NC State coach Will Wade still looking to add another big, opens up about Paul Mbiya’s decommitment

Through the first month of NC State’s new-look roster being on campus, North Carolina transfer forward Ven-Allen Lubin has been one of the budding stars. He has anchored the Wolfpack’s front court, earning the team’s “Man of the Month” award in the process. 

Lubin, who scored in double figures in each of the Tar Heels’ final 11 games with four double-doubles in that span last season, has impressed nearly every coach within the Dail Basketball Center’s walls. 

“Ven-Allen Lubin, he’s extremely high-character,” NC State assistant Adam Howard recently said. “He comes in every day and never has any bad body language. I told Coach [Wade] he’s like a machine. You could rip his face off and he’d have wires underneath there. Every day, he’s just so consistent.”

The college basketball journeyman has improved his 3-point shot after taking just three attempts from deep at UNC, Wolfpack coach Will Wade believes could be back to his Vanderbilt self of a 33.3 percent clip during the 2023-24 campaign. But while Lubin has been “everything we thought he would be,” according to Wade, NC State isn’t done building its front court. 

Yes, Lubin will likely be the starter to play 28 or more minutes a night, but the Wolfpack is extremely thin at center. All it has behind Lubin is Wyoming transfer Scottie Ebube and four-star freshman Mikey Wilkins. That doesn’t sit well with Wade.

“We’ve gotta get [Lubin] a little bit more help down there,” Wade said in a 36-minute summer press conference Wednesday. “He’s done a great job. He’s been a warrior for us, but we’ve got to get him a little more help.”

Before all of the Wolfpack’s players arrived on campus, NC State felt comfortable with its center spot as Congolese center Paul Mbiya was signed instead of Ebube. But as his expected arrival date drew closer, the likelihood of the 6-foot-11, 260-pound shot-blocker showing up in Raleigh waned as each day passed. 

And eventually, well, he decommitted. Mbiya reopened his recruitment on June 19 and signed with Kansas on June 25. It was a quick change in plans, but it appears to have been out of the high-upside prospect’s control on whether he was going to suit up for NC State this season. 

“Paul’s a great kid. He’s going to Kansas, but I wish he was here,” Wade said. “It’s not his fault. It’s not Paul’s fault, I want to be very clear about that. It’s not his fault. It’s our fault. … The kid wanted to come, we couldn’t facilitate it happening.”

It appears to have been a NIL budget issue, which led to Mbiya looking elsewhere to play. Kansas was one of the suitors NC State originally beat out for his services, and now he’ll play for the Jayhawks, a team that will visit the Lenovo Center on Dec. 13. 

“His people overseas are incredible people. His agents are really good people,” Wade said of Mbiya. “All of those folks are great people and they handled it way better than I would have. You got to make tough decisions sometimes, and tough decisions hurt individuals, but you have to make the best decisions for your program. We were in a tough spot. Tough decisions were made. It was unfortunate with Paul.”

Instead of having one of the top international centers with a 7-foot-7 wingspan on the Wolfpack’s roster this season, Wade and his staff were able to pivot to land Ebube. The former Southern Illinois and Wyoming center has an elite knack for offensive rebounding, doing so at an 18 percent clip, but he also has a tendency to foul in bunches. 

Wade believes that Ebube will be helpful in his final season of eligibility, but NC State still needs to add depth to that position ahead of the 2025-26 season. The Wolfpack has time to do so with the first day of classes set for Aug. 18. 

With the House settlement approved, men’s basketball teams can use up to 15 scholarships. The Wolfpack has 13 filled to this point, with the flexibility of adding two more, though it would come off the program’s revenue share budget. That didn’t appear to be a concern for Wade, who seems focused on adding another center to the mix soon. 

That would be music to Lubin’s ears. While he’s expected to play a key role within the Wolfpack’s system this season, doing so every night for 32 games — especially in ACC play — would be taxing on his body. Wade knows and he and his staff, led by General Manager Andrew Slater, are working to solve that issue in the coming weeks, either in the transfer portal or the international ranks.

“We’re still looking,” Wade said. “At this point, you need a little bit of luck, whether it’s a foreign guy or other things that happen. We have our antennas up, and we’re looking.”