A former Tar Heel is headed down Interstate 40 for the upcoming college basketball season, joining one of UNC’s in-state rivals.

Senior forward Ven-Allen Lubin announced his commitment to North Carolina State’s men’s basketball program on Sunday after playing for UNC in the 2024-25 season and entering the transfer portal on its final day in April. The move marks the Orlando, Fla. native’s fourth school in four collegiate seasons, as he played at Notre Dame and Vanderbilt before joining Carolina.

After starting the season as a bench option for head coach Hubert Davis, Lubin’s development and rebounding prowess earned him a starting position and led him to become one of UNC’s more productive players in a season that saw the Tar Heels (23-14) lose in NCAA Tournament’s Round of 64. Lubin finished as Carolina’s leading rebounder (5.6 per game), earned the program’s Most Improved Player award and seemed poised to be a key returning figure for UNC as it aimed to improve from a fifth-place finish in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Upon entering the transfer portal, Lubin said his “full intent” was to return to Chapel Hill for another season and the move was related to “the complexities surrounding the possible approval of the pending NCAA settlement.” Instead, he will join a Wolfpack program that hired Will Wade to take over for the dismissed Kevin Keatts after N.C. State underwhelmed after advancing to the 2023-24 Final Four and finished with the third-worst ACC record.

As Lubin remained in the portal, UNC used the transfer portal itself — alongside a blue chip high school recruit — to overhaul its frontcourt for 2025-26. Joining five-star freshman power forward Caleb Wilson will be center Henri Veesaar (Arizona) and forward Jarin Stevenson (Alabama), with rising junior Zayden High reportedly returning to the program after a de facto year-long suspension. All of those players are listed as taller than Lubin (6-foot-8).

Lubin becomes one of only a handful of former Carolina men’s basketball players to join N.C. State — and will not have the opportunity to face UNC in the Dean Smith Center next season. In the ACC schedules revealed on May 28, Carolina will only face N.C. State in Raleigh, which marks the first time since 1919 the Tar Heels will not host the Wolfpack in Chapel Hill.

Lubin is the fifth Tar Heel to enter the transfer portal during the 2025 offseason, joining Elliot Cadeau (Michigan), Jalen Washington (Vanderbilt), Cade Tyson (Minnesota) and Ian Jackson (St. John’s).

 

Featured photo by Todd Melet/Chapel Hill Media Group.

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