Senior Day Ends in Disappointment for Lubin, Others
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RALEIGH — It was a bittersweet day for the seven NC State seniors honored during the Senior Day festivities at the Lenovo Center. An emotional ceremony for Ven-Allen Lubin, Darrion Williams, Tre Holloman, Scottie Ebube, Jordan Snell, Quadir Copeland and Alyn Breed marked the prelude to a gut-wrenching finish against the Stanford Cardinal, with the Wolfpack losing a fourth-straight game.
The loss obviously overshadowed the festivities before the game, but it also might've motivated the veterans for a final push in the 2025-26 season, a year that will be the only one with the Wolfpack for the entire group outside of Breed.
Lubin hopes struggles lead to learning
Lubin finished the regular season playing some of the best basketball of his lengthy career. The senior averaged 15.3 points and 7.4 rebounds over the last seven games, shooting 70.2% from the field during that stretch. While he had individual success, the Wolfpack as a whole failed to meet the standards set by Wade and the rest of the coaching staff and suffered loss after loss in that run.
"It's extremely frustrating," Lubin said. "We wanted to close out the second half of the season really strong, come out with wins and show the amount of work that we put in day in and day out. ... Today, we felt like we let out fans down, the people who came out to support us down ... I just think that we let one or two possessions slip away."
Senior Day ➡️ Ven-Allen Lubin 🐺 pic.twitter.com/k89QqDYBdZ
— NC State Men's Basketball (@PackMensBball) March 7, 2026
Lubin is one of several players on the NC State roster with NCAA Tournament experience. This is the time of year to save your best basketball for, not lose six of the final seven games. That created that feeling of frustration for Lubin and the other seniors, as the sum of their efforts isn't leading to wins.
"We lost games by about one to two possessions," Lubin said. "We've just got to make sure to learn from this moment going into to the ACC Tournament, knowing how valuable each possession is and try to get better from there."
The senior big tallied another double-double against the Cardinal, scoring 17 points while hauling in 11 rebounds.
Snell gets senior day moment
😃 https://t.co/NmkgnTxStm pic.twitter.com/cabbEPEHir
— NC State Men's Basketball (@PackMensBball) March 7, 2026
All season long, Jordan Snell acted as the connective tissue between the Kevin Keatts era and the Will Wade era for NC State basketball. He was the lone reminder of the Wolfpack's remarkable run to the 2024 Final Four, staying with the team after Keatts was fired following a lackluster 2024-25 season. Senior Day was the culmination of a long journey for the fan favorite guard.
"It was really cool," Snell said. "I've been through three Senior Nights, so just seeing the older guys, you can't really imagine yourself being in it. Coach told me yesterday that I was going to start. I was kind of just trying not to mess anything up out there. Obviously, you want to win, but I'm thankful for the opportunity I got to come. If anyone knows anything, I know the season is not over."
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Tucker Sennett graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Sports Journalism from the esteemed Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. A former basketball player, he has gained valuable experience working at Cronkite News and brings a deep passion for sports and reporting to his role as the NC State Wolfpack Beat Writer On SI.
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