PROVIDENCE, R.I. — At some point in the near future, the Will Wade era at McNeese State will end. Just not yet.
Wade is widely expected to be the next head coach at North Carolina State, bringing the 42-year-old coach back into the major-conference landscape just three years after his unceremonious departure from LSU amid an NCAA investigation into widespread recruiting violations.
N.C. State is focused on a singular fact that has defined his career across four different stops: Yeah, Wade might come with more baggage than an Airbus, but he just wins, period.
Facing off against No. 5 Clemson, the No. 12 Cowboys scored the first significant upset of the NCAA men’s tournament by harassing the Tigers into an 18-point halftime hole and then holding on for dear life to score a 69-67 win.
“I’ve been focused on the game,” Wade said. “I know everybody else, you know, thinks there are distractions and stuff. We operate the same way all the time. We haven’t operated any differently.”
Taking advantage of Clemson’s putrid shooting and forcing the tempo with a deep rotation, McNeese led 23-8 with seven minutes left in the first half and went into the break ahead 31-13. At that point, the Tigers were outscored by McNeese guard Brandon Murray, who had 14 points at halftime and finished with a team-high 21 points.
The Tigers made just 5-of 24 attempts from the field in the first half, including a stunning 1-of-15 from 3-point range. These misfires were a carryover from the final three games of the regular season, which saw Clemson go a combined 13-of-63 from deep.
This horror show continued coming out of the locker room. Clemson drew within 15 points at 31-16 a minute and a half into the second half, but McNeese quickly pulled ahead 40-16 with 16:14 left. The Tigers trimmed that lead to 51-38 with 6:10 to play and continued to draw closer and closer, scoring 11 points in the final 38 seconds to finish within a possession of the Cowboys.
“They’re not a bad team. They’re a good team,” guard DJ Richards said of Clemson. “Good teams never give up, and we knew that. We knew they were going to lay a punch, we knew they were going to lay a haymaker. We just had to withstand it. We had to be able to live another day and that’s what we’re doing, we’re playing this weekend.”
In addition to Murray, McNeese guard Christian Shumate had 13 points and 11 rebounds. Eight Cowboys played at least 17 minutes, showcasing one of the deepest benches in this year’s field. Every McNeese player that played in at least 20 games this season averaged at least 13.9 minutes per game.
No. 12 seeds have won at least one first-round game in 34 of the past 40 tournaments. The exceptions are the 1988, 2000, 2007, 2015, 2018 and 2023 tournaments.
“It still feels like a dream,” Shumate said. “I’m sure in a couple days or when this is all over I’ll wake up and look back at it like, OK, that really did happen.”
At the center of this upset stands Wade, one of the most polarizing figures in college coaching.
Thought to be borderline untouchable coming off the violations at LSU that left him under a two-year show-cause ban, Wade has been able to turn himself back into a major-conference candidate by transforming McNeese into a Southland Conference powerhouse. After going 30-4 in Wade’s debut, the Cowboys are now 28-6 overall this year and a combined 36-2 in league play the past two seasons.
While the coaching-change game of musical chairs typically heats up with the start of March Madness, requiring some coaches to balance current and future opportunities, how Wade has handled the off-court gossip about his potential departure helped the Cowboys stay focused on the task at hand, players said.
He’s been surprisingly transparent in conversations with the media and his players, admitting during a press conference on Wednesday that his representatives had been in contact with N.C. State and that he’d discussed the opportunity with his team.
“I think when you’re in the loop and both ends are transparent about things, there’s not too much room for conflict,” Shumate said. “Everybody is aware of everything that’s going on, and when there’s a clear understanding, everybody keeps the same angle in front of mind.”
Before the Clemson game, Wade and the Cowboys “had a real talk with each other,” Richards said, about the vital importance of ignoring the outside noise about his future and focusing on the task of playing one of the best teams in the ACC.
“It’s hard to find coaches in college basketball like him,” said guard Javohn Garcia. “Coach always says he’s worried about this team, this year. He’s not worried about what happens next year. When it gets to that moment, we’ll figure it out. But he just said, ‘Worry about this team.’ We’ve got to finish a good tournament. We owe the fans, the school.”
McNeese next meets No. 4 Purdue, which beat No. 13 High Point 75-63. As against Clemson, the Cowboys will be underdogs against a bigger and more-experienced opponent; the Tigers reached last year’s Elite Eight and the Boilermakers went all the way to the championship game before losing to Connecticut.
History says the end of this tournament run — and the end of the Wade era — is lurking around the corner: No. 12 seeds have now scored 56 wins against No. 5 seeds since the tournament expanded in 1985, but just two of those teams have advanced to the Elite Eight.
“We’ve broken every record in the book,” Wade said. “We want to keep this going. We want to keep this going.”