Paul McNeil has record night as NC State tops TSU. What we learned in a Pack win

Reynolds Coliseum erupted into cheers and a standing ovation from the Wolfpack faithful after Paul McNeil hit a program-record 10th 3-pointer of the game.

McNeil was then greeted by his teammates in the huddle as they patted him on the back and celebrated his accomplishment. But he didn’t check out. Head coach Will Wade left McNeil in the game, and he hit an 11th 3. Rodney Monroe previously held the record with nine made 3s.

The sophomore put together a career-high 47-point night to lift N.C. State past Texas Southern, 108-72, on Wednesday night.

It was clear McNeil was in for a massive performance from the start. McNeil jump-started the offense by scoring the first points of the game with a corner 3-pointer. He’d shot 4 for 4 from the perimeter for 12 points by the first media timeout. McNeil hit two free throws and another 3-pointer shortly after the break for a perfect 5-of-5 start.

McNeil’s perfect night ended when he missed a pair of 3s roughly six minutes into the game, but his career performance was far from over.

He scored 26 points in the first half on 7-of-9 3-point shooting. McNeil was one point shy of matching his career high and set a new personal best from 3. The sophomore surpassed his scoring best 2 ½ minutes into the second period and followed that up with another long-range dagger and free throw.

McNeil’s 47 points were a season high for the team. He is now tied with Sammy Ranzino (1951) for No. 5 in program history.

“Records are meant to be broken,” McNeil said. “I feel like somebody is gonna break mine one day. I’m just blessed to be this position.”

He shot 12-18 from the field, 11-15 from 3 and 12-12 from the free-throw line.

McNeil added 10 rebounds for his first career double-double.

The sophomore from Rockingham actually entered the game in a shooting slump. He made just 5 of 20 from 3 (20%) in the previous four games, including three games with only one 3-pointer. His best game had been a 27-point performance against UNC-Greensboro, when he set now-previous career highs in scoring and 3-point makes (6).

McNeil’s highlights will focus on the scoring, but he did everything for the Pack, from pulling down rebounds to going airborne to contest shots and forcing a couple of turnovers.

It seemed appropriate that his big night came at the Old Barn. McNeil is the lone scholarship player remaining from Kevin Keatts’ tenure, a merging of two eras in N.C. State basketball, just as playing one game in Reynolds every season honors the program’s history.

Wade complimented McNeil’s performance, saying the young guard deserves to have a game like he did, considering the work he puts in. He often stays late in the gym or misses off-court team outings to get in more practice.

“Paul don’t complain. You got a lot of guys like to complain. He don’t ever complain. He just goes to work, figures it out,” Wade said. “I always stick with him. I make changes, but I usually stick with him because I trust his work, trust who he is. He’s going to struggle some, but he’s gonna have more good nights for us than bad nights. He was in a little bit of a slump. I’m just happy to see him get out of it. He got out of it, in grand fashion.

“Very happy with him. He works very hard; very diligent and does what we ask him to do.”

Scottie Ebube scored a season-high five points, three rebounds and three blocks. Jerry Deng also scored 14 points on 4-of-10 3-point shooting.

The Wolfpack’s defense, however, struggled at times. Wade expressed his displeasure.

“In the first half, they missed 16 shots. Had eight offensive rebounds. [Duane] Posey was at Northwestern State last year. My team at McNeese guarded him better than we did,” Wade said. Posey finished with six of the Tigers’ 15 offensive rebounds. “My front line at freaking McNeese could block him out. … Not good enough. We make mistakes in shootaround. We make mistakes in practice. They make the same mistakes in the game.”

Williams sits for the night

The Wolfpack played without Darrion Williams, whom the program announced as unavailable an hour before the game. Williams sustained a shoulder injury earlier this season and played limited minutes against UNC-Asheville in an attempt to rest Williams ahead of the Kansas game. He is expected to play against Ole Miss on Sunday in Greensboro.

Williams averages 16 points and 5.6 points per game. The Texas Tech transfer scored 17 points and added 10 rebounds, his second double-double of the season, in the Wolfpack’s 77-76 overtime loss to the Jayhawks.

N.C. State used Williams’ absence, and the opponent, to play around with its lineup.

Quadir Copeland, Alyn Breed, Paul McNeil, Musa Sagnia and Ven-Allen Lubin were tabbed for the start, with Breed and Sagnia earning their first starts in a Wolfpack uniform. That proved effective against TSU, holding the Tigers to just four shot attempts in the four eight minutes.

It also used Deng alongside Sagnia. Terrance Arceneaux played with Matt Able and Tre Holloman.

While some lineups worked better than others, this was a good chance for the Pack to further pare down its regular rotation while developing other possible lineups that could be used depending on the matchup.

The standard is the standard

“What the [expletive] are you doing?” Will Wade screamed at Matt Able, his face red and spit spraying from his mouth. Able had just picked up his third foul of the game, sending Zaire Hayes to the line.

That was the third instance of Wade’s visible anger in roughly three minutes. He also yelled at Ebube for committing two fouls in the span of three seconds, and at a group of players for missing a defensive rebound and allowing TSU’s Posey to grab his own rebound and make the putback. The team was up 21 points.

Wade gave his team an early second-half earful after it allowed the Tigers to start 6 for 10 from the field, including a trio of 3s.

N.C. State has been perfectly clear: The team can be playing the worst team in college basketball and lead by 25 points, but no one is safe from a verbal lashing if they’re not playing to the program’s expectation.

“Whether you’re in late or just throughout the game, when you go in, you’ve got to be effective and play to our standard,” Williams said on Nov. 12 following the win over UNC-Greensboro. “If we don’t play to our standards, we pay the price next time in practice.”

Wade’s spirited responses after bad plays reiterated that point.

“He holds us to high expectations,” Ebube said. “He wants us to work hard. He wants us to get the 50/50, balls, and wants us to play hard at all times. Having that expectation from him is a blessing.”

Rebounding makes big impact

N.C. State’s offense couldn’t always get the shot to fall against Texas Southern. In fact, there was a stretch in the first half when the Wolfpack missed 9 of 11 of its attempts. Its rebounding, however, played a role in the team’s ability to maintain and extend its lead.

The Wolfpack jumped out to a 10-rebound advantage early in the first half, leading 15-5. It maintained that advantage at halftime, out-rebounding the Tigers 25-15. Of those 25 rebounds, 10 came on the offensive end. N.C. State turned those into 14 second-chance points.

Rebounding and the ability to force turnovers led to six TSU shot attempts in the first eight minutes of play. The Pack took 18 in that stretch.

At halftime, the Pack led 25-15, off 10 offensive rebounds with 14 second-chance points.

The Pack came out of the locker room somewhat sluggish off the glass, but it picked things up as the half progressed. It finished with a rebounding advantage of 45-33, including 17 offensive boards.

N.C. State’s rebounding has slowly improved. It is now 7-0 when out-rebounding the opponent. The team, however, still has room to develop more consistency. Its win, which allowed bench players to earn valuable reps, was a step forward.

This story was originally published December 17, 2025 at 9:14 PM.