Copeland's Passing Clinic Helps Wolfpack Outlast SMU

Copeland's historic night ended with 10 rebounds, 16 assists and just seven points, as the guard took just four shots from the field and made one. His scoring came mostly at the free-throw line until he missed a pair of foul shots at the end of the game to give SMU a chance to steal a win, but senior guard Tre Holloman bailed Copeland out with a stop. Instead of potential misery, Copeland's night ended with elation. And the point guard knew exactly why everything went right on Tuesday.

"It's trusting my teammates. We put in work every day in the summer, so who am I not to trust them?" Copeland said. "They trust me... Having the ball at all times... I've got to make those guys happy. They've got to be comfortable out there with me. That's the least I can do, giving them the ball and giving them easy shots."

While Wade was unsure if it was the first such point guard performance of that caliber under him, Copeland's outing did mark some firsts for the Wolfpack and college basketball as a whole. His 16 assists were the most by a member of the program since Dennis Smith Jr. dished out 15 in 2017. The combination of the 16 assists and 0 turnovers was the first such performance since Grayson Murphy did that for Belmont in 2019.

The unselfishness of the NC State point guard almost always creates success for the rest of the team, but Copeland truly possessed a magic touch in Dallas. The Wolfpack made 28 shots in the win. The ball came to the scorer courtesy of a Copeland pass more than half of the time. Heading into the game, the Pack knew it needed to share the wealth to have a chance to power past the Mustangs.

"In their four losses, every team has had 16-plus assists against them," Wade said. "I told him in the locker room after, 'I didn't mean you personally get 16 assists, but that's nice.' I wanted the team to have 16-plus assists. Pretty impressive."

Wade added that the Wolfpack trusted Copeland to play through three fouls in the second half, as NC State simply isn't the same team when he's off the court. The coach has been honest about his shock with the improvement of his point guard compared to their work together with McNeese State last season, but the SMU win pushed his surprise to another level.

"Never in a million years could I have imagined that he'd be able to come on the road against... A great team and have 16 assists and no turnovers," Wade said, with a grin. "Shoot, he couldn't do that on (East Texas A&M)... How could I have thought he'd do it in the ACC? But, give him credit. He's worked hard on his game. He's worked hard on his mental prep."

As his coach indicated, Copeland seems to thrive in hostile environments and Moody Coliseum provided him with the extra juice he was looking for. The point guard never missed an opportunity to taunt the Mustang crowd, proving himself as the perfect heel in a basketball game that felt more like a battle royale than a Tuesday night ACC tilt. However, Copeland needs help to stay in control.

"My teammates, they do a good job of... Calming me down when I'm on the court," he said.

Both Copeland and Wade stressed that the SMU win is massive, but there is still a long road before the Wolfpack can say it will comfortably be an NCAA Tournament team. However, more performances from the emerging star at point guard could push NC State over the top and help the program achieve Wade's goal of truly disrupting the ACC landscape.

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