What's story behind NC State's ice cream tradition? How it started and what fans get wrong

GLENDALE, Ariz. — When they built State Farm Stadium out here in the suburbs, a good half an hour from downtown Phoenix, they put an entertainment district across the street full of shops, bars and — yes — ice cream parlors. 

Three of them, in fact. 

It’s as if this Final Four has been waiting for NC State the whole time. 

If you’ve seen Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts out and about in public lately, there’s a good chance he’s wearing a shirt with five ice cream cones on it to represent the five games NC State won at the ACC tournament that started this crazy run to the Final Four. 

What’s the deal with NC State and ice cream? 

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It’s actually a pretty simple story — and one that, Keatts said, the NC State fan base sometimes gets wrong. 

Back when he started as the coach at UNC-Wilmington in 2014, the program had not won a road game since the previous December, going 0-9 on the road in conference play. 

In the second game of Keatts’ debut season, the Seahawks won at UNC-Greensboro and he didn’t like the vibe in the locker room. 

“I was jumping up and down, but I had most of the players back from the previous year and they had no idea how to celebrate,” Keatts said. 

The idea popped in his head to get ice cream on the way home, which turned into a tradition at Wilmington that he then brought with him to Raleigh in 2017: Road wins equal ice cream trips.

“You get a chance to get a road win, you got to go out and celebrate it in some way,” he said. “Thats how it happened. That’s what it’s become.”

The NC State fan base, though, has taken liberties with the idea. Keatts said “everyone in Raleigh is messing the tradition up. Every time we win a game, everybody is going out and getting ice cream. It’s not about that.” 

And while neutral site games are not exactly road games, NC State has collected some pretty big wins away from home lately. The ice cream shirt Keatts wears — by the way, it was made specifically for him so “it’s one of one,” he said — commemorates the games that took NC State from well outside the NCAA Tournament to ACC champions. 

Now, after four more victories, they’re here as a No. 11 seed getting ready to face Purdue. 

If the Wolfpack wins Saturday, the good news is there will be no shortage of nearby options for a couple scoops. 

“I love ice cream,” Keatts said. “Who doesn’t love ice cream?”

Most of us should be able to agree on that.