How Far Will a New Look Carolina Go?

It’s that time of year! Carolina basketball (1-0, 0-0 ACC), ranked 9th in the country by the AP, tipped off the 2024-25 season on Monday, November 4th at 9 p.m. in the Dean Dome against the Elon Phoenix (0-1, 0-0 CAA). Let’s take a quick look at the state of this year’s roster before we see the team in action against the no. 1 Kansas Jayhawks at “The Phog” in Lawrence, KS on Friday.

Personnel Changes

Losses:

C Armando Bacot – Greatly-beloved by the Carolina faithful who got to know his game and personality extremely well over his five seasons in Chapel Hill, Bacot was the heart of Carolina’s rebounding and rim protection for his entire UNC career, spanning the end of the Roy Williams era, the great pair of victories over Duke in Mike Krzyzewski’s final season in Durham (including that sweet and historic 81-77 triumph in the 2022 Final Four), and Hubert Davis’s first ACC regular season title as head coach of the Heels. The chief challenge ahead for the ’24-’25 Tar Heels appears to be finding ways to replace his interior presence and production.

F Harrison Ingram – Though with the Heels for only one season, the transfer from Stanford was extremely impactful in filling the stat sheet, defending, and at times taking over when the Heels just needed one more bucket. His toughness and Theo Pinson-esque ability to be the X-factor in a tight game will be greatly missed, but there are several candidates on this year’s roster who may yet be able to provide such skills when called upon.

F James Okonkwo – Utilized in a reserve role and sometimes not at all, Okonkwo probably made the right call – for a young man who means to play significant minutes – in transferring to Akron for his senior season. But we’ll not soon forget that brilliant alley-oop dunk (from Elliot Cadeau) at Boston College.

G Cormac Ryan – Like Ingram, Ryan was a key contributor who Tar Heel fans only got to enjoy for one year. The transfer from Notre Dame – famously and lovingly said to be, “sick in the head,” by Armando Bacot – provided a great deal of toughness, experience, and at times shooting prowess (such as in his 31-point career high performance at Duke). Ryan’s gritty style of play is a significant loss, and it will be interesting to see who on this year’s team can bring that edge to bear to drive Carolina’s opponents insane.

G Paxson Wojcik – Wojcik, who started several games early in the ’23-’24 season came to provide helpful reserve minutes as the team’s roles became more well-defined.

Additional losses: F Duwe Farris, G Rob Landry, G Creighton Lebo

Additions:

Recruits:

C James Brown – The four-star center from Aurora, IL is likely to see few minutes throughout the season, as freshman bigs at Carolina often do. His long term development will be fun to watch, if perhaps slow from a fan’s perspective this year, and he seemed to meet the coaching staff’s expectations in limited preseason minutes.

G Ian Jackson – The five-star shooting guard from the Bronx, NY is expected to provide significant minutes, perhaps even including a starting role later in the season. He figures to help Carolina’s shooting percentage and his athleticism, displayed heavily in preseason play, is sure to wow Tar Heel fans even as he works to improve defensively and increase the versatility of his game. [vs. Elon: 5 Points, 1 Rebound, 2/7 Field Goals, 1/4 Three-point Field Goals, 0:0 Assists:Turnovers in 12 minutes]

G/F Drake Powell – The five-star wing from Pittsboro, NC is a local who figures to come the rescue in a big way in trying to replace the stat-sheet stuffing and intangible qualities lost with the departures of Harrison Ingram and Cormac Ryan. A Powell block in the preseason exhibition against Johnson C. Smith which led to a John Holbrook dunk for Carolina at the other end sent fans and the Tar Heel bench into pandemonium – a taste of what is to come as Powell adapts to the college game and makes full use of his defensive abilities and high basketball IQ. [vs. Elon: 5 Pts, 2 Reb, 2/8 FG, 1/2 3FG, 2:0 A:TO in 17 min]

Transfers:

F Ty Claude (from Georgia Tech) – There was a bit of a scare recently that the forward from Goldsboro, NC might not get to play for some part of Carolina’s season, perhaps until the beginning of the Spring semester, due to as-yet-undisclosed eligibility issues. It was a bizarre situation considering that Claude had already secured a waiver from the NCAA to play another season of college basketball. Thankfully it has been resolved and he was able to suit up for Monday night’s game against Elon even though he did not see the floor. Claude, who had a very solid game against UNC last year in Georgia Tech’s 74-73 victory over the Heels, is expected to add some critical rebounding and paint presence and may well play significant minutes, depending on matchups and foul trouble.

