How NC State retained star SG Paul McNeil to begin the Justin Gainey Era: ‘He’s one of ours’

Justin Gainey is quick to remember the first time he spotted Paul McNeil Jr. on the recruiting trail. It was here in a back gym of an Adidas AAU event that the coach watched a 10th-grade shooter with an elite skill level that oozed top-60 player in the 2023 cycle that the then-Tennessee assistant gazed from afar.  It didn’t take long for Gainey, a North Carolina native himself, to offer the Rockingham product. He was the first to extend an opportunity to play at the collegiate level to McNeil,...