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Paul McNeil, NC State freshman guard, makes transfer decision on 2025-26 season
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Paul McNeil was considering entering the transfer portal after one season at NC State following the dismissal of Kevin Keatts.
On Saturday, though, the freshman guard announced that he would remain with the Wolfpack and new head coach Will Wade. McNeil posted the news of his return for the 2025-26 season to his Instagram account.
McNeil was a 4-star recruit in the class of 2024, rated as the No. 10 shooting guard in the country and a Top 80 overall recruit when he signed with the Pack.
In 24 games (three starts), he averaged 4.2 points per game. His best outing came against Wake Forest on Feb. 22, as he scored 24 points in an 85-73 win over the Demon Deacons.
After the season ended and Keatts was fired, a number of NC State players made an exodus for the transfer portal. That left Wade plenty of work to do after he was hired on Mar. 23.
McNeil looked to potentially be one of those players who would enter the portal himself, but he’ll remain in Raleigh for the upcoming season. It’s good news for a team that made the Final Four in 2024 but slipped the following season, leading to Keatts’ ouster.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
