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 | Scores | Opponent/event (current ranks) | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 24 | Friday | L, 78–76 | vs. BYU in SLC | Exhib. |
| 29 | Wednesday | W, 95–53 | vs. Winston-Salem St. | Exhib. |
| November | ||||
| 3 | Monday | W, 94–54 | vs. Central Arkansas | 1–0 |
| 7 | Friday | W, 87–74 | vs. No. 17 Kansas | 2–0 |
| 11 | Tuesday | W, 89–74 | vs. Radford | 3–0 |
| 14 | Friday | W, 97–53 | vs. N.C. Central | 4–0 |
| 18 | Tuesday | W, 73–61 | vs. Navy | 5–0 |
| Fort Myers Tip-Off | ||||
| 25 | Tuesday | W, 85–70 | vs. St. Bonaventure | 6–0 |
| 27 | Thursday | L, 74–58 | vs. No. 11 Michigan State | 6–1 |
| December | ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge | |||
| 2 | Tuesday | W, 67–64 | at Kentucky | 7–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 7 | Sunday | W, 81–61 | vs. Georgetown | 8–1 |
| 13 | Saturday | W, 80–62 | vs. USC Upstate | 9–1 |
| 16 | Tuesday | W, 77–58 | vs. ETSU | 10–1 |
| CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta | ||||
| 20 | Saturday | W, 71–70 | vs. Ohio State | 11–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 22 | Monday | W, 99–51 | vs. East Carolina | 12–1 |
| 30 | Tuesday | W, 79–66 | vs. Florida State | 13–1, 1–0 ACC |
| January | ||||
| 3 | Saturday | L, 97–83 | at SMU | 13–2, 1–1 |
| 10 | Saturday | W, 87–84 | vs. Wake Forest | 14–2, 2–1 |
| 14 | Wednesday | L, 95–90 | at Stanford | 14–3, 2–2 |
| 17 | Saturday | L, 84–78 | at California | 14–4, 2–3 |
| 21 | Wednesday | W, 91–69 | vs. Notre Dame | 15–4, 3–3 |
| 24 | Saturday | W, 85–80 | at No. 9 Virginia | 16–4, 4–3 |
| 31 | Saturday | W, 91–75 | at Georgia Tech | 17–4, 5–3 |
| February | ||||
| 2 | Monday | W, 87–77 | vs. Syracuse | 18–4, 6–3 |
| 7 | Saturday | W, 71–68 | vs. No. 1 Duke | 19–4, 7–3 |
| 10 | Tuesday | L, 75–66 | at No. 25 Miami | 19–5, 7–4 |
| 14 | Saturday | W, 79–65 | vs. Pittsburgh | 20–5, 8–4 |
| 17 | Tuesday | L, 82–58 | at N.C. State | 20–6, 8–5 |
| 21 | Saturday | W, 77–64 | at Syracuse | 21–6, 9–5 |
| 23 | Monday | W, 77–74 | vs. Louisville | 22–6, 10–5 |
| 28 | Saturday | W, 89–82 | vs. Virginia Tech | 23–6, 11–5 |
| March | ||||
| 3 | Tuesday | W, 67–63 | vs. Clemson | 24–6, 12–5 |
| 7 | Saturday | L, 76–61 | at No. 1 Duke | 24–7, 12–6 |
| 10–14 | Tues.-Sat. | ACC tournament | Spectrum Center, Charlotte | |
| 12 | Thursday | L, 80–79 | Quarterfinals: vs. Clemson | 24–8 |
| NCAA tournament | ||||
| 19 | Thursday | L, 82–78, OT | First round: vs. VCU in Greenville, S.C. | 24–9 |
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Roster assuming all players with eligibility other than Caleb Wilson, Henri Veesaar and the seven players who entered the transfer portal return, which would put UNC two under the 15-player limit. The class for next season is listed.
| No./ Stars | Class | Player | Pos. | Hgt | Wgt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 star | Freshman | Maximo Adams | SF | 6–7 | 205 |
| 3 star | Freshman | Malloy Smith | CG | 6–5 | 190 |
| 5 star | Freshman | Sayon Keita | C | 7–0 | 215 |
| 4 star | Freshