Freshman forward Ven-Allen Lubin becomes the latest Notre Dame men’s basketball transfer portal plunge
Micah Shrewsberry went nearly a month as Notre Dame head coach without seeing one of the four players he inherited choose to explore other options. The first, though, deals a significant blow to his early roster building efforts and could take away a potential centerpiece of his early years.
Freshman forward Ven-Allen Lubin intends to enter his name in the transfer portal, he announced Monday. He joins freshman classmates JJ Starling and Dom Campbell in looking for a new destination. He has three seasons left to play. Starling and Campbell went in the portal on March 13, the first day of the 60-day transfer window for undergrads. Lubin followed suit more than a month later, and in doing so, leaves Notre Dame without a sophomore-to-be on its roster and none of its top seven scorers from last season.
“To the University of Notre Dame, thank you for this season of growth and thank you for being a supportive community,” Lubin said in a statement. “This past year has been filled with new experiences.
“I am ready to find a new home that will allow me to grow and prosper as a basketball player, and that will allow me to maximize my ability to strive for a winning season with my teammates and coaches.
Lubin averaged 6.2 points and 4.4 rebounds in 17.5 minutes per game this year, shooting 58 percent from the field and 67.7 percent from the foul line. He also had a team-high 23 blocks. He played in 28 games, making seven starts. He missed two games in early January with an ankle injury. A late January re-aggravation of it cost him two more.
The 6-foot-8, 226-pound Lubin was a season-long rotation player and occasional starter for Notre Dame. Before a late October eye injury that wiped out two weeks of preseason practice, he was viewed as the Irish’s likely starting “five.” Notre Dame went with a four-guard lineup to begin the season, though, with Lubin coming off the bench. He didn’t step into the starting lineup until Feb. 8 at Georgia Tech. When he did, though, he started seven of the last nine games.
Four of Lubin’s eight double-figure scoring games came after he became a starter. He went for 13 points against Georgia Tech. His season high of 19 came in a Feb. 26 loss to Wake Forest. He was 9-for-12 from the field in that game, adding 8 rebounds and 3 blocks. His season high in rebounds was 13 in a Nov. 25 loss to St. Bonaventure. His 32 minutes against Bowling Green Nov. 22 were his most this season.
Notre Dame signed Lubin out of Orlando Christian Prep in Florida. He was a four-star recruit and the No. 70 overall prospect in the 2022 On3 Industry Ranking. He chose the Irish in November 2021 over Clemson, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech.
Without Lubin, Notre Dame has four players on its 2023-24 roster: senior guard Tony Sanders Jr., junior forward Matt Zona, sophomore guard JR Konieczny and incoming freshman guard Markus Burton. Neither Sanders nor Zona has averaged more than 6.9 minutes per game or played more than 20 games in a season. Konieczny redshirted in 2022-23.
The Irish, though, are hosting a potential frontcourt addition on a visit that began Monday: transferring Penn State forward Kebba Njie, who started 26 games for Shrewsberry and the Nittany Lions this season. He averaged 3.4 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.
