NC State F Ven-Allen Lubin and G Jordan Snell met with the media to discuss the 85-84 loss to Stanford.
NOTE: Click the video player above to watch the full press conference!
For either one of you guys, just frustration of losing this game overall, forced straight to close the season six out of seven at this point.
LUBIN: Yes, it's a bit frustrating. I would say it's extremely frustrating. He wanted to close out the second half of the season really strong, come out with wins, and show the amount of work that he put in day in and day out.
Today, we let our fans down, people came out to support us down because they came here to watch us play. I just think that we just kind of let a couple of positions, one or two possessions slip away. If you look back to the past, the last seven games, with the exception of Duke and Virginia, we lost games by one to two possessions.
We just have to make sure to learn from this moment, going into ACC time, and know how valuable each possession is, and try to get better from there.
Jordan, obviously not the results you guys wanted today, but just your thoughts on getting the opportunity to start in this game and what the emotions were like for you in this one.
SNELL: It was really cool. I've been to three senior nights, so just seeing when you see the older guys have the senior nights, it's like you can't really imagine yourself being in it. Coach told me yesterday I was going to start.
I'm just trying not to mess anything up out there. Obviously you want to win, but I'm thankful for this opportunity I got to come back. If anybody knows anything, I know the season's not over.
It's better. We grew up going to ACC tournament with a positive mindset. We started on Wednesday, Wednesday's better than starting on Tuesday.
Disappointed, but I'm always going to support my guys and stand with them. That's a little positivity for me tonight. I'm happy I got the opportunity to start and have a good senior night.
You mentioned the one possession. From your point of view, what's been the biggest thing that hasn't allowed you guys to get over the hump and win a close game like this down the stretch?
LUBIN: I want to say discipline and effort. I think down the stretch, sometimes us leagues get a little hesitant and get a little static at times where we don't be able to spend on defense. We do things that we don't normally practice or do, and that leads to us following them against a free-throw line or leads to an open shot.
I think we just got to be more disciplined and trust and have each other's back so that we can take care of one-on-one matches and any type of defense that we put out there. Going out there and offensively and be disciplined, run good offense, and get the best shot that we can.
Y'all were in position to finish top four and have one of the best seasons in modern history for the school. When you think about what was there and what was left on the table, what does that feel like? How do you move forward?
SNELL: When you're in it, when we were top four, we were in there saying, okay, we look around, we have a historic season. You take it one game at a time whether you win or lose. We had a six-game win streak, and that was great.
But we still focused on the next game. You keep that same mindset right now, next game, one game at a time. But now it's a one-game season.
Obviously, we would have loved to finish top four, but that's not the way it worked. We know that was attainable for us, but we just didn't get it done. You can use that as motivation, and that can help propel you to some important wins that we're going to need in the next season.
You kind of just take it one at a time.
Ven, how important were the free throws in this game? You guys missed nine in a one-point loss. Obviously, each and every single one of them kind of adds up, and you guys had multiple opportunities but just couldn't finish a lot of those.
LUBIN: Yeah, it just shows that we lost by one, and we missed nine free throws. It just kind of puts it in perspective of whether in practice or when we got an off day trying to get in the gym, knowing how important free throws can be. Just to stick to your routine, trust it, and just be at peace of mind to knock down free throws.
Even for myself, I missed three of them, which I don't normally miss that many because I know I put in the work, but it just sort of won't get that way. So it's kind of just a learning experience for me, and hopefully for the other guys to know how important free throws are because we're capable of getting to the line and getting a foul. We just got to go out there with confidence and knock them down.
For both of you, what has this place meant to you? Obviously, you've been playing your final season here, but Jordan, you've been in four seasons here.
SNELL: I've said a lot this week, but it really does mean the world. I'm thankful for the last half of Boo giving me the opportunity just to play one year on the team and then try to kind of use that and propel myself and build relationships that I've never thought of before, to be honest with you. It's meant the world through the wins and losses.
I'm just thankful for the experience. Not a lot of people in the world get to be on a college athletics team, let alone ACC, and have the stuff that I've been a part of. Nothing but I'm just super grateful to this school, grateful to y'all.
Y'all made me feel as important as anybody. I'm just grateful for it, all the highs and the lows.
LUBIN: I'll say I'm just grateful and blessed. Every program that I played in just gave me the opportunity to play at the highest stage and to expose my skills and talents, especially playing here for my last year. It really meant a lot, just like Jordan said, with Boo and Coach Wade and everybody who poured into this program just gave me the opportunity to go out there and play and play for NC State.
It just means a lot, and I know that's something that I have to carry with me and make sure it's important because I know we dedicate our lives to this, and you just want to make sure that we get the best to pour into it and make sure we get the best out of it. I can't be nothing but grateful for it, and I know it's not over, but I just want to appreciate each and every one of you who has been here on this ride for me this year, and I just pray that it continues to happen. Last question.
Jordan, you obviously have the experience two years ago. You ended on a losing streak, then you have that nine-game winning streak into the postseason. As both a captain and as someone who was on that team, how do you motivate your team to keep going in the midst of this rough era?
SNELL: I think it's a little bit of a limbo because you don't want to. Obviously, you have the experience, and I can pull from that, but this team has their own identity, different people, so I can't talk about it that much because this team, there might be another ignition for this team that wouldn't work for the last team. I think I can help them with the fact that anything can happen in March, and we're actually in a better position than we were because we get to play on Wednesday, not Tuesday.
I was talking to the coach about this the other day. Every team I've been on my freshman year, we ended on a losing streak, so I'm bringing on a losing streak. I can bring a little bit of composure to the locker room.
I will say I was a little upset in the locker room after this game, but once I've calmed down, I feel like I can really help this team out with that because it's a new season starting on Wednesday, and anything can happen.
