NC State senior forward Ven-Allen Lubin met with the media at the 2025 ACC Tip Off to discuss the upcoming season for the Wolfpack.
NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.
Do you still talk to some of those guys? Just kind of even, not even from Carolina, but also your previous sets as well?
Yeah, I do. I still keep in touch with them.
What would you, how would you compare the four coaches you've played with?
What could I compare? Yeah, all different. All different coach styles. I think they all have, you know, similar goals and culture. Jay's being, like, wanting to win and wanting to put guys in great positions just to be successful.
And I think if I had to break it down, I think Mike Brey is just a very, very noble person, a very noble coach. You just know that he just constructs things in a very real manner and just knows what he's doing and to be able to also hit the ball with a lot of other guys.
Jerry Stackhouse is a very knowledgeable coach. Being able to have so much experience and so much knowledge of the game, playing and coaching and everything. I think that to be able to bring that to the college level and be able to be so close to them is something that's really, really, really special to me.
And, Hubert Davis, he's very passionate. He shows a lot of emotions. He wants guys to feel that and be able to, just enjoy every moment. At the time that he played, like, he was kind of buying it, but he should have enjoyed it more, so he emphasized that to us. And, we were late.
Like I said earlier, Will Wade was very authentic, transparent, and he used some average words and also he was very bold. So we just get a lot out of all those coaches that I've been able to, be able to play for and have a good record.
The connectivity when you have so many new players and then you're on a new staff with a new staff as well. Just describe how well are y'all connecting and what is kind of, everybody's being thrown in a new situation.
Yeah, I believe that we all just belong together on the court. I think it just really started with the first week, us coming into the summer and just knowing that we all have different personalities, we all come from different backgrounds, and just knowing that we can all help the team win. But we don't know that unless we get to know one another and we can really trust who we're playing for.
And so we just want to have that mindset, just knowing that we're playing something bigger than ourselves. The guy next to us. And we really want to become like brothers instead of like strangers or acquaintances when it comes to this because I believe that once we're brothers and we play for something that we really care for and really matters, then it's something good.
The infrastructure at NC State, the facilities, the fan base, the students, just describe that. What have you discovered in that part of your journey?
Yeah, I mean, it's something that's immeasurable. Just the love and support that I get from the community, from NC State, and just knowing that it's a great fan base and just knowing that they're very, very excited, about this basketball season. So that's something that I'm looking forward to extremely, and just getting it.
Then apologies have already been asked, but not even just last year, you've obviously played for multiple head coaches at this level before. What makes Will unique? What do you appreciate most about him?
I appreciate how authentic and transparent he is. He's the type of coach that will say what you want to hear, just throw some things out that's going to make a sound good, and then once things come real, then it's like completely opposite, and you're thrown out of blindness. So I just think that he's just being really straight up with you, in front, and that's something I really admire.
What are some of the tough things he's told you that maybe you wouldn't want to hear but needed to?
It wasn't really tough. Like, he admired me great as a character and as a player. He said some really good things about me, and I really appreciate it. So that kind of really forced me to be more of a vocal leader.
He knows I'm a guy that kind of leads by example, leads by my actions, and he thinks that my voice carries a lot, to the guy, and we can be helpful. So that's something he wants me to do, and that's something I signed up for.
What is your kind of takeaway from Coach Brey and his, I'm guessing, very funny personality? And then I'm sure the NBA background of Jerry Stackhouse was a different experience. What was it like to learn from different personalities, I guess?
Yeah, I mean, it just tells a lot about, like, the coaching style and how they want to be successful on their own, whether it's very strict, whether it's very loose. Like Mike Perry, he was a guy that just loves to have his players, put a smile on his players' face, make them enjoy the moment and not be so serious.
Obviously there's times where they're locking and locking, but also times where, like, this is a game where guys that want to compete are entertained and also enjoy it. For him to install that in us was really good, and also from Jerry Stackhouse, a very intense guy, just knowing that he loves to compete, he doesn't like losing. That's something that he installed in us early on. It's just something that he emphasized each and every day. He wants us to play with force, with aggressiveness, and just that chip on our shoulder.
I assume that Jerry talked to Hubert before you signed with UNC. Considering they are both UNC guys?
Probably, but I'm not too sure yet.
Is Hubert very different than Brey and Wade?
I believe he is. I think he's, from my experience, I think he's just more passionate. I mean, I haven't seen Wade in action yet. I haven't played for him yet. But it just seems to me that Hubert Davis is more passionate, just showing a lot of emotions on the court. He's just coaching, like, at the end of practice, he'll be dressed in sweat.
Like, he won't even do nothing, you know, obviously, like, physically, just kind of just showing that he's just really, really into the game. And so that's something that I see in each and every one of the coaches. And like I said about Will Wade, I think he's very transparent and authentic. And also, I think he also shows emotion and passion just based off, his actions.
When you, Coach Wade's been talking about freeing you from the 3-pt line, and I went back and I watched Florida at Vanderbilt. And I don't know how much you remember from that game, but you were launching, and what was it like when you think back? Like, you put up big numbers on the Florida team that then won the national title a year later.
Yeah. I mean, that is something that, that is something that has really outwitted me, just, as a coach, just knowing that he's seen me done it before. He's studied me in my game, not just from last year, but just from years before that. And even in high school, like, he was able to contact my high school coach and have conversations with him just to know what type of player I am, just so he can get to learn more about me.
And that's something that I really, really appreciate him for. And that's something to where I do good things that I can do and continue to work on, just to be able to free me up and also free up the offense.
What do you think you'll show in the Wolfpack uniform? Maybe you didn't always get to show.
I think just how well-rounded I am. I think I'm a guy that can just impact winning in so many different ways and just be able to, whether that's playmaking, whether that's scoring a ball, whether that's on defense, I think I can do it all.
