Two Bright Spots for NC State in Notre Dame Loss

NC State needed to find a way against Notre Dame if it wanted to stay in the hunt for a fourth-place finish in the ACC standings, earning a double-bye in the ACC Tournament. The Wolfpack ultimately crumbled down the stretch against the Fighting Irish, losing 96-90 in overtime and dropping a second-straight game in the penultimate week of the regular season.

Even in the ugly defeat, there were areas of positivity for the Wolfpack, particularly in the form of a couple of individual performances. NC State still needed quality play offensively to score 90 points and cruised through much of the game on that end of the floor before Notre Dame slid back into a 2-3 zone defense in the final minutes. Who stood out most for the Pack on Saturday?

Lubin shines in another reunion

Ven-Allen Lubin started his collegiate career with Notre Dame back in the 2022-23 season under former coach Mike Brey, but ended up transferring another two times before landing with the Wolfpack for his senior season. He showed his comfort at the Joyce Center on Saturday, scoring a team-high 24 points, shooting 8-of-10 from the field. He also pulled down 10 rebounds for a double-double. He battled on the offensive glass as much as he could as well.

"That's something that will help us and this team, to just give us more opportunities on offense to go score a basket," Lubin said. "So I just need to continue to crash and give my team opportunities to put some points on the board and that's what we're going to do."

It marked Lubin's sixth double-double of the season and first since the Jan. 24 win over the Pittsburgh Panthers, also away from the Lenovo Center.

Copeland responds after rough outing in Charlottesville

Quadir Copeland scored a season-low three points in the 29-point loss to Virginia earlier in the week, battling foul trouble and struggling against Virginia's strong perimeter defense. He had no such issues through most of the Notre Dame game, controlling the flow of the offense for the Wolfpack as much as he could as his team led.

The savvy point guard finished with the loss with 17 points, nine assists, two steals and four turnovers before fouling out in overtime. When Notre Dame fell back into the zone, the Wolfpack began to settle for shots rather than let Copeland diagnose and pick apart the holes of the defense, which proved fatal for NC State on Saturday.

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