MBB Hosting NC Central Friday Night

Friday, November 14

Chapel Hill

9 p.m.

North Carolina

NC Central

Tickets

Jonathan Powell

Photo by: DALTON T. WAINSCOTT

November 13, 2025 | Men's Basketball

NCCU Notes Live Stats Watch Listen Media Central Tickets Game Guide

• The Tar Heels welcomes North Carolina Central University to the Dean E. Smith Center for a 9 p.m. tip on Friday, November 14.
• The game will be televised on the ACC Network with Doug Sherman and Chris Spatola calling the action.
• Carolina is 3-0 with all three wins in the Smith Center after Tuesday's 89-74 win over Radford.
• The Eagles (1-3) are coming off a 77-61 win over Bluefield State on Wednesday. NC Central lost its first three games on the road to NC State, Virginia and App State.
• This is the fourth time in the last five seasons Carolina started the season 3-0. UNC won its first four in 2023-24.
• Luka Bogavac led four Tar Heels in double figures with 19 points and five assists, Henri Veesaar added 18 points, Jarin Stevenson had 15 and Caleb Wilson recorded his first college double-double with 13 points and 14 boards, the most rebounds by a Tar Heel this season.
• The game included 55 combined fouls and 80 free throw attempts.
• The Tar Heels will again be without guard Seth Trimble. UNC's senior captain broke a bone in left forearm in a team workout on November 9.
• Trimble had accounted for 94.5% of Carolina's returning points from last season and averaged 14.5 points in the first two games.
• The NC Central game is the fourth of five consecutive home games to begin the regular season for the Tar Heels. This season marks the first time UNC has opened with five straight home games since 1918-19 (that stretch included two games vs. the Durham YMCA and one each vs. Guilford, Wake Forest and Elon).
• The five-game homestand is the longest in any part of a season since UNC played six consecutive home games in December 2013.
• Carolina is 180-18 against in-state, non-ACC teams and has won 50 in a row. The most recent in-state, non-ACC game was against Campbell last December.
• Carolina needs two wins to become the third team in college basketball history with 2,400 victories (joining Kentucky and Kansas).
• The Tar Heels are eight wins away from 500 all-time in the Smith Center. UNC enters the NC Central game with a record of 492-90 in the Smith Center.

CAROLINA-NC CENTRAL
• The Tar Heels are 3-0 all-time vs. the Eagles, with all three games played in the Smith Center under head coach Roy Williams.
• The most recent matchup was a 73-67 Tar Heel victory on 12/12/2020, a game played in front of a limited audience due to Covid-19 restrictions. The Eagles led by 11 points in the first half before UNC rallied to take a 30-28 lead at the half. Armando Bacot led Carolina with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

POLLING
• Carolina climbed seven spots this week in the Associated Press poll and is ranked No. 18 in the nation.
• Moving up seven spots from the preseason poll to the first poll of the regular season is the largest jump by the Tar Heels since the AP began ranking 25 teams in the 1989-90 season.
• In 1984-85, when the AP ranked 20 teams, the Tar Heels went from unranked to 19th after the first week of the regular season.

EARLY ACCOLADES
• Freshman forward Caleb Wilson was one of five players named National Player of the Week by the USBWA for the week of November 3-9.
• Wilson also was both the Co-ACC Player and Rookie of the Week following his performances in the wins over Central Arkansas and Kansas.
• Wilson shared the player and rookie awards with Virginia Tech's Neoklis Avdalas.
• Wilson is the first Tar Heel freshman to also win ACC Player-of-the-Week honors since Cole Anthony in 2019-20.
• Wilson is the eighth Tar Heel to win ACC Player-of-the-Week honors as a freshman, joining Jerry Stackhouse (1994), Antawn Jamison (1996), Rashad McCants (2003), Tyler Hansbrough (2006), Brandan Wright (2007), Coby White (2019) and Anthony.

PROBABLE STARTERS VS. NC CENTRAL
0 – Kyan Evans, Junior, Guard
44 – Luka Bogavac, Junior, Guard
8 – Caleb Wilson, Freshman, Forward
13 – Henri Veesaar, R-Junior, Center
15 – Jarin Stevenson, Junior, Forward

• None of the probable starters were Tar Heels last season.
• Seth Trimble, who is out with an injured left arm, started 18 of UNC's 37 games last season. Even with Trimble's return, this is the first season in which UNC did not return a player who started at least half the games in the previous season since 2005-06, when the Tar Heels replaced all five starters from a national championship team.
• Carolina's probable starters have made a combined 81 college starts. That includes 39 by Kyan Evans, 30 by Jarin Stevenson, eight by Henri Veesaar, three by freshman Caleb Wilson and one by Luke Bogavac.

