The men’s basketball team and coaching staff arrived at the Raleigh-Durham Airport in a private jet After a weekend of ACC tournament play in Tampa, Fla.

As they disembarked from the plane, 30-plus N.C. State fans bombarded the entry gate trying to get a glimpse or a picture of their favorite players.

Somewhere in the crowd a chant of “N-C-State, N.C. State!” aroused, and everyone joined in.

Before the last few rounds of the chant died out, senior guard Engin Atsur walked over to the gate and began shaking hands with all the fans on the other side.

Close behind Atsur were teammates guard Courtney Fells, forward Gavin Grant, guard Bryan Nieman, guard Trevor Ferguson, forward Ben McCauley, forward Brandon Costner and forward Dennis Horner.

All the players shook hands with the yelling fans.

Kristy Craig, freshman in political science, handed Atsur a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, which he proceeded to take back to the children traveling with the team.

“[Atsur] took a box of doughnuts and handed them out to the kids on the bus, which goes to show how modest and great our players are,” Brittany Prater, sophomore in political science, said.

“We had a moment,” Craig said about handing the doughnuts off to Atsur.

Prater and Craig were part of an envoy of approximately 20 Student Government members who took 30 dozen doughnuts, that Krispy Kreme Doughnuts donated, to greet the fans and basketball players at the airport.

“Anybody who says N.C. State didn’t win this week is crazy,” Zach Adams, Student Senate president and senior in industrial engineering, said among the cheers.

After the team boarded the bus, the SG group, as well as the other fans present at the airport arrival, headed to a larger homecoming outside Dail Men’s Basketball Complex.

Current students, alumni and even fans from other colleges showed their support with chants, cheers and applause as the men’s basketball team exited the bus at the complex.

“I love them,” Nikki Dickens, a student from East Carolina University, said. “I’ve loved them ever since I was little.”

Byron Mangum of Wake Technical Community College echoed the sentiment.

“We definitely support their efforts,” Mangum said. Men’s basketball coach Sidney Lowe stepped out of his car to the cheers of a hundred or more fans.

“This is outstanding,” Lowe said. “This is what I tell my boys: there are no better fans in the world than N.C. State fans … We always get them to go out there and do the best they can for their fans.”

The players, who had just come off 3 days and 4 games of intense basketball play, shook hands and hugged fans, signed various NCSU memorabilia and smiled for photograph after photograph.

“We very much appreciate all the fans out here. We had a few people down in [Tampa], but nothing like this,” Nieman said.

The team knew that the fans strongly supported them, but weren’t expecting this kind of reception, according to Horner.

Costner agreed.

“Everyone loves us so much,” Costner said.

Costner played through the last few minutes of the ACC championship game vs. UNC-Chapel Hill with a sprained ankle.

Fells said the tournament was a great experience.

“We wish we could have won it, but we played our hearts out and we’ll just get back in there and get ready for next year,” Fells, sophomore in communications, said.

McCauley said he was happy with the turnout.

“This is what it’s all about. For [the fans] to come out here, even after this weekend, shows how much they mean to us,” he said.