NC State basketball recruit Paul McNeil from Richmond County ready to be next Pack star
Paul McNeil, Jr. is living in the moment.
The 6-foot-6 Richmond Senior basketball standout had just scored a game high 27 points in the Raiders’ 77-62 win over Jordan in Thursday’s opening round of the John Wall Holiday Invitational (Devonte Graham Bracket).
McNeil did so in Broughton’s Holliday Gymnasium, located minutes from his future N.C. State home.
McNeil acknowledged how he joined the line of those who went on to wear Wolfpack red – including Rodney Monroe, N.C. State’s all-time leading scorer who played in the 1986 Holiday Invitational. Any further such talk pertains to the future. McNeil’s here and now talk is about Richmond’s first Holiday Invitational visit on the journey to program history.
“Just to be here is special,” McNeil said. “It’s rare.”
The Raiders, N.C. 4A state finalists a year ago, are seeking back-to-back championship game appearances. The program realized this repeat performance when Richmond coach Donald “Bootsie” Pettigrew starred for the school in the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons.
McNeil acknowledged how life can be “rough” in a county void of economic growth, and hindered by now shuttered factories and mills and the absence of NASCAR races at Rockingham Speedway that once gave life to the county bordering South Carolina during Pettigrew’s time as a high school student. Still, there are blessings.
“We’re really grateful for the knowledge he gives us,” McNeil said of Pettigrew. “He tells us what we can do, where we can get better, how we can approach the game.”
McNeil leading the Raiders in most offensive categories is normal. There, too, are the less frequently noted statistics sheet details.
“I see him getting better,” Raiders guard J.V. Drake said of McNeil. “I see him growing on defense.”
McNeil had four steals, zero turnovers, drew six fouls and committed and zero personal fouls versus Jordan, which Richmond defeated in last year’s state playoffs.
Drake was even more blunt in affirming McNeil’s role in this week’s program landmark Holiday Invitational opportunity.
“He got us here,” Drake said. “But it’s a team effort. We’ve got his back.”
These Raiders, who competed with and versus each other for county middle school championships, Pettigrew said, are teammates who became family. Practices in the school’s Raider Gymnasium – a double-decker venue like Broughton – prepared Richmond for the Holiday Invitational’s atmosphere while reaffirming fundamental basketball skills, like sound footwork, and life traits, including effective communication and accountability.
Pettigrew, like Drake, was even more blunt when affirming McNeil’s unselfishness among a further-reaching endorsement.
“I want my son to be a big brother like (McNeil) is to his sister.”
