Player Preview: Nate Lubick

This is the tenth preview of the members of the 2011-12 Georgetown Hoyas. You also can read about Markel Starks, Aaron Bowen, Otto Porter, Jabril Trawick, Greg Whittington, Mikael Hopkins, Tyler Adams, Moses Ayegba, and John Caprio. 

Sophomore power forward Nate Lubick is the final underclassman on this year’s Georgetown team and the only youngin who is a returning starter. On such a young team with so few returning contributors, Lubick must make the leap from glue guy to heavy contributor.

Lubick arrived last year from St. Mark’s (Mass.) to find a wide-open front court with minutes for the taking. After Greg Monroe’s departure, Julian Vaughn was left without a sure power forward next to him. Jerrelle Benimon hadn’t proven himself in freshman minutes, Henry Sims was still unreliable, and Moses Ayegba was a project. III started Hollis Thompson alongside Vaughn, a small lineup to be sure, throughout the Hoyas’ early-season run and mid-season stumbles.

But after a so-so sweep of the New Jersey schools, Thompson came off the pine while  Lubick started in an eventual twenty-five point blowout of St. John’s. Thompson provided instant offense off the bench, while Lubick did whatever was needed of him in an otherwise veteran starting lineup. After committing several first-half turnovers against the Red Storm, Lubick chipped in a healthy six points, five rebounds, and a pair of nifty assists as the Hoyas pulled away, and earned the metereologically inspired nickname “Thundersnow.” Small contributions–noticeable but not likely to lead any recap–typified the rest of Lubick’s season. Except for notching 11 points in a December blowout of Appalachian State, he never reached double digits in scoring, and rarely had individual numbers that jumped off the page. But he made his presence felt in other ways, capping a last-minute road win over Villanova with a rim-rattling dunk, and feeding a cutting teammate with a nifty pass.

While Lubick‘s contributions were welcome at the margins of a veteran-laden team, the graduation of Chris Wright, Austin Freeman, and Julian Vaughn, along with the departure of front-court mate Jerrelle Benimon, meant Lubick would be expected to get more minutes in his sophomore year, and to increase his production accordingly. His play over the summer showed progress; whether it was enough to satisfy Hoya fans is uncertain. In Kenner League, Lubick was limited to two and a fraction games before he suffered a shoulder injury that sidelined him for the duration. Still, he played well, averaging nearly eight rebounds per game, establishing himself as a distributor out of the post, and canning both of his three-point attempts.  In China, Lubick again played well, averaging six points, nearly seven rebounds and just shy of five assists across three games.

This year, expect Lubick to start at power forward. Freshman Mikael Hopkins, while a promising prospect, likely will come along gradually, much like Lubick last year. And Hopkins’s classmate Otto Porter, perhaps the most likely of the newcomers to earn heavy minutes, is the same height as Lubick but has a slight frame making him a more natural small forward. Plus, Lubick’s skills, shown in small samples last year and developed in a year of hard work, will be even more valuable this year. Rebounds have been a scarce commodity on the Hilltop for some time, and Lubick’s dedication under the boards will help in that regard. Also, while Jason Clark and Hollis Thompson both return, there is no obvious go-to scorer on the team, thus the need for Lubick’s ability to set up teammates for easy scores. While Lubick is certainly a year or more away from the levels reached by Monroe, Coach Thompson’s system certainly has a place for posts who can rebound and pass. Lubick’s game may not make him the obvious leader of this year’s Hoya squad but he may provide the necessary ingredients for it to succeed.