There are very few things that relate on a similar level like being a fan of the Cardiac Pack. This team continues to give me, as well as other fans, consistent heart attacks, fits of rage, and bursts of joy. Every single game is a different story with a different playbook. Consistency? Never heard of her. Sometimes, consistency is needed when the playbook works well. Why change the narrative if the narrative is winning you games? I ask myself this constantly at the beginning of every NC State Basketball game when I see that the starting lineup has changed or the head coach has decided that the players need to make every shot from the 3-point line. Don’t coaches know that a team needs a mix of inside-the-paint and outside-the-paint shots? I’m asking too many questions and getting ahead of myself, but I’m sure fellow sports fans out there, especially fans of the Cardiac Pack, can relate to my stream of consciousness.
Like I said, some other sports fans can relate to the way that NC State fans see their basketball team. Perhaps you’re a Pittsburgh Steelers fan who watches your team lose to the worst teams and win against the best teams. You know that 9-8 or 10-7 season record is on the horizon and you know that your team will lose in the Wild Card Round. Or, perhaps you’re a Carolina Hurricanes fan who watches your team have an incredible regular season (with a few stupid losses) and then watches them lose to the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Finals. You can’t afford to pull against them because they will always be a strong team, but you know they will never win a national championship if they don’t step up and change their game. Perhaps you’re a fan of all three of these teams, in which case I can relate, and all I can tell you is I’m sorry. Can you tell I have a type? If I’ve missed another major sports team that consistently gives you heart attacks, feel free to let me know.
Now, let’s go back to the 2025-2026 NC State Men’s Basketball team (or, if you have elite ball knowledge like me, you’ll know and refer to them as the Red Reckoning Team). This team has been…well…surprisingly better than most people expected. During the 2025 offseason, the entire team was essentially erased and the school decided to start from scratch. Most of the star players from the 2023-2024 “Why Not Us?” team graduated, including DJ Burns, DJ Horne, and Michael O’Connell. After the 2024-2025 season, even more players like Mohammed Diarra and Ben Middlebrooks graduated and Head Coach Kevin Keatts was fired after finishing at the bottom of the ACC. Seems crazy that you’d fire a coach after they just led your team to an ACC Championship win and a Final Four appearance the year prior, but that’s just me. NC State knew they had some work to do, and that started with finding a new head coach.
Recruiters saw the success that Will Wade was having at McNeese, who led his team to a March Madness run during the 2024-2025 season. After hiring him, the rest of the team essentially built itself. Alyn Breed and Quadir Copeland, both guards, transferred from McNeese to NC State to follow their incredible head coach. Likewise, Ven-Allen Lubin, Terrance Arceneaux, Jerry Deng, Scottie Ebube, Tre Holloman, and Darrion Williams all transferred from the schools they were at to NC State because they saw the vision and talent that Will Wade had. Of all of these players, Ven-Allen Lubin was by far the biggest surprise and addition to the roster, who transferred from rival UNC. To round out their roster and depth, Wade decided to pick up a few star-studded underclassmen, including Matt Able, Musa Sagnia, Paul McNeil Jr., Jayme Kontuniemi, Zymicah Wilkins, and Colt Langdon. Able and McNeil have performed so well this season that both are now on the starting lineup.
Of course, I couldn’t forget the amazing Jordan Snell, who is the only remaining player from the “Why Not Us?” team and continues to give points from the bench to NC State. This talented team has led NC State to a 19-8 overall record and a 10-4 ACC record, making them tied for the fourth best in the ACC. With only four games remaining, NC State hopes to win at least two games to have any hopes of earning an automatic spot in the ACC Tournament. Before I talk about the end of the season, let’s talk about how this team has played so far this year.
Pre-Acc games
Every basketball season starts with a slew of non-conference games. These games are used to build up the record of each team and get everyone warmed up for the games that matter: conference rivalries. This year, NC State played NC Central, UAB, UNCG, VCU, Seton Hall, Boise State, Texas, Auburn, UNC Asheville, Liberty, Kansas, Texas Southern, and Ole Miss before the ACC Home Opener against Wake Forest. For a majority of these games, NC State put BTA. For legal purposes, I can’t spell this out, but feel free to Google it if you’re not sure what I mean. NC State wanted to show their fans that the Pack was back, stunning fans with an incredible video and lights show at the beginning of their season opener against NC Central that showed that this team will henceforth be known as the “Red Reckoning”.
Dominance they wanted, and dominance they got. The Pack beat NC Central and UNCG by over 45 points and Texas Southern by over 35 points. With incredible performances from players like Paul McNeil, who scored 47 points against Texas Southern, breaking the record for the most three-point shots made by an NC State player and tying the respective ACC record, this team sailed past their competition and built up one of the best records in the ACC. The only losses came from Seton Hall, Texas, Auburn, and Kansas. Seton Hall, if you’re not aware, is a private Catholic school with a notoriously well-known basketball program. The Pack lost to them by 11 points. NC State played an incredible game against Texas, but unfortunately, the SEC school was slightly better, beating the Pack by 5. Auburn had an electric home crowd that NC State was not expecting and beat them by 10.
The Kansas game makes me the angriest of all. As someone who attended that game, let me just say that Kansas absolutely paid those refs to win that game. After tying the then 19th ranked Kansas at the end of regulation, the Pack lost by 1 point due to a stellar 36-point performance by Melvin Council Jr. of the Jayhawks. I drove over an hour to attend that game and I was so sad. But, you can’t win them all. The Pack went on to beat Texas Southern and Ole Miss afterwards, putting them on a win streak heading into the ACC Home Opener.
ACC Games Part 1
The first half of the ACC schedule can be explained perfectly in three words: heart attack central. Nothing could have prepared me for some of those final scores. In their home opener, NC State went on to beat Wake Forest by 13 points, which was not a surprise to most. Unfortunately, the Pack earned their first ACC loss to Virginia just four days later, which was also not a surprise considering they were ranked 21st at the time when they played them. NC State lost by 15 points. After that, nothing was normal. NC State travelled to Boston College and beat them by only 8 points, which was a shocker considering NC State was the much better team. I believe they took that margin personally, because they then travelled to Florida State and beat them by 44 points, the largest margin of victory in an ACC road game for NC State and the first time scoring over 100 points in an ACC road game since 1991. The Pack also tied a program record with 19 three-pointers made in the game. Again, BTA.
The madness didn’t stop there. NC State lost their next game to Georgia Tech at home by 4 points. My parents decided to come up that weekend and watch the game with me since I figured we would win that game. NC State is a far better team than Georgia Tech, and that’s not just reflected by comparing records. We paid $100 per seat to watch NC State shoot 37.1% from the field and 36.4% from deep. In other words, they made 37% of their attempted 2-point shots and 36% of their attempted 3-point shots. Our best scorer that game, Quadir Copeland (16 points), shot as many points at Georgia Tech’s third best shooter, Akai Fleming (16 points). It was infuriating watching NC State miss a majority of their shots to a subpar team. I also believe that they took that loss personally, because NC State then went on to play Clemson away and beat them by 4 points in overtime. This doesn’t sound that shocking, except for Clemson was ranked 18th at the time NC State played them and NC State was unranked. I’m shocked, you’re shocked, we’re all shocked.
NC State finally seemed to find their rhythm after that, winning their next 3 games with no issue. Regardless of whether the game was at home or away, they beat each of their opponents by at least 9 points. It seemed that NC State was finally back to a normal rhythm, but that changed when NC State hit the road to Dallas…
Acc Games Part 2
In a nailbiter against SMU, NC State bested the Mustangs by 1 point to win their 8th ACC matchup and extend their win streak to 4. Thanks to performances by Quadir Copeland (16 assists, 10 rebounds), Darrion Williams (25 points), and Matt Able (13 points), NC State overcame a 58-50 deficit to win the game. SMU’s Jaron Pierre Jr. was not enough for NC State’s depth despite putting up a 23-point performance. Just four days later, NC State went on to beat Virginia Tech by 9, which was no surprise considering Virginia Tech is at the bottom of the ACC.
The six game win streak unfortunately came to a close when NC State travelled to play Louisville. I knew NC State did not have a good chance of winning since Louisville was ranked 24th at the time they played. What I didn’t know was how badly they were going to lose. Thanks to stellar performances by Louisville freshman Mikel Brown (45 points), Louisville senior Ryan Conwell (31 points), and the overall Louisville team (60% from three and 60% shots made overall), NC State didn’t stand a chance. Louisville held NC State to just 18.2% from the three. Oh well, you can’t win them all. On to the next game, right?
Wrong, unfortunately. NC State gave lovebirds a horrible heartbreak on Valentines Day after they lost to Miami 77-76. Despite playing an incredible game, Miami went on a late 8-0 run to win the game, thanks to three back-to-back fouls on NC State that I personally think were not fouls. Especially that last foul, like I’m sorry but Darrion Williams did not touch him! I digress. Miami’s Malik Reneau earned 26 points, but NC State shot 87% from the free throw line and 49% from the field goal line. It was truly an unfortunate ending for NC State that couldn’t be helped.
In a classic Tobacco Road rivalry game, NC State dominated UNC at home 82-58 to go 10-4 in the ACC and 19-8 overall. The 24 point margin of victory was the largest that NC State has had over UNC since 1962. Talk about an incredible game. As someone who attended that game, let me tell you, it was electric. The fans were loud, the student section was hype, and the energy was at an all-time high. In my opinion, NC State played their best game of the season that night. They shot 45% from the three, 69% from the free throw line, and 48% overall, holding UNC to just 15% from the three and 32% overall. Quadir Copeland led the team with 20 points, Matt Able and Paul McNeil made several threes, Ven-Allen Lubin stayed consistent throughout the entire game and continued to score points, and Darrion Williams came out of the gate hot and got the Pack rolling. This matchup truly showed the depth that NC State has and the lack of depth that UNC has (their best two players were injured and they lost by 24 points). With that, let’s talk about the last four games and how I think NC State will be situated for the ACC Tournament and beyond.
The future of the team
With just four games to go in the regular season, NC State has just a few opportunities left to secure their spot in the ACC Tournament. Their next two games against Virginia and Notre Dame are away while their last two games against Duke and Stanford are home. As of right now, Virginia is ranked 14th in the nation and 2nd in the ACC and Duke is ranked 3rd in the country and 1st in the ACC. You might be surprised to hear me say this, but I think NC State has a real shot of beating Duke. I highly doubt we’ll beat Virginia again considering we’ve lost to them once and this game will be on their home court. Duke, however, could end up just like the NC State vs. UNC game that was just played. Old school rivalries make rankings and records virtually nonexistent. Look at what UNC did to Duke not too long ago. The Tarheels went on a 9-0 run at the end of the 2nd half to beat Duke 71-68, and they were ranked 14th in the nation at the time while Duke was ranked 4th. Like I said before, I think NC State played their best game this season against UNC. If they can play that way again, they can beat Duke no problem. While not as well known, Duke and NC State also have a long standing rivalry. They’ve beaten a blue Carolina team once, and I have full confidence that they can do it again.
As for their other two matchups, unless something absurd happens, NC State should win. Notre Dame and Stanford are both in the bottom five of the ACC. While they have pretty average records, they have horrible conference records. I’m seeing two W’s as I speak. This means, according to my calculations, that NC State should finish either 22-9 or 21-10 overall (13-5 or 12-6 in the ACC). If the other teams in the ACC continue to play like they have been, NC State should finish fourth overall in the ACC, giving them the last automatic bid spot to the quarterfinals in the ACC Tournament. This could be helpful or detrimental depending on how they spend their time. From what I’ve gathered in the past, teams tend to perform better when they’ve played more games. The longer they wait, the worse they get. If NC State has to wait for two rounds to end in order to play, they could lose all of their momentum. For my sake, I hope that does not happen, but we will have to wait and see. I believe that NC State can finish the rest of this season strong and play well in the ACC Tournament as long as they continue to show depth in their lineup and make shots from the free throw line, inside the paint, and outside the paint. Until then, I will continue to cross my fingers and cheer on the team I love most. Go Pack!