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Ven-Allen Lubin gives the Tar Heels flexibility in so many ways.
The 6-8 transfer from Vanderbilt will do some of what Harrison Ingram and Armando Bacot did, playing power forward but also inside, rebounding the ball at the same pace over his last 10 games at Vandy as Ingram did all season. He may even be better on the offensive end, where 70 percent of his shots came from the paint or at the rim and he was among the best in the SEC at putback percentage.
His time inside will leave plenty of minutes for fellow transfer and marksman Cade Tyson to get comfortable at small forward and shoot the 46 percent from outside that he did at Belmont with a chance to be the new Cormac Ryan.
Per all reports, Lubin will give the program what it lost in Ingram, Ryan and Bacot, guys who came to play for the UNC brand more than the NIL bucks and were as good in the locker room as on the court. He arrives with the same two years of eligibility left as Ingram, who played so well he opted for the NBA Draft after one season.
Lubin’s recruitment seems to have come with no strings attached. Having scholarships left, Hubert Davis and his staff may keep looking for another big who can produce in the paint or protect the rim or block some shots and at the very least be a valuable practice competitor and an occasional contributor in games like James Okonkwo.
And don’t forget projected starter Jalen Washington, first forward reserve Jae’Lyn Withers and promising sophomore Zayden High are returning and will be joined by incoming freshman James Brown.
In short, Lubin will help. He is a solid player whose stats could be misleading, either way, having played on a bad team whose coach Jerry Stackhouse was fired with a 70-92 record after five years, 9-23 last season. Stackhouse, the legendary Tar Heel of the 1990s, earned SEC Coach of the Year in 2023 with a 22-15 record.
“He’s a really good post player,” Stackhouse told Inside Carolina of Lubin, “throwing it down there to him, and he’s a really good passer when teams bring the double team. He has a knack for finishing, with really good touch around the basket.”
All in all, Lubin looks like a good fit for the Carolina Basketball Family.
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
