PROVIDENCE, R.I. — No matter where he’s coaching, Will Wade always seems to have something cooking. On Thursday, it was an upset of fifth-seeded Clemson in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, an end-to-end 69-67 victory in his final days as McNeese head coach.
The 12-seed Cowboys led by as many as 24 on their way to the first major upset of this year’s tournament, but didn’t move on without a little excitement and intrigue. That’s not Wade’s style. The Pokes’ lead was trimmed and trimmed over the course of the second half, but never surrendered, setting off a celebration from Providence all the way to Lake Charles, La.
All of this coming less than 24 hours after news broke that Wade has agreed to terms to take over as NC State head coach.
“I’ve been focused on the game. I’ve been on one about the game. Whatever else is happening, that’s of no distraction to us. We operate the same way all the time,” Wade said. “It’s been absolute narrow focus on winning our first NCAA Tournament game at McNeese State. This is just huge for our school.
“Our enrollment’s up 3 percent. Applications are up 10 percent. We’ve gotten freakin’ $25 million worth of free advertising the last couple weeks. Our stuff is going to go through the roof. We want to keep this going.”
If you wondered how Wade’s players would respond to such bizarre circumstances, the answer came immediately. Clemson stepped on the floor at Amica Mutual Pavilion, while McNeese stormed it. An alley-oop to senior Christian Shumate opened the game, and Wade’s team never looked back, making life miserable for a Clemson team that went 18-2 in the ACC.
“I think when you’re in a loop and both ends are transparent about things, there’s not too much room for conflict,” said Shumate, who had 13 points and 11 rebounds. “Everybody is aware of everything that’s going on, and when there’s a clear understanding, everybody keeps the same angle in the front of mind.”
McNeese senior Brandon Murray — playing at his fourth school in as many years, from LSU, where he was on Wade’s last team in 2022, to Georgetown, to Mississippi, to McNeese, back with Wade — scored 14 first-half points off the bench to fuel a 31-13 halftime lead. He finished with a season-high 21 points.
Wade said Wednesday that his greatest concern in the first-round matchup was not having a true center to deal with Clemson’s interior. By the end of Thursday, McNeese outrebounded the Tigers 43-36, scored 16 second-chance points and outscored Clemson in the paint, 44-24.
The upset was born on the defensive end, though. McNeese played man-to-man on nearly 96 percent of its defensive possessions this season, but cooked up confusion for Clemson. Seeing a major size disadvantage, Wade decided to throw a variety of junk zone defenses, along with some switch-everything man-to-man, at the Tigers and countered size with speed and athleticism.
“You try to look for the high-low, look for the shake. That’s not open,” said Clemson’s Chauncey Wiggins, who scored 10 points on 3-for-12 shooting. “It’s like, what do you go to? Then they go back to a 2-3 (zone).”
It worked. Clemson shot 36.8 percent from the field and 9-for-30 on 3s, including 1-for-15 in the first half. The Tigers finally found some range during a frantic few final minutes.
“They probably just played a little bit harder in the beginning,” Clemson star Chase Hunter said. “We weren’t really ready for a fight.”
The Tigers made their late push, using full-court pressure to cut the McNeese lead to single digits and making McNeese survive on the line. Barely.
Clemson is Wade’s alma mater, and during football season the Cowboys never practice if the Tigers are playing. Wade needs to be locked in to the game.
And now McNeese and Wade, together on a last dance, will play fourth-seeded Purdue for a trip to the Sweet 16. The 42-year-old took over a program that hadn’t had a winning season in 13 years and hadn’t been to the NCAA Tournament in 23. The Pokes are now 58-10 over the past two years and have their first NCAA Tournament win since moving to Division I in 1972-73.
“It still feels like a dream,” Shumate said. “I’m sure in a couple of days or when this is all over, I’ll wake up and look back at it like, OK, that really did happen. But right now we stay focused, we’re trying to keep on winning games.”
(Photo of McNeese coach Will Wade: by Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
