Laila Bush
Senior forward Darrion Williams smiles at a reporter before the first official practice of the 2025-2026 season. The men’s basketball program hosted the media for the first 30 minutes of its first open practice inside the Dail Center on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025.
DJ Burns. DJ Horne. Terquavion Smith.
NC State men’s basketball has had a plethora of talented scorers over the years, but that was exactly what it missed last season. It never had a true number one option.
Players tried to fill that role: Marcus Hill, Jayden Taylor, even Dontrez Styles. But none could provide the scoring output needed for the Wolfpack to become a truly competitive team, all averaging under 12 points per game.
When NC State decided to part ways with Kevin Keatts and hire the most sought-after coach in the country, it committed to revamping its basketball program. And to do that, you need a true hooper — someone who you can always rely on for a bucket or to make the right play.
Enter Darrion Williams.
The senior forward was the No. 2 forward in the transfer portal — one of the only five-star players in the portal — and after a standout year averaging 15 points, almost six rebounds and four assists per game, Williams even looked at potentially entering his name into the NBA Draft. He could’ve gone anywhere and immediately become the number one option when he entered the portal, but he chose NC State over every other school.
Williams himself admitted that he was heavily considering the NBA Draft and also could’ve gotten a more lucrative NIL deal with a different school, but NC State had something that no other school did.
“I felt like I needed to come get a fresh start at State,” Williams said. “Coach Wade, just the transparency with everything he had, the good and the bad with my game, where I want to go and what I want to do. He just laid it all out there on what I need to get better at, what he sees me as and where he sees I can get to. He was just straight up honest with everything; he didn’t say anything I really wanted to hear. He said what I really needed to hear.”
Ironically enough, this isn’t Williams’ first interaction with NC State. The Wolfpack knocked him and the Red Raiders out of the 2024 NCAA Tournament in the Round of 64, where Williams provided 10 points, seven boards and six assists.
The superstar made it to the Elite Eight with Texas Tech last year, but not as the number one option. He was the Robin to preseason All-American JT Toppin’s Batman. However, when it came to March, Williams took over, averaging 21 points per game compared to Toppin’s 19.
Most notably, in the Red Raiders’ Sweet 16 matchup versus Arkansas, he hit the game-winning layup with just seven seconds left to secure an 85-83 victory and an Elite Eight berth. But more fascinating is the way he did it. With just seconds left and the ball in his hands, Williams drove to the paint, spun off his pivot foot and banked it in over two defenders. There was no shot-chucking or panicked shooting. Just calm, methodical basketball, exactly the kind of player Wade needed.
“It’s good to bring in a guy of that stature because he’s a damn good player,” Wade said. “He’s somebody who can play anywhere. When the ball is in his hands, good things are gonna happen.”
With a 6-foot-6, 225-pound frame, Williams can provide from anywhere on the court, whether it’s attacking the paint, shooting from the midrange or even providing a long-distance 3-pointer.
“He can play all five spots on the court,” Wade said. “Being able to do that and manipulate matchups and manipulate things with him, he makes the game easy.”
After playing behind Toppin for two years, Williams becomes NC State’s workhorse as the team rallies behind him and relies on him to facilitate both the offense and defense.
“I’ll be whatever I need to be to win,” Williams said. “Positions don’t really matter to me, stats don’t really matter to me. I’m trying to win, so whatever you need me to be.”
Analysts and the media have seen the impact that Williams has on the court and recognized him as such, naming him the ACC Preseason Player of the Year over talented players like Duke’s Cameron Boozer and Louisville’s Mikel Brown.
He also took home preseason third-team All-American honors, so the expectations are lofty. The last time NC State had an All-American was T.J. Warren in 2014 — over a decade ago.
Williams doesn’t just fit NC State on paper; he matches NC State’s culture. In an interview with the Ovies and Giglio podcast, he was asked about the Wolfpack’s rivalry with nearby UNC-Chapel Hill and how senior forward Ven-Allen Lubin’s transfer affected his viewpoint on the feud. Surprisingly, he had a different answer.
“Whatever happened with Ven is what they did, but I feel like the coach over there [at UNC] did another one of my teammates wrong in Kerwin Walton when he was over there,” Williams said. “I don’t really like that guy, so we’ll see him soon.”
Williams disliked UNC before even joining the Wolfpack due to his former teammate at Texas Tech, who broke the Tar Heels’ 3-point percentage record his freshman year but was phased out of the rotation the following season, causing his transfer to Texas Tech. And when it came to his current teammate Lubin’s transfer from UNC, Williams only had one thing to say.
“He’s on the better side now.”
Williams embodies everything NC State basketball has been searching for — toughness, confidence and a relentless will to win. Under Wade, the Wolfpack finally has a true centerpiece capable of carrying the team back to national prominence. If his preseason accolades are any indication, the Wolfpack finally has the kind of player who can turn bold words into March reality. And with Williams on the floor, that future doesn’t feel distant — it feels inevitable.