RALEIGH — Now the entire country knows what Richmond County has known for a long time — Paul McNeil Jr. is an elite shooter.
Richmond County basketball fans became familiar with the smooth side-step three-point shooting of McNeil Jr. during his four-year career at Richmond Senior High School from 2020-2024.
And following a record-breaking performance earlier this week, college hoops fans across the nation are more in tune with the shooting capabilities of the Rockingham native.
In a breakout game for the North Carolina State University men’s basketball team, McNeil Jr. caught fire Wednesday and scored a single-game career-high 47 points in a 108-72 blowout win over Texas Southern University.
Playing in Reynolds Coliseum, the sophomore shooting guard not only had the best performance of his college career, but he broke a program record and tied an Atlantic Coast Conference record in the process.
In just 27 minutes on the court, McNeil Jr. was efficient and shot 12-of-18 from the field (67%), including 11-for-17 from three-point land (65%). He was a perfect 12-for-12 from the foul line and grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds.
Those 11 three-pointers set a new N.C. State single-game program record, as McNeil Jr. surpassed the Pack’s all-time leading scorer Rodney Monroe, who held the previous record of nine made three-pointers in a game.
Monroe set the previous longstanding record against UNC Asheville in 1989, a record that held for 36 years until McNeil Jr. stepped onto the court against the Tigers.
During his freshman season at Richmond, McNeil Jr. worked out for hours in the gym on Christmas Day, a work ethic that has since personified his style of game and one that Wolfpack head coach Will Wade spoke about earlier this week.
When asked what was working Wednesday, in true McNeil Jr. fashion, he said extra work in the gym helped get him ready.
“It was just one of those games. I was playing a lot more free-minded,” McNeil Jr. laughed. “I wasn’t thinking about my shots as much and I was just releasing the ball at the same exact time every shot. I was just in a rhythm and the guys were feeding me the ball. I appreciated that.
“This was the second time I’ve played in Reynolds and knowing that, I spent a lot of extra time in that gym to get ready,” he said in a phone call with The Richmond Observer. “I wanted to be mentally ready and extra prepared so I got extra shots and reps up after dinner and well before the game.”
Dialed in during the first five minutes, McNeil Jr. spread the floor and made his first five triple attempts. Before the end of the first half, he netted two more three-balls and entered the locker room with 26 points.
Deep from the top of the arc with 15:40 remaining in the second half, McNeil Jr. splashed home his ninth three-pointer of the game to tie Monroe. Fouled in the process, he made the ensuing and-one opportunity.
A little more than 10 minutes later, the moment came when McNeil Jr.’s name was written in the Pack’s record books.
On an outlet pass in transition, McNeil Jr. did his patented side-step move to hit a contested three over defender Alex Anderson along the left wing. The swish with 3:32 on the clock officially moved him past Monroe.
Before the final buzzer, McNeil Jr. scored his 11th and final three-pointer in the game to tie the ACC’s all-time record. He now shares that achievement with Dennis Scott (Georgia Tech) and Craig Dawson (Wake Forest), who did it in 1988 and 2002, respectively.
During a span on the bench earlier in the game, McNeil Jr. said that’s when he learned of his potential record-setting performance.
“When I was on the bench, I just overheard some of the guys talking about it amongst themselves,” McNeil Jr. explained. “I heard them say I was two or three shots away from beating the record. Really until that point I wasn’t even thinking about it.
“I had it going on, so hearing that didn’t really add fuel to the fire. I just went back out there and kept playing my game. I was having a lot of fun and was just trying to enjoy the moment.”
No stranger to writing his name in the record books, McNeil Jr. finished his time with the Richmond Raiders as the program’s all-time leading scorer with 2,448 points and is ranked 14th all-time in NCHSAA history.
On Jan. 16, 2024, in a home game against Lee County High School, McNeil Jr. broke two longstanding NCHSAA single-game records — points scored (71) and field goals made (28). He broke Bob Poole’s (Clayton High School) scoring record of 67 points set in 1950, as well as Jeff Ward (1982) and John Byrne’s (1968) field goal record (25).
Comparing that outing with his performance against Texas Southern in his postgame presser, McNeil Jr. drew further parallels to the two performances and said this was the kind of game he had been working toward.
“Those two games definitely had a similar feel,” he said. “When I was releasing the ball, everything felt so good. My touch felt the same every time and I did think for a minute how (Wednesday) was a lot like my 71-point game in high school.
“This definitely boosted my confidence and this was a performance I needed to have. Teams like (Texas Southern) are a good test to let it fly and see what I have. I was just trying to build up my momentum with ACC play coming up.”
McNeil Jr.’s 47 points were the most by an ACC player since the 2009-2010 season. He surpassed RJ Davis (North Carolina, 42 points) and Cooper Flagg (Duke, 42 points) among others, and eclipsed Jerome Robinson’s 46-point game for Boston College in 2018.
In program history, McNeil Jr.’s performance ranks him tied for fifth all-time in single-game scoring with Samuel Ranzino, who scored 47 points during the 1950-51 season.
Even though he’s found success under the bright lights and amid the constant pressure of Division I basketball, McNeil Jr. said he’s still a kid from Richmond County at heart who fell in love with the game played with a ball and two baskets.
It’s what he wants to do with that success, and how he wants to encourage others, that he’s finding to be his true purpose.
“This has all been a blessing and God gets all the glory,” McNeil Jr. said. “Coming from where I come from, I want the youth to understand that anything is possible no matter what. It doesn’t matter who’s there and who isn’t. I want them to know that they can achieve anything with hard work.
“I’ve been blessed to be put in a position to be a role model to kids who have dreams. And it’s not all about basketball. Maybe I can help them, or even adults, understand that you have to work hard for what you want in life. It just takes a lot of focus and dedication, and nothing is promised.
“Richmond County continues to build me up,” he closed. “It’s a great community that continues to support me. There are a lot of people back home who helped me figure out what I wanted out of my life and they taught me to follow the game for the right reason. I hope I can have that same impact.”
McNeil Jr. and the Wolfpack (8-4) are set to play Ole Miss Sunday at the First Horizon Coliseum in Greensboro.
