PROVIDENCE, R.I. — No. 12 seed McNeese State became the NCAA Tournament’s first Cinderella on Thursday afternoon, upsetting the fifth-ranked Clemson Tigers and securing a spot in the second round of the Big Dance for the first time in program history.
Here’s how the Cowboys pulled off the win. And here’s what you should know about McNeese State ahead of their Round of 32 matchup with No. 4 Purdue:
1. The Cowboys’ head coach, Will Wade, is one of the more controversial figures in college basketball. But what he got in trouble for is allowed now. Wade was considered a rising star in the profession until he got tied up in the FBI’s 2017 investigation into college basketball recruiting. On a phone call he didn’t know was being wiretapped, the then-LSU head coach discussed a “strong-ass offer” he’d made to a recruit. This was years before name, image and likeness (NIL) deals and various lawsuits against the NCAA essentially legalized pay-for-play, and it ultimately led to a formal NCAA investigation into the LSU program. Wade was fired on March 12, 2022, essentially for recruiting talented players to his team by offering them money — which was against NCAA rules. Now, with college sports about to head into an era of revenue sharing, schools will be negotiating deals with athletes directly. And they’ll be able to do so before the athletes enroll.
2. McNeese State gave Wade the lifeline he needed. Exactly one year after becoming something of a coaching pariah, Wade accepted the head coaching job at McNeese State, a small Southland Conference school in Lake Charles, La. The McNeese administration knew there was a great deal of risk — and Wade was eventually hit with a show-cause order and a 10-game suspension from the NCAA — but leaders felt he could be a program-changer, too. Athletic director Heath Schroyer told NBC Sports on Thursday that “at the time, we all needed a rebirth. We were, as a community, recovering from hurricanes, and our basketball program needed to be rebuilt. And his career needed to be rebuilt. I took a lot of flack from a lot of people about hiring him. A lot of people thought I was nuts, but I believed in them. And it’s, it’s worked out. Obviously, it’s worked out incredibly well.” McNeese has earned the Southland’s auto-bid to the NCAA Tournament each of the past two years.
3. Wade is on his way out, but it hasn’t actually been all that awkward. He confirmed on Wednesday that he’d been in contact with North Carolina State about its head coaching vacancy. News broke later in the day that Wade had agreed to leave McNeese for N.C. State after the Cowboys’ season ends. NBC Sports can confirm that Wade is expected to be announced as the Wolfpack’s head coach. Despite the odd timing of everything, Wade’s presumed departure has not been a distraction. He talked to his players last weekend about the situation. “We addressed it head-on,” Wade said. “Here’s what it is, here is where we are. It was just me and our players, and we all talked about it. I’m aware of what I have got going on. They’re aware of what we’ve got going on.” Said senior forward Christian Shumate: “When you’re in a loop and both ends are transparent about things, there’s not too much room for conflict.” Wade said he kept his focus on winning McNeese State’s first Division I NCAA Tournament game and nothing else was different in the lead-up to Thursday’s matchup.
4. This team shows the good that can come from the transfer portal. Quadir Copeland came to McNeese from Syracuse last offseason, which is when Joe Charles transferred in from Louisiana-Lafayette. DJ Richards Jr. came on board ahead of Wade’s first season from UTSA, while Javohn Garcia joined from the College of the Sequoias. Shumate is the only starter who has spent four full seasons in Lake Charles, predating Wade’s arrival. But clearly, this is a team that functions as one unit. Against Clemson, the Cowboys showed their athleticism, aggressiveness and defensive activity. For about 35 minutes and on both ends of the court, they completely dominated the Tigers before a barrage of threes allowed Clemson to make things interesting late. Brandon Murray, the transfer from Ole Miss who led McNeese with 21 points off the bench, said, “We went out there and took the first punch and they didn’t know how to react to that, honestly. I think we’ve just got to be ourselves. Coach tells us to be ourselves, play with swag.”
5. McNeese State actually went viral earlier this winter — for “Aura,” its rapping student manager. Amir “Aura” Khan attracted a ton of attention about a month ago for carrying around a boom box and rapping to hype up the team as it walked down the tunnel on the way to the court.
WARNING: NSFW language ahead
Never felt this much hype before a game—easily one of my all-time favorite filming moments😂🔥@McNeeseMBB x #BayouBandits pic.twitter.com/NSqphtjFlP
— “Who is PJ?” 🎞 (@Phil_UpOnMe) February 24, 2025
He became the first student manager to sign NIL deals with major brands, including Buffalo Wild Wings and Insomnia Cookies. Fans have been taking photos with Khan at the arena all week. “He volunteered (to be our manager) and he gets there at 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning every morning,” Wade said. “I’m happy for him, our kids are happy for him. He’s a big sports fan. He wants to be a journalist. He’s graduating in sports management. He’s an oddity. He grew up a DePaul fan. We always joke with him about DePaul basketball. He knows a ton. He’s just a really, really good person, really low-key outside the viral video.”
