South Carolina v NC State
Lance King / Getty Images

NC State improved to 8-4 on Wednesday with a 108-72 win over Texas Southern. Then first-year Wolfpack coach Will Wade arrived at his postgame presser in a foul mood and subsequently lit into his team for its slow start to the season and "casual" approach that has led them to an 8-4 record with its nonconference finale upcoming Sunday.

"Same guys make mistakes in shootaround, we make mistakes in practices, they make the same mistakes in the game," Wade said. "Same guys who foul all the time because they have no attention to detail, and they make mistakes, and they act all shocked when they foul in the game. It's what we do."

Wade's evaluation of his team's defense was that it was "not good enough." His evaluation of the team's attentiveness to detail and effort was similar. So when one reporter postgame noted his disappointed demeanor, he divulged more details and pulled back the curtain a bit.

"Yeah. I mean, give up the amount of points we gave up, offensive rebounds we gave up, you know, just our attention to detail is lacking," Wade said. "Our effort, our intensity on a consistent basis on every possession -- it's not where it needs to be. So we've got to get that fixed, and quickly, before Sunday because we're going to play Ole Miss on Sunday. Great team, well-coached, physical, tough, got great players."

Wade was critical of his team but also of himself, too. He did some self-reflection after the team's win and called himself a "dumbass" for not playing Scottie Ebube -- who played 14 minutes in the win -- more. Ebube's 14 minutes were a season-high, and he was a plus-8 in that span, adding five points, three rebounds and three blocks.

"When he's in there, something's going to happen," he said. " Somebody's band's playing -- ours or theirs -- but something's happening. That's a good thing."

Ebube fouled out in 14 minutes, but his intensity was what Wade made clear he wants more of from everyone on the team -- and it's what he has not seen enough of from everyone not named Scottie Ebube. 

"We've got a lot of nice guys," Wade said. "Great GPA. All that stuff. Wonderful. But we're not running a daycare -- we're running a competitive Division I basketball program. I've been trying to get urgency and internal leadership. I think Ven and Q took a step forward. Outside of them, we've got a lot of casual personalities. We don't have guys revved up."

Wade continued.

"Today in shootaround, we made 88 mistakes. I chart all of it. Twenty-three defensive errors, 13 offensive execution errors. First team made 14 mistakes. Second team made 22. How does that happen? Casual. Lack of attention to detail. Lack of focus. We're relying on hope -- hoping someone goes ballistic every night. Hope's a bad strategy."

The timing of Wade's rant comes as it wraps nonconference play this weekend vs. Ole Miss. Wednesday's game was its last vs. a non-major opponent, and at 8-4, the gravity of that seemed to slap Wade sideways. 

"It's concerning," Wade said about how long it has taken for the team to get things going. "Kindergarten's over. All high-major games from here on out."

If there's a bright side, it's this: three of NC State's four losses -- to Texas, Auburn and Kansas -- were by an average of 5.3 points. That's not terrible.

It's just not good enough for Wade, clearly. And for a team picked to finish fourth in the ACC this season, the time to make adjustments and tweak is quickly dwindling. 

"I've been concerned for weeks," Wade said. "We are who we are. If you're not physical and not tough, you better be alert and aware -- and we're none of the four. This is a major problem."