooting profile, they should simply force feed Vokietaitis and get the NC State bigs in foul trouble.

This may be a game where Miller employs a double-big lineup to take advantage of the Wolfpack’s weaknesses, as having both Vokietaitis (7-foot) and Lassina Traore (6-foot-10) on the floor could cause problems for a smaller front line. The Wolfpack may counter by throwing in Musa Sagnia for size purposes.

On defense, the key for Texas will be to prevent easy paint touches for Williams, as well as being extremely disciplined on switches, possibly utilizing help defense when NC State gets a favorable matchup against one of the Longhorns’ smaller defenders. They will also need to closely monitor McNeil on the perimeter, especially considering what Arizona State’s Moe Odum did to them shooting threes off of the bounce in Monday’s game.

The Wolfpack are a 3.5-point favorite over Texas tonight, and given the talent level of each roster, this is not all that surprising. What they failed to take into account, however, is the size differential and the ability for Texas to impact the game on the glass and with points in the paint. The Longhorns can win if they contain McNeil and prevent Williams from getting easy matchups inside the arc, but if they lack integrity on the perimeter defensively, fans may be dealing with a similar situation to the game against the Sun Devils: a frustrating, high-scoring game with little defense.

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