By R.L. Bynum
Seth Trimble and Paxton Wojcik will use jersey numbers that no Carolina men’s basketball player has worn since 1950.
Carolina revealed the Tar Heels’ jersey numbers on Monday. After wearing No. 0 for his freshman season, Trimble, a sophomore guard, will be the first No. 7 since Simon Terrell (later the executive director of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association) from 1948 to 1950. Wojcik, a transfer guard from Brown, will be the first No. 8 since Dick Patterson in the 1949–50 season.
This is the first season that digits 6, 7, 8 and 9 are allowed since the NCAA barred them starting with the 1957–58 season. Last month, the NCAA announced that numbers from 0 to 99 would be permitted. One of the last previous players with one of those numbers was the late Bill Russell, who wore No. 6 at San Francisco.
The only other changes for returning players are for walk-ons who are switching to the numbers their fathers wore at UNC.
Guard Creighton Lebo is going from No. 25 to No. 14, the number his father, assistant coach Jeff Lebo, wore when he played for UNC from 1985 to 1989. Puff Johnson, who wore No. 14 the past two seasons, transferred to Penn State and will wear No. 4 there.
Guard Rob Landry is going from No. 15 to No. 22, which his father, Pearce Landry, wore from 1993 to 1995. Justin McKoy, who transferred to Hawaii, wore that number for the last two seasons. The No. 22 is honored in the Smith Center rafters for York Larese (1958–61), Bob Lewis (1964–67) and Wayne Ellington (2006–09).
The numbers for other newcomers are: No. 1 for freshman forward Zayden High, No. 2 for freshman point guard Elliot Cadeau, No. 3 for Notre Dame fifth-year guard transfer Cormac Ryan, No. 24 for Louisville transfer senior forward Jae’Lyn Withers, No. 32 for West Virginia transfer junior forward James Okonkwo and No. 55 for Stanford transfer junior guard Harrison Ingram.
High picked a number worn mainly by guards, most recently Leaky Black, Theo Pinson, Marcus Ginyard and Melvin Scott.
Cadeau picked a number worn by four other excellent UNC point guards — Raymond Felton, Joel Berry II, Coby White and Caleb Love. Felton and Berry both have their No. 2 jerseys honored.
Ryan will wear the same number worn by Shammond Williams, another outstanding guard. Kennedy Meeks, assistant coach Pat Sullivan and Reyshawn Terry also wore No. 3. Ryan wore No. 5 last season for the Irish. That number, of course, is taken by Armando Bacot, who likely will have his jersey at least honored when his career is over, joining Ty Lawson (2006–09) and Marcus Paige (2012–16).
Withers’ No. 24 was worn last season by Tyler Nickel, who transferred to Virginia Tech. Withers also wore that number at Louisville. It was also recently been worn by Kenny Williams. Before that, Walter Davis, Dante Calabria and Joe Wolf also wore that number. Davis’ jersey is honored.
Nickel and D’Marco Dunn, who transferred to Penn State, will both wear a number next season that they never could have worn for UNC: No. 23.
Okonkwo takes the number Pete Nance wore last season, which he also wore at West Virginia. Recent No. 32s include Luke Maye, Ed Davis and Rashad McCants, but Hall of Famer Billy “The Kangaroo Kid” Cunningham is the most decorated and the number is honored for him.
Ingram will be the first Tar Heel to wear No. 55, which he also wore at Stanford, since Christian Keeling in 2020. Walk-on Wade Moody wore that number in 2013–14. Before that, you have to go back to Matt Wenstrom, who wore that number for three seasons, including for the 1993 national championship team.
| Date | Month/day | Score | Opponent/event (current ranks) | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 27 | Friday | W, 117–53 | vs. St. Augustine’s | Exhibition |
| November | ||||
| 6 | Monday | W, 86–70 | vs. Radford | 1–0 |
| 12 | Sunday | W, 90–68 | vs. Lehigh | 2–0 |
| 17 | Friday | W, 77–52 | vs. UC Riverside | 3–0 |
| Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas | ||||
| 22 | Wednesday | W, 91–69 | Northern Iowa | 4–0 |
| 23 | Thursday | L, 83–81, OT | Villanova | 4–1 |
| 24 | Friday | W, 87–72 | Arkansas | 5–1 |
| ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge | ||||
| 29 | Wednesday | W, 100–92 | vs. No. 6 Tennessee | 6–1 |
| December | ||||
| 2 | Saturday | W, 78–70 | vs. Florida State | 7–1, 1–0 ACC |
| Jimmy V Classic in New York | ||||
