Whiteville’s Shaun Kirk signs with NC State Wolfpack

WHITEVILLE, NC (WWAY) — The possibility of playing basketball at the University of Kentucky was appealing to Whiteville’s Shaun Kirk, but apparently not enough. The Whiteville basketball standout signed with NC State on Wednesday. The signing brought loads of relief to NC State head basketball coach Mark Gottfried due to Kentucky’s offer, which caused a bit of backpedaling on Kirk’s behalf.

Breakdown of our interview with Shaun Kirk on Wednesday is below: (Click the icon above to see the entire sit down interview)

WWAY’s John Rendleman: “You gotta admit that when Kentucky came a calling a day or two ago you listened to the Wildcats.”

Shaun Kirk “Yes sir I did, because it is very rare that you get a chance to get a call from coach Calipari because Kentucky is the #1 school and it’s a dream for every kid who plays ball, I had to hear what he had to say.”

“But you’re not going to be a Kentucky Wildcat you’ve decided to not only play for NC State, you signed with NC State today.”

“Yes sir, I did, that was one of my dream schools. It was one of my dream to play in the ACC, and I get my chance now, I am going to go in there and work my hardest and go in there and hopefully win a national championship and be Wolfpack for life.”

“UNC Wilmington was the leading candidate all along until recently, is that right?”

“Yes, they were.”

“What changed?  I really enjoyed being recruited by UNCW, but when my dream came along I always wanted to follow my dreams and reach em and that is what I had to do. That was one of my main priorities.”

“Was it more of a dream to play in the ACC or to play at NC State?  More of the ACC, but the more I visited the Wolfpack I developed a relationship and everything just clicked.”

Here’s the story we originally posted on Tuesday,..

and the one we originally posted on Monday about Shaun Kirk.