Fans cheer during a timeout in the second half of N.C. State’s 85-73 win over Wake Forest on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, N.C.
Kaitlin McKeown
The News and Observer
RALEIGH
The full N.C. State men’s basketball schedule hasn’t officially been released, but head coach Will Wade provided some sneak peeks this week.
During his summer news conference, Wade discussed a multitude of topics, including the upcoming schedule. The program has officially announced six games but Wade told reporters on Wednesday the schedule is complete.
The News & Observer requested copies of all the non-conference contracts in June, but the university has not yet released them. Wade said he is unsure if they are all complete.
Pending any changes, the Wolfpack is set to play N.C. Central in its season opener Nov. 3 at Lenovo Center. It is then expected to host Birmingham (Nov. 7) and VCU (Nov. 17).
The Pack is also expected to play UNC-Asheville, UNC-Greensboro and Liberty. It’s unclear when these games are scheduled. Wade said he didn’t know the dates. Additionally, the team plays Texas Southern for the program’s heritage game at Reynolds Coliseum, typically scheduled in early December.
N.C. State plays the Maui Invitational during Thanksgiving week, but the matchups have not been released.
The non-conference schedule includes a trio of Power Four games as well. The team travels to Auburn on Dec. 3 for the ACC-SEC Challenge before welcoming Kansas to Raleigh on Dec. 13. It rounds out the marquee matchups with a game in Greensboro against Ole Miss on Dec. 21.
The team is set to play 13 non-conference games and 18 ACC matchups. This comes after the league reduced its schedule to 18 games. Now, conference opponents play every team at least once with one secured rival and one variable rival each year.
Wade said the staff was strategic about how it plotted out the schedule, both to benefit the NCAA Tournament resume and fan support.
When it comes to the buy games against smaller schools, N.C. State sought to play in-state programs. He has relationships with the head coaches at N.C. Central (Levelle Moton), UNC-Greensboro (Mike Jones) and UNC-Asheville (Mike Morrell), all of whom reached out when he got the job.
“I think it’s important for our fans that we play as many of those local teams as you can,” Wade said. “Those guys called and wanted to play, we’re going to play. And I think it makes sense. If we’re going to ask fans to come to Lenovo, we’re going to ask fans to come to the games, we at least need to have teams that they’re familiar with, so we try to do that as much as we can within the area.”
Scheduling isn’t just doing people or opponents a favor, though. UNC Asheville and Greensboro are both regular contenders in their respective leagues.
The Spartans, specifically, finished outside the SoCon the top three just twice in the last nine seasons, and they have never finished below .500 in conference play in Jones’ three seasons as head coach.
NC Central, meanwhile, has made four NCAA Tournament appearances under Moton and won the 2020 MEAC regular-season title.
Plus, Texas Southern — while not local — has earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament seven times since 2014.
“You want teams that are going to run up wins within their league,” Wade said. “You’re trying to balance, ‘Hey, look, local teams.’ You’re also trying to balance teams that aren’t playing a bunch of other ACC schools, so you don’t pull from the same numerics in the NET.”
Kaitlin McKeown The News and Observer
NC State scheduling strategies
When it comes to the major matchups, Wade said he wishes they could’ve done home-and-home matchups for every opponent. He understands the significance of having high major games on campus. In fact, the staff discussed the possibility with Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard.
The numbers, however, support neutral-site contests, ensuring the games will be a Quad 1 result for both teams.
“When I got the ACC schedule and saw that our permanent opponents were Virginia and Wake [Forest], who our home opponents were and who our road opponents were, it skewed the math on how many Quad 1 games we had,” Wade said. “We didn’t have enough Quad 1 games within our league, so I felt like we had to go get another.”
N.C. State will play another neutral-site game closer to Ole Miss next season. Wade said the ACC will only provide so many Quad 1 games, so they made a conscious decision to seek those opportunities.
“They tell us on the front end who (are) the teams we’re playing. You can project out how many of those games are going to be Quad 1, Quad 2, Quad 3,” Wade said. “You know what an average NCAA Tournament resume looks like and how many Quad 1, Quad 2, Quad 3 games they play. Then you just do simple addition and subtraction. The league’s going to get us seven. We need 12. We gotta go get five. It’s simple.”
