Clemson will see Familiar Face in First-Round Game Clemson alum Will Wade is the head coach at McNeese State
The Tigers (27-6) are the No. 5 seed in the Midwest Regional and will face the Cowboys at 3:15 p.m. (TruTV) from the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, R.I.
“They have a bunch of high major transfers and good players that are used to winning,” Clemson’s head coach said. “They have been winning there a lot the last couple of years. They will come in feeling good about themselves, as well.”
McNeese, like Clemson is 27-6, beat Nicholls to win win the Southland Conference Tournament Championship last week, earning the league’s automatic bid. This is the Cowboys’ second straight NCAA Tournament appearance and fourth overall.
Last year, also as a No. 12 seed, they lost to Gonzaga in the opening round. This will be the first time Clemson and McNeese have met on the basketball court.
Though this will be the first meeting between the two schools, the McNeese program is no stranger to the Tigers.
The Cowboys are coached by Clemson graduate and former assistant coach Will Wade, who was the team manager under former Clemson coaches Larry Shyatt and Oliver Purnell before working as a graduate assistant coach and later as the operations director under Purnell.
“I know Will a little bit because we have obviously been in coaching for a long time,” Brownell said. “He has obviously, done a great job. Everywhere he has been, he has been very successful — VCU, LSU and now McNeese.”
Wade graduated from Clemson in 2005, and was a part of Purnell’s staff from 2005-’07 before leaving to become an assistant coach at Harvard. After Shaka Smart, whom Wade worked with at Clemson, got the VCU job in 2009, Wade was his first higher.
“He is part of the Shaka tree in terms of how they play,” Brownell said. “They are aggressive, very good defensively, change defenses and an excellent offensive rebounding team.”
Wade stayed on Smart’s VCU staff for four years before landing his first head coaching job at Chattanooga.
The Clemson-McNeese winner will play the winner of the Purdue-High Point game on Saturday. Houston is the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Regional.
