Paul McNeil rises to occasion, appears to be the star NC State was looking for in Wake Forest win

NC State freshman guard Paul McNeil went through shootaround as usual inside the Lenovo Center on Saturday afternoon. He was one of the first on the floor, getting shots up as he worked around the perimeter of the Wolfpack’s home court. It was empty, and the former four-star recruit seemed at home. 

And that might have been a sign. 

McNeil, who brought an ultra-competitive scoring sense to the Pack’s roster this season, wasn’t sure how much he would play in that moment, though. His minutes have fluctuated over the last four games with 13 against Louisville and at North Carolina, but just 50 seconds in an 8-point win over Boston College sandwiched in between. 

That didn’t matter. He wanted to be ready when his number was called. But little did McNeil know, his services would be needed sooner than expected. About 10 minutes before tipoff, when NC State returned to the locker room ahead of tipoff against Wake Forest, McNeil was told he’d be starting. 

McNeil, who had yet to play more than 15:23 in any game this season, was primed for long stretches on the floor. The Pack coaching staff had a simple message for McNeil: “We need you to show up.”

Well, it appears he took that to heart. 

McNeil exploded for a career-best 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting, which included a 4-for-7 mark from 3-point distance, with four offensive rebounds, three assists and a steal in 28 minutes. 

“It’s like a dream come true,” said McNeil, who was dripping with water after a postgame celebratory water bottle shower in the locker room. “It’s a blessing for me to have the opportunity. I did well, did the best for my team and we got the ‘W.’”

Growing through the season

There’s a reason why McNeil was used sparingly to open the season. He played nearly 12 minutes in the Pack’s season-opening win over USC Upstate, but didn’t record more than 3:08 of playing time across the team’s next nine games. Through that span, the rookie scored a combined 9 points on 1-of-6 shooting. 

It wasn’t that his scoring prowess was a concern, McNeil set the North Carolina High School record with 71 points as a senior at Richmond Senior High, but his defense was the problem. 

“If you would have seen him the first month or two … he couldn’t guard anybody,” NC State coach Kevin Keatts said. “He didn’t have any interest in guarding anybody. Wasn’t making his shots, wasn’t in shape. He really loved college life. I had to bring him in at one point like, ‘Are you partying every night?’ That’s what freshmen do.”

But as the year went on, McNeil seemed to make strides inside the Dail Basketball Center. He was practicing more consistently, and with that, came more playing time. McNeil played 15 minutes against SMU, which featured his first glimpse at being an energizer bunny with 8 points off the bench. 

The 6-foot-5, 180-pound guard’s defensive intensity has continued to be a bright spot for the Pack. Each time he was featured in the team’s nine-game losing streak that spanned more than a month, McNeil appeared to be one of the team’s better defenders in his short bursts on the court. 

That included a pair of steals against Louisville last Wednesday with one more against Boston College, even though he logged less than a minute. 

“It was hard, man, just coming in as a freshman trying to learn the ways,” McNeil said. “[Keatts has] seen me building, he’s seen me working. He trusted me and it’s paying off.”

A star in the making

McNeil had one goal for his first-career start: to bring energy and fight to Wake Forest first. He had watched UNC deliver the first blow on Wednesday night, which featured a 10-0 run that the Wolfpack couldn’t recover from in what turned out to be a 24-point loss in Chapel Hill. 

In a way, McNeil was determined to not let that happen again. He was inserted into the lineup based on how he played in the second half against the Tar Heels, something Keatts hoped would carry over against Wake Forest. 

The Rockingham, N.C., native stuffed the stat sheet in his first 3:42 on the floor against the Demon Deacons: 5 points, two offensive rebounds, one assist and one steal. 

And each time he touched the ball over that frenetic sequence, the Lenovo Center crowd seemed delighted. It only continued in the second half as McNeil took his play to another level with 17 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including a trio of 3-pointers. 

McNeil was one of the key cogs in helping the Wolfpack go on an 18-2 run midway through the second half, which helped flip the game in NC State’s favor. It wasn’t just his scoring, which the Pack was happy to get, but his defense was just as impactful. The Wolfpack conceded just one made field goal over the last 9:48, a Juke Harris layup. 

“I just did what’s best for my team — I showed up when they needed me to show up,” McNeil said. “You see the results. We got the ‘W.’ We’re happy, really blessed. We’re trying to turn things around and just keep going forward.”

NC State has struggled as of late, winning just three games since New Year’s Day. It hasn’t been the year the ACC defending champions were looking for after a Final Four appearance, but the Wolfpack might have found the one thing it was missing — a star of the program. 

Too many players have been inconsistent to be tabbed that, though senior guard Dontrez Styles has come close with his double-figure scoring. But in three of the last four games — the only such contests he has played more than 13 minutes this season — McNeil has easily been one of the team’s best scorers. He has reset his career high in all three, emerging as a dangerous threat to knock down a shot. 

And don’t let him set his feet, either. McNeil has become nearly automatic from distance as a catch-and-shoot option. Just ask Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes, who believed his team let McNeil get “too comfortable” on Saturday.

“I know he can really score,” Forbes said postgame. “He got better today at putting it on the floor … but you have to make him bounce it. If he’s got his feet set, he’s going to score. He made a couple tough ones. Credit to him [for] stepping up in a big game.”

McNeil continues to grow within NC State’s program, just as his confidence has in this stretch. It’s a sign for the present as the Wolfpack closes the season with an opportunity to qualify for the ACC Tournament if it can take care of business down the stretch. 

It also is a look into what the Pack has moving forward: an opportunity to build around an electric talent. 

But, for now, McNeil is only focused on stacking each game at a time. He has been able to make an instant-impact as of late, one the Wolfpack hopes he can continue to build off moving forward. 

“This is a dream,” McNeil said with a large grin. “This is what I wanted. This is hard work paying off. I’m just really blessed to be in this position.”

NC State is too. It has an opportunity to win with McNeil on the floor, both this season and in the coming seasons as the local product continues to evolve.