NC State men’s head basketball coach Will Wade is tired of answering questions about Wolfpack forward Darrion Williams. He made that quite clear during a press conference rant after NC State’s 70-57 win over Wake Forest on Wednesday in Raleigh.
“What’s your concern level where Darrion’s game is?” OG Media reporter Joe Giglio asked Wade after Williams scored eight points on 3-of-12 shooting from the field in the victory. Williams — NC State’s leading scorer on the season, averaging 14.8 points per game — scored one point and was 0-of-8 on field goals in the Wolfpack’s previous game, a 76-62 win over Ole Miss.
“Absolutely zero,” Wade angrily responded. “You know, I’m tired of hearing about frickin’ Darrion. He’s f*cking playing well. Alright? It’s a terrible question. It’s a terrible question.”
“Let me be frank with you,” Wade said. “He affects winning. And everybody’s out here b*tching about him and all this stuff. He affects winning. He was plus-13 against Ole Miss, and he didn’t hit a shot. And everybody’s acting like the world’s caving in. The guy’s a damn good player! He didn’t shoot it well today. What did he have? Who had zero turnovers for us today? Darrion Williams! Six rebounds, four assists, zero turnovers.”
“So, everybody needs to shut the hell up about him!” Wade continued. “He’s a damn good player! And the shot’s gonna fall! I’m tired of answering questions about him! He’s really good! We’re thankful to have him! Next question.”
Pat Welter of WRAL (Raleigh NBC affiliate) followed up with a question asking Wade where all of the emotion was coming from, and Wade proceeded to sound off again.
“I’m tired of people picking on the kid, man,” Wade explained. “Alright, I got it. He makes a lot of money for us. But there’s about 10 other schools that have paid as much or more than we paid for the kid. Alright? The kid’s not perfect. I understand that. The kid’s not perfect. But he’s a damn good player, and we are lucky to have him at NC State. He picked us over a lot of schools with a lot better situation than we had at the time he picked us. Let’s be frickin’ appreciative! Let’s support the kid! Let’s help the kid!”
“And he affects us winning games!” Wade elaborated, while getting louder. “Even when he doesn’t make shots, he helps us win! Teams are gameplanning for him! Yeah, it’s an adjustment… He does a lot of winning stuff! And he’s taking a lot of unfair heat right now! Alright? He does a lot of winning stuff! And so, at the end of the day, it’s our job to win for NC State. He helps NC State win! Period! End of discussion! And all this other stuff is a bunch of noise that people don’t know what they’re talking about! I got it; he didn’t make a shot against Ole Miss. It’s the only game in his entire career he hadn’t made a shot!”
“Let me be clear about this: his shoulder injury was really bad!” Wade continued. “Most kids making the money he would, would have shut it down for five games! He laid it on the line for NC State for five games with a s*itty shoulder! It gave us a chance to win some of these games! And people are just piling on his ass! And it’s not right! He’s a damn good player! He’s going to help us win (Wade pounds fist on table) a lot of games in the ACC! So, I’m tired of it!”
While Wade was vehemently defending an NC player in this press conference, he went off about the team being “concerning” during a press conference on Dec. 17, noting, “Kindergarten is over.”
Wade took over as the NC State head coach in March, two days after leading McNeese to an NCAA Tournament upset victory over Clemson.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.