| 5 | Tuesday | L, 87–67 | No. 1 Connecticut | 7–2 |
| CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta | ||||
| 16 | Saturday | L, 87–83 | No. 12 Kentucky | 7–3 |
| Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte | ||||
| 20 | Wednesday | W, 81–69 | Oklahoma | 8–3 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 29 | Friday | W, 105–60 | vs. Charleston Southern | 9–3 |
| January | ||||
| 2 | Tuesday | W, 70–57 | at Pittsburgh | 10–3, 2–0 ACC |
| 6 | Saturday | W, 65–55 | at Clemson | 11–3, 3–0 ACC |
| 10 | Wednesday | W, 67–54 | at N.C. State | 12–3, 4–0 ACC |
| 13 | Saturday | W, 103–67 | vs. Syracuse | 13–3, 5–0 ACC |
| 17 | Wednesday | W, 86–70 | vs. Louisville | 14–3, 6–0 ACC |
| 20 | Saturday | W, 76–66 | vs. Boston College | 15–3, 7–0 ACC |
| 22 | Monday | W, 85–64 | vs. Wake Forest | 16–3, 8–0 ACC |
| 27 | Saturday | W, 75–68 | at Florida State | 17–3, 9–0 ACC |
| 30 | Tuesday | L, 74–73 | at Georgia Tech | 17–4, 9–1 ACC |
| February | ||||
| 3 | Saturday | W, 93–84 | vs. No. 13 Duke | 18–4, 10–1 ACC |
| 6 | Tuesday | L, 80–76 | vs. Clemson | 18–5, 10–2 ACC |
| 10 | Saturday | W, 75–72 | at Miami | 19–5, 11–2 ACC |
| 13 | Tuesday | L, 86–79 | at Syracuse | 19–6, 11–3 ACC |
| 17 | Saturday | W, 96–81 | vs. Virginia Tech | 20–6, 12–3 ACC |
| 24 | Saturday | W, 54–44 | at Virginia | 21–6, 13–3 ACC |
| 26 | Monday | W, 75–71 | vs. Miami | 22–6, 14–3 ACC |
| March | ||||
| 2 | Saturday | W, 79–70 | vs. N.C. State | 23–6, 15–3 ACC |
| 5 | Tuesday | W, 84–51 | vs. Notre Dame | 24–6, 16–3 ACC |
| 9 | Saturday | W, 84–79 | at No. 13 Duke | 25–6, 17–3 ACC |
| ACC tournament Washington | ||||
| 14 | Thursday | W, 92–67 | Quarterfinals: Florida State | 26–6 |
| 15 | Friday | W, 72–65 | Semifinals: Pittsburgh | 27–6 |
| 16 | Saturday | L, 84–76 | Final: N.C. State | 27–7 |
| NCAA tournament | ||||
| 21 | Thursday | W, 90–62 | First round in Charlotte: Wagner | 28–7 |
| 23 | Saturday | W, 85–69 | Second round in Charlotte: Michigan State | 29–7 |
| 28 | Thursday | L, 89–87 | Sweet 16 in Los Angeles: No. 19 Alabama | 29–8 |
Key events, dates
Saturday, April 27, was the deadline for players to submit their names to the NBA draft
Wednesday — Deadline for players to enter the transfer portal
May 11–12 — NBA G League Elite Camp in Chicago
May 12–19 — NBA Combine in Chicago
May 17–19 — Evaluation for high school players at NCAA-certified events (EYBL in Indianapolis is one of those)
May 29 at 11:59 p.m. — Deadline to withdraw from NBA draft and maintain college eligibility
June 16 at 5 p.m. — Deadline to withdraw from the NBA draft
UNC schedule so far
Nov. 8 — at Kansas (final AP rank No. 20; final NET ranking No. 19)
Nov. 22 — at Hawaii (final NET ranking No. 172)
Nov. 25–27 — Maui Invitational — Auburn (final AP rank No. 18; final NET ranking No. 5), Colorado (unranked; No. 25), Connecticut (No. 1; No. 2), Dayton (No. 24; No. 23), Iowa State (No. 8; No. 6), Memphis (unranked; No. 75), Michigan State (unranked; No. 24)
Dec. 14 — vs. La Salle (final NET ranking No. 195)
Likely in late November — Opponent TBA in ACC/SEC Challenge
December — vs. UCLA (final NET ranking No. 107) in CBS Sports Classic (date, location TBA)
December — vs. Florida (final NET ranking No. 29) in Jumpman Invitational at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center (date TBA)
— Games home and away against Duke, N.C. State and Pittsburgh
— Home games vs. Boston College, California, Georgia Tech, Miami, SMU, Stanford and Virginia
— Road games vs. Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest
Note: 2024 NCAA tournament teams are in bold.
Potential 2024-25 UNC roster
| No. | Class | Player | Pos. | Hgt | Wgt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | Freshman | James Brown (4 star) | 5 | 6–8 | 225 |
| — | Freshman | Ian Jackson (5 star) | 2 | 6–4 | 180 |
| — | Freshman | Drake Powell (5 star) | 2 | 6–5 | 185 |
| 2 | Soph. | Elliot Cadeau | PG | 6–1 | 180 |
| 1 | Soph. | Zayden High | 4 | 6–9 | 225 |
| — | Junior | Cade Tyson | 3 | 6–7 | 203 |
| 13 | Junior | Jalen Washington | 5 | 6–10 | 230 |
| 0 | Junior | Seth Trimble | 2 | 6–3 | 195 |
| 5 | Graduate | RJ Davis | PG | 6–0 | 180 |
| Eligible for fifth season | |||||
| 24 | Graduate | Jae’Lyn Withers | 4 | 6–9 | 215 |
| Walk-ons eligible for 5th season | |||||
| 14 | Graduate | Creighton Lebo | PG | 6–1 | 180 |
| 22 | Graduate | Rob Landry | 2 | 6–4 | 190 |
Photo via @UNC_Basketball
tarheeltribune.com 
