{"id":5134,"date":"2026-07-21T21:35:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T21:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=5134"},"modified":"2026-07-21T21:35:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T21:35:07","slug":"inside-nc-state-basketballs-summer-practice-what-is-coach-justin-gaineys-focus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=5134","title":{"rendered":"Inside NC State basketball\u2019s summer practice: What is coach Justin Gainey\u2019s focus?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A year ago, Will Wade was N.C. State\u2019s new basketball coach, telling Wolfpack fans they were in store for a \u201cRed Reckoning\u201d and promising a fast, exciting team. Good promotion can go a long way, and Wade relentlessly promoted.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=5132\">Data centers are aiming for North Carolina. What would that mean locally?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Justin Gainey now is the man in charge of the Wolfpack program. No fancy slogan from him, although there are three words displayed in a corner of the Pack\u2019s practice gym on campus that sums up the Gainey approach: \u201cGritty not pretty.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wade, gone to LSU after one ill-fated season, wanted to score a lot of points to score points with the fans. Gainey thinks good defense goes a long way. Defense no longer is optional, not under a former Wolfpack guard who learned from one of the game\u2019s best defensive minds, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes.<\/p>\n<p><i>Gritty not pretty.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Gainey was always that way when he played in the backcourt for the Pack in the late 1990s. He scored some big baskets along the way \u2014 beating Purdue at Purdue with a 3 \u2014 but did all the fundamental things well. Good defense was a given from the former guard.<\/p>\n<p>The focus was on defense Tuesday as Gainey, a head coach for the first time and still learning the ways of being a head coach, allowed the media to see a portion of the Pack practice at the Dail Complex. It was a high-volume practice in terms of coaching instruction and the players, minus Paul McNeil Jr, worked hard to follow those instructions and provide some sweat equity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m really excited about how hard they\u2019ve been working,\u201d Gainey said before practice. \u201cThey have been relentlessly pushing themselves and pushing each other and holding each other accountable. \u2026 They\u2019ve been pushed in ways I don\u2019t think any of them have been pushed before.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m really excited about how quickly they\u2019ve meshed together. If you didn\u2019t know any better you\u2019d think they\u2019ve been together for multiple years. They have all come together, they\u2019re connected. They communicate with each other like veteran teams I\u2019ve seen. And from a development standpoint they\u2019re always trying to get better. So I\u2019m excited.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McNeil sat out practice Tuesday, watching as he worked out on a stationary bike. No word on a possible injury, but the team\u2019s most important returnee from last season \u2014 and Wade did work hard to pull him to LSU \u2014 should soon return and drew praise from Gainey.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPaul has been a beast,\u201d Gainey said.<\/p>\n<p>McNeil, one of the best shooters in college basketball, has been sharpening his leadership skills in the offseason, Gainey said, calling or texting almost nightly to offer some ideas on how to better bond the team \u2014 go-karting, for example.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd he wants to be pushed and pushed hard.\u201d Gainey said.<\/p>\n<p>Roster building was the immediate concern for Gainey after he was announced as coach on April 1. The NCAA portal opened April 7 and Gainey had to quickly piece together the staff and go to work to put together a team.<\/p>\n<p>The Wolfpack has 13 players on the roster with the recent additions of Robert Jurkovic, a 6-10 senior forward from Slovenia, and Shah Hall, a junior-college transfer and 6-11 post player. Gainey still has two spots open and isn\u2019t ruling out using one or both.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHopefully those two bring something that we didn\u2019t have,\u201d Gainey said. \u201cShah\u2019s athleticism and size and how he moves is completely different than anybody else. And Robert brings that veteran, older piece who\u2019s versatile and can play both spots, can play inside but also stretch the floor and shoot it outside. \u2026 He just has that European savvy about his game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=5129\">\u2018Black buildup\u2019 and \u2018pink slime\u2019 at Durham chain restaurant: latest inspections<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Some of the players have been reshaped, so to speak, in terms of playing weight by strength and conditioning coach Cody Dukquits. McNeil has added eight pounds and sophomore Darius Adams 10 pounds, Gainey said. Going the other way are Eemeli Yalaho, a senior forward who has lost 20 pounds, and red-shirt freshman forward Zymicah Wilkins, down 25.<\/p>\n<p>Gainey continues to learn more and more about his team, knowledge that can be learned on the practice floor and in team settings.<\/p>\n<p>Gainey mentioned Yalaho, who transferred from Washington State and is called \u201cEY.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t know he had the interior presence that he had and the calmness to make plays from the low post at that size. And he\u2019s every bit of 6-8,\u201d Gainey said, offering a mini-scouting report. \u201cHe\u2019s big, he\u2019s physical, he can shoot it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can watch them on film but until you have them in your system you don\u2019t really have a great feel for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Pack was 20-14 overall and 10-8 in the ACC a year ago after a late-season slide. Selected for the NCAA\u2019s \u201cFirst Four,\u201d the Wolfpack was beaten by Texas and Wade was soon gone, leaving behind some bruised feeling and an angry fan base.<\/p>\n<p>The Wolfpack continues to put together the schedule that will include a nonconference game against North Carolina in Greensboro, a product of the ACC\u2019s quirky scheduling. Still to be determined: which team the Pack will face in Gainey\u2019s first game as head coach at his alma mater.<\/p>\n<p>Until then there will be more loud, lively practices at Dail. The players\u2019 practice jerseys have \u201cConnect Develop Compete\u201d on the back and those are the Pack\u2019s core values, Gainey said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe guys are laying the foundation of the identity,\u201d Gainey said. \u201cWho are we going to be? Who are we going to be on a night-to-night basis? You instill that right now in the summer, with everything you do every single day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDefending, rebounding, taking care of the basketball. Those are the three things we have just been harping on all summer. You\u2019ve got to do those three things. Defense travels, no matter where the game is at. If you defend, rebound, and you take care of the ball, you\u2019re going to give yourself a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=5128\">NC lawmakers again pledge money to help private jet company expand in Eastern NC<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NC State Wolfpack head coach Justin Gainey stresses defense, rebounding and care as he molds roster, culture during high-intensity practices at Dail Complex.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Inside NC State basketball\u2019s summer practice: What is coach Justin Gainey\u2019s focus? - Durham Moving Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=5134\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Inside NC State basketball\u2019s summer practice: What is coach Justin Gainey\u2019s focus? - Durham Moving Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NC State Wolfpack head coach Justin Gainey stresses defense, rebounding and care as he molds roster, culture during high-intensity practices at Dail Complex.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=5134\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Durham Moving Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-21T21:35:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=5134#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=5134\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bf1f081e7f06a3ab66052e5f6015fd85\"},\"headline\":\"Inside NC State basketball\u2019s summer practice: What is coach Justin Gainey\u2019s focus?\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-21T21:35:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=5134\"},\"wordCount\":1063,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=5134#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/48dd202a0ae7c424a064a5cf5842004e.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Read today's Edition\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=5134#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=5134\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=5134\",\"name\":\"Inside NC State basketball\u2019s summer practice: What is coach Justin Gainey\u2019s focus? - Durham Moving Hub\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=5134#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=5134#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/48dd202a0ae7c424a064a5cf5842004e.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-21T21:35:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bf1f081e7f06a3ab66052e5f6015fd85\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=5134#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=5134\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=5134#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/48dd202a0ae7c424a064a5cf5842004e.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/48dd202a0ae7c424a064a5cf5842004e.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675,\"caption\":\"N.C. 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