F Ven-Allen Lubin (from Vanderbilt) – The forward from Orlando, FL, who had a strong preseason showing with a double-double against Johnson C. Smith, promises to bring strong rebounding and shooting to the Tar Heel roster, in addition to a measure of toughness. Lubin is four-man seemingly purpose-built for Hubert Davis’s style of small ball. The more Carolina fans get to see of him, the more he ought to become a fan favorite. [vs. Elon: 4 Pts, 7 Reb, 2/4 FG in 17 min]

G/F Cade Tyson (from Belmont) – The massive wing from Monroe, NC was recruited for his phenomenal three-point shooting percentage at Belmont. How Tyson’s defense will translate to major college basketball is a complete unknown, and he has looked less-than-confident on the floor thus far. It is notable that Tyson started both preseason games, but not the first regular season matchup against Elon. Many Tar Heel fans have been quick to freak out at the fact that his shots haven’t fallen except for his 2/2 performance against Johnson C. Smith, to which we at T&F say: he’s new to this pace of play and no one is entitled to shoot well every single night. Have a little patience, because Tyson will be an impact player who forces opposing defenses to pay attention to him outside while he grabs a couple boards. If he adapts to the speed of the high major game and grows beyond that role, it would take the Heels to the next level. [vs. Elon: 2 Pts, 2 Reb, 1/6 FG, 0/3 3FG in 16 min]

Walk-ons:

G Elijah Davis – The senior from Chapel Hill, NC is Coach Davis’s eldest son and transferred to Carolina from Division III University of Lynchburg’s basketball program.

G Russell Hawkins – A sophomore from Charlotte, NC, Hawkins, who played AAU ball as well as for Mallard Creek, also comes from a family of Tar Heels.

F John Holbrook – Holbrook is a freshman from Hickory, NC, where he led Hickory High to a 31-1 record last year as a senior.

G Dante Mayo, Jr. – A freshman from Gaithersburg, MD, Mayo set the scoring record at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville, MD.

Full Roster:

Guards: #3 Elliot Cadeau, sophomore | #4 RJ Davis, graduate | #6 Elijah Davis, senior | #7 Seth Trimble, junior | #11 Ian Jackson, freshman | #14 Russell Hawkins, sophomore | #30 Dante Mayo Jr., freshman

Wings: #5 Cade Tyson, junior | #9 Drake Powell, freshman

Forwards: #0 Ty Claude, graduate | #2 James Brown, freshman | #13 Jalen Washington, junior | #15 John Holbrook, freshman | #22 Ven-Allen Lubin, junior | #24 Jae’Lyn Withers, graduate

Preseason & Elon

On 10/15, the Heels defeated the Memphis Tigers in Memphis 84-76 in a charity exhibition for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. After a slow start in the first ten minutes of play, Carolina found its footing and controlled the pace of play. The second half as-a-whole was promising, but one stat was less delightful: the Heels were tied with Memphis at 41 rebounds (Tyson led UNC with 9 boards). In a game played without RJ Davis on the floor, Seth Trimble went off for 33 points on an efficient 11/17 shooting night (3/5 behind the arc).

Twelve days later on 10/27 – after another sluggish first ten minutes – Carolina walked over the Division II Johnson C. Smith Golden Bulls 127-63. In this exhibition, the Heels outrebounded their opponent 54-24. With the exception of Ty Claude, the entire roster got to enjoy some minutes in this game and the Heels shot a masterful 62.5% from the field, much to the pleasure of those in the Smith Center.

In the first matchup of the regular season, against the Elon Phoenix in Chapel Hill on 11/4, Carolina prevailed 90-76 in a game that the Tar Heels made themselves win twice. After gaining a 12-point halftime advantage, UNC went down 71-69 to Elon with about seven minutes remaining in the game before RJ Davis took over the game and helped the Heels to that final 14-point margin. Also of note, the lone double-double of the game belonged to Jae’Lyn Withers, who racked up 10 points and 10 rebounds. [starting lineup: Cadeau, Davis, Trimble, Withers, Washington]

Looking Ahead

The Tar Heels can’t afford to overlook any games, but we can. The matchups that will tell us the most about this team’s direction before January are readily apparent at a glance: @ no. 1 Kansas on 11/8, the Maui Invitational from 11/25-11/27 (field includes no. 3 UConn, no.5 Iowa State, and no. 11 Auburn), no. 2 Alabama on 12/4, Georgia Tech on 12/7, no. 21 Florida in Charlotte on 12/17, no. 22 UCLA in New York City on 12/21. This week in particular, watch for how Carolina responds to a bigger Kansas team and the power of senior center Hunter Dickinson in Allen Fieldhouse. Will the Heels be able to get second-chance points effectively in this matchup? Will their shooting carry them through the night? Will they play at a pace acceptable to Coach Davis? All this and more, we’ll learn on Friday at 7 pm on ESPN2.