FRESHMAN STARTERS
• Caleb Wilson became the 40th Tar Heel to start his first game as a freshman since first-year players became eligible in 1972-73. Prior to Wilson, the most recent were guards RJ Davis and Caleb Love in 2020-21 against the College of Charleston.
• The last UNC frontcourt player to start his first game as a freshman had been Armando Bacot in 2019-20.

WILSON'S FAST START
• Caleb Wilson has made 21 of his 34 field goal attempts (61.8%) and averaged 19.7 points in the first three games.
• Wilson was 4 for 13 from the floor against Radford, but scored 13 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, the most by any Tar Heel this season, for his first collegiate double-double.
• He netted 22 points vs. UCA and 24 vs. Kansas to become the first Tar Heel freshman ever to score more than 20 points in his first two games.
• Lennie Rosenbluth and Donald Washington scored more than 20 in their first two games as sophomores in 1954-55 and 1972-73, respectively.
• Wilson compiled a game-high 24 points with seven rebounds, four assists and four steals in last Friday's win over Kansas. He became just the second Tar Heel freshman (with Coby White against Virginia Tech in 2018-19) and the fourth Tar Heel regardless of class (with Walter Davis and Mike O'Koren) to have at least 24 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals in a game.
• His 22 points in the opener vs. Central Arkansas were the fourth-most by a Tar Heel freshman in his debut since first-year players became eligible in 1972-73.
• The top-five freshman scoring debuts in the last 50 years include Cole Anthony's 34 points vs. Notre Dame on 11/6/19, Rashad McCants' 28 vs. Penn State on 11/18/2002, Joseph Forte's 24 vs. USC on 11/22/1999, Wilson's 22 and Tyler Hansbrough's 21 vs. Gardner-Webb on 11/19/2005.

V FOR VICTORY
• Red-shirt junior center Henri Veesaar, a transfer from Arizona, leads the team in field goal shooting (67.9%) and is second in scoring (17.3 per game) and rebounding (7.0).
• He scored 20 points (10 in each half) vs. Kansas, the second time in his career he scored 20 or more in a game.
• Veesaar is 19 for 28 from the floor. Carolina's first-ever player from Estonia is shooting 60.4% from the floor in his college career.

PRESEASON ALL-ACC, POLL
• The Tar Heels were picked to finish third in the 18-team Atlantic Coast Conference by the media at the ACC's preseason media day in Charlotte.
• Caleb Wilson was voted to the league's preseason All-ACC second team and the All-Freshman team.
• UNC was picked No. 25 in the country in the Associated Press preseason poll.
• This is the 69th different season in the 78-year history of the AP poll the Tar Heels have been ranked in the AP poll.
• The preseason AP poll is the 963rd time Carolina has been ranked, the second-most in college basketball history.

PRESEASON RECOGNITION
• The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame released its preseason watch lists for its five positional and they included three Tar Heels.
• Seth Trimble is on the Jerry West Shooting Guard Award list, Caleb Wilson is on the Karl Malone Power Forward Award list and Henri Veesaar is on the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center Award list.
• Tar Heels have won four of the Hall of Fame's positional awards – three Bob Cousy Point Guard Awards (Raymond Felton in 2005, Ty Lawson in 2009 and Kendall Marshall in 2012) and one Jerry West Award (RJ Davis in 2024).
• Wilson is also on the preseason watch lists for the Naismith and Oscar Robertson (USBWA) Trophies.

NEW-LOOK ROSTER
• Carolina's 16-man roster includes five returning players and 11 newcomers. Those figures include senior guard Seth Trimble who is injured but averaged 11.6 points and 5.0 rebounds in 28.6 minutes per game last season.
• The 11 newcomers include three incoming freshmen, six collegiate transfers, one player who competed internationally and a former member of UNC's junior varsity team.
• The six collegiate transfers combined last season for 1,464 points, 578 rebounds, 256 assists and made 226 of 641 three-pointers (35.3%).

