Inside NC State’s locker room after deflating season-ending loss to Texas in NCAA First Four

By Noah Fleischman

DAYTON, Ohio — A Styrofoam bracket was ushered through the solemn hallway by two UD Arena employees. It just emerged from the Texas locker room down the hall, where sounds of cheering and a booming bass from a speaker emitted towards the silent NC State student managers that lined the corridor. 

Not much was said between those clad in the Wolfpack’s red and white with Tuffy-logoed apparel. Instead, blank stares were on nearly each face, pondering what they just witnessed. 

There wasn’t much to even think about muttering in front of the closed locker room door after Texas used a Tramon Mark jumper with 1.2 seconds left to hand NC State a 68-66 season-ending loss in the NCAA Tournament’s First Four. 

It took a few minutes for the white door to swing open, and once it did, nothing but silence came from the dressing room. Staffers and assistants trickled out one after another with the same disappointed face, some shaking their heads in disbelief. 

Not too far behind them was senior forward Darrion Williams, the ACC’s Preseason Player of the Year, who wore a blue towel over his head in dejection. His college career came to a close with 21 points on 8-for-18 shooting — his last attempt being a prayer of a 3-pointer at the buzzer that didn’t come close to hitting the rim. 

Williams was off to the postgame press conference, a brief session in front of a small contingent of media. Senior guard Quadir Copeland was to accompany him to the question and answer, but took a few moments in his stall after his collegiate career also came to an end. 

NC State’s emotional leader, the one that was always there to fire his teammates up with his non-stop trash talk, didn’t have much to say. He cut the tape of his ankles before slowly standing up and walking towards the press conference room up a steep hill in the depths of the venue. 

And once the room was open to the media, the vibe remained silent. A reporter’s voice had to be the one to break the ice with each player, most of them sitting in their locker with full white home uniforms on in disbelief of what they saw. 

The hurt was obvious. So was the disappointment. But as NC State coach Will Wade told his team afterwards, the squad felt like it shouldn’t have even been in this position: Playing its way into the NCAA Tournament first round inside an Atlantic 10 arena. 

“We got what we deserved,” senior guard Tre Holloman said as he recalled Wade’s postgame message. “We slipped up at the end of the season, so we deserved to be in the First Four, but we shouldn’t have been.”

NC State dropped six of its last seven regular season games, including two blown leads to Miami and Notre Dame. It struggled to close games all season, going just 2-8 with late-game situations, and came back to bite the Wolfpack yet again in its postseason tilt. 

After all, the Pack put together a furious rally inside the final 90 seconds with a trio of made triples but wasn’t able to pull any closer being tied inside the final minute. Add the dagger that Mark hit, and the nail was driven into the coffin of the team’s season even more.

Wade, who spoke with a small group of reporters in the hallway after his press conference, put it simply.

“A disappointing end to a disappointing season,” Wade said. “I wish some of these guys would have had that emotion a month ago. But, you can’t cheat the game. You can’t cheat what you earn. You get what you earn. We lost another close game. You are who you are in pressure moments, and this is the way our season was going to end one way or another. We just didn’t want it to be in Dayton. Very disappointing.”

Inside the walls of the locker room behind him, that same disappointment followed. 

“It was the same thing,” sophomore guard Paul McNeil said. “We’ve been through this already. It’s something we’ve already been through. … That shit is ridiculous. We’ve been through this already, but can’t get over that hump.”

The frustration was obvious. NC State had no answer for the same Achilles’ heel that sent it to the First Four in the first place. If it just found a way to win a couple games at the end of the regular season, the Wolfpack would have likely been firmly in the field and yet to play a postseason game. 

But, instead, the team will be watching nearly the entire NCAA Tournament from its couch at home. 

“I didn’t want it to end like this,” Holloman said. “This one is gonna hurt. Just disappointed.”

The silence returned once reporters trickled out of the locker room for the final time. Players packed their things, preparing to board the team bus. But instead of heading to the Dayton airport for a redeye flight to Portland, Ore., which Texas had the pleasure of doing, NC State was bound for the team hotel. A mid-day flight back to Raleigh was on the schedule. 

One of the last players to collect his things was Williams. After he made the short walk from the press conference room, he continued walking through the very tunnel his team used for its stay in the First Four. He stood next to a media table, staring at the empty gym. 

The March Madness logo on center court looked back at him. He was the breakout star of the NCAA Tournament a year ago with Texas Tech, averaging 21.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists in four games to help the Red Raiders to the Elite Eight. But this time, instead of celebrating a postseason win, Williams took in the mostly empty seating bowl, only filled with custodial workers preparing for another set of games on Wednesday.

Williams, who moved his blue towel around his neck, sat on the edge of the table and continued his self-reflection. He stayed there for a few minutes, still in his full game uniform. Senior forward Scottie Ebube and a few student managers came by to shake his hand, but the pain was evident. Williams, who was viewed as the team’s star, seemed to be filled with incredulity. 

He sat there still and quiet, just like the team’s postgame locker room was. There wasn’t much to be said for the season coming to an end. Instead, silence may have been the only thing that made any sense. 

“Our minds were running,” senior forward Ven-Allen Lubin said, “but no words to be said.”