NC State's Ven-Allen Lubin and Matt Able met with the media following the Wolfpack's 75-63 win over UNC Asheville Saturday afternoon.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch the players’ press conference.
On his offensive performance…
VAL: I just really give credit to my teammates. They were able to find me on offense. For me to believe in the work that I put in, to be able to go up there, be aggressive, be assertive, and just take what it takes to help my team to win, that's what it was for me: just getting involved in offense and defense and just [getting] the rebounds and points. I couldn't have done it without my teammates, and the way our coaches have done a really great job in developing us, finding the open plays, and just getting us ready for today.
On what changed in the second half…
VAL: Again, it was my teammates. I think that just trying to run a great flow on offense and the way that the guys found me was the reason why I got those quick points. They have really done a great job of just finding me and just being able to get me involved and get others involved. That's what it took for us to get going.
On the difference today versus the previous two games…
MA: I think it was a mentality shift as a whole, as a team. Obviously, the last couple games, we haven't played how we want to play and as best that we can play, so I think, coming into this game, we really just took, especially defensively — it starts on defense — we took some strides defensively, and that's kind of what led to offense. I was getting easy, open looks just because we were getting stops, and I was able to run out on offense and hit the easy shot. It was just my teammates finding me and also starting on defense.
On Will Wade’s response after the trip to Hawai’i and Auburn…
MA: The biggest thing is we've just got to be better. We know our capabilities. We know what our strengths are, and we need to play to them. Overall, the last couple of games, we haven't played to the best of our abilities, and I think the coaches just bring that out of us, making sure we're not slacking off on help defense. It’s little stuff like that that we just need to work on, and Coach has done a great job pushing us to those standards.
VAL: Yeah, the coaches have done a really great job just holding us accountable to doing our role on the best of our abilities because he believes in all of us, just the way that we know what we're capable of. We haven't shown it in the past few games, but that's what's really stressing out for a lot of us. For Coach, being able to get the best out of us, he really emphasized that. He makes sure that he pushes harder every day, even in game days. He just makes sure we pay attention to the little details and makes sure that we're ready.
On seeing Lubin assert himself in the second half…
MA: Honestly, he's a captain. He's one of the main leaders on this team. When he does stuff like that, as a freshman, I just look at him like, “Yo, there he goes." He's been doing it all college. I don't even know who he dunked on, but he punched on one dude so bad, I was in the game, and I'm freaking out. I was like, "Oh my goodness! That was bad!" He just brings energy. It was also not even also not even the points, just the offensive rebounds and the extra possessions we got from him just out-hustling through. It was just great to see on the court, and when you're on the court, it just feeds into your energy. It makes you want to make those plays, play harder, and just do your job better. It’s just the full-on energy on both sides.
On Alyn Breed’s aggressiveness on the floor…
VAL: It's very key, just for him to do things that won't show on paper or on the stat lines. He didn't really come into this just being a scorer. He just wants to win, and he's willing to do whatever it takes to win. For him to just make those hustle and effort plays and really just help us out, really contribute to us winning, it’s huge, and we’re just thankful for him to be that type of guy and taking on that role because not a lot of guys in college can be willing to take that role and accept it. He did, and we really appreciate him for that.
MA: I’ve got to say around the same thing: Coach Wade talked about not just playing for box score stats and doing the little stuff that you don't see in the box score. He's probably the best example of that. He didn’t have those points, rebounds, or steals, but every toughness play that he was around, he made the play. He was just playing super hard. In the press, he literally picked up 94 feet. He was disturbing the guards, forcing turnovers, even though he didn't even get the steal for it sometimes. He was just making plays that made the other point guards uncomfortable and throwing them off their game.
On having the reset after being away from home…
MA: I'm definitely glad we won. We needed it. We needed to start getting some momentum, but I think that we have a lot of room for growth overall, and we can keep getting better and better. This is just one of the building blocks to making sure that we're playing up to our standards.