HUBERT DAVIS: YEAR FIVE
• The 2025-26 season is Hubert Davis' fifth as head coach at the University of North Carolina and his 14th on the coaching staff at his alma mater. He is the only Tar Heel head coach to win 20 or more games in each of his first four seasons.
• Davis, 55 (turns 56 on May 17, 2026), has won National and ACC Coach-of-the-Year honors, led the Tar Heels to a national title game appearance, 104 wins, a 56-24 record and 24 road wins in ACC regular-season play, a regular-season ACC title and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Only one other team has won more ACC games in the last four years.
• Two of his players – RJ Davis and Armando Bacot – rank second and third, respectively, in all-time UNC scoring, set numerous records and earned national and All-ACC awards.
• Carolina won its 100th game under Davis in the 2025 ACC Tournament, making him the third-fastest coach in UNC history and the sixth-fastest in ACC history to win 100 games. Only Duke's Vic Bubas, UNC's Roy Williams and Frank McGuire, Wake Forest's Skip Prosser and Maryland's Lefty Driesell reached 100 wins in fewer games than Davis (who won his 100th in 143 games).
• Over the previous four seasons, UNC had the 10th-most wins among teams in the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC.
• Under Davis, Carolina is 8-3 in NCAA Tournament play, including wins against three national championship-winning coaches (Baylor's Scott Drew, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Michigan State's Tom Izzo) and three other coaches who have taken teams to the Final Four (Marquette's Shaka Smart, UCLA's Mick Cronin and San Diego State's Brian Dutcher).
• Davis has led the Tar Heels to 14 wins over nationally-ranked opponents, including eight over top-10 teams (No. 4 Duke, No. 4 Baylor and No. 9 Duke in 2022; No. 6 Virginia in 2023; and No. 10 Tennessee, No. 7 Oklahoma, No. 7 Duke and No. 9 Duke in 2024).

2025-26 SCHEDULE NOTES
• In ACC play, the Tar Heels play host to FSU (Dec. 30), Wake Forest (Jan. 10), Notre Dame (Jan. 21), Syracuse (Feb. 2), Duke (Feb. 7), Pitt (Feb. 14), Louisville (Feb. 23), Virginia Tech (Feb. 28) and Clemson (March 3).
• Carolina plays at SMU (Jan. 3), Stanford (Jan.14), Cal (Jan. 17), Virginia (Jan. 24), Georgia Tech (Jan. 31), Miami (Feb. 10), NC State (Feb. 17), Syracuse (Feb. 21) and Duke (March 7).
• UNC is not scheduled to play Boston College.
• This will mark the first season since 1919 the Tar Heels are not playing NC State in Chapel Hill.
• The Tar Heels played Kansas to Chapel Hill for the first time ever. Last year, the Jayhawks defeated UNC in Lawrence. The November 7 game was just the third on-campus matchup in 14 games between the Tar Heels and KU.
• Carolina makes its first appearance in the Skechers Fort Myers (Fla.) Tip-Off at Suncoast Credit Union Arena. UNC faces St. Bonaventure (for the second time ever) on November 25 and Michigan State two days later on Thanksgiving Day. This is the third consecutive year the Tar Heels will be playing the Spartans. Carolina won in Charlotte in the 2024 NCAA second round and Michigan State won in overtime last November in Maui.
• The Tar Heels are making their first trips as ACC opponents to SMU, Stanford and Cal. UNC is 1-0 all-time against the Mustangs in Dallas (12/30/1986), 2-0 vs. the Cardinal in Maples Pavilion (12/3/1983 and 11/20/2017) and 1-0 vs. the Bears in Haas Pavilion (12/22/1972, when its was Harmon Gym).
• Carolina returns to Rupp Arena in Lexington to play Kentucky for the eighth time and the first time since 12/13/2014. UNC is 1-1 in the ACC/SEC Challenge with a home win over Tennessee and loss to Alabama.
• UNC plays Ohio State in Atlanta on December 20 in the CBS Sports Classic. The Tar Heels are 7-4 in the annual event, including 3-0 vs. the Buckeyes.

NEARING 500 WINS IN THE SMITH CENTER
• This is the 41st season the Tar Heels are playing their home games in the Dean E. Smith Center.
• Carolina is eight wins shy of 500 with an overall record (not counting preseason or exhibition games) of 492-90.
• The Tar Heels are 235-19 in the Smith Center against non-conference opponents.
• The Tar Heels have played 46% of their home games all-time in the Smith Center (582 of 1,266).
• Central Arkansas, Kansas, Navy and USC Upstate each will be playing in the Smith Center for the first time.
• UCA and Kansas were the 151st and 152nd different opponents to play a regular-season or NIT game in the Smith Center against the Tar Heels.
• Carolina has won 492 games in the Smith Center, 210 in Woollen Gym (1939-65), 170 in Carmichael Auditorium (1965-86, 2010), 130 in the Indoor Athletic Court (1924-38) and 63 in Bynum Gym (1911-23).

TAR HEELS IN THE NBA
• Eleven former Tar Heels were on NBA Opening Day rosters, including Cole Anthony (Milwaukee), Harrison Barnes (San Antonio), Tony Bradley (Indiana), Harrison Ingram (San Antonio), Cameron Johnson (Denver), Walker Kessler (Utah), Caleb Love (Portland), Pete Nance (Milwaukee), rookie Drake Powell (Brooklyn), Day'Ron Sharpe (Brooklyn) and Coby White (Chicago).
• Powell averaged 7.4 points as a freshman last season and was selected by Atlanta with the 22nd pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. His rights were traded the night of the Draft to the Brooklyn Nets. Powell was the 55th Tar Heel selected all-time in the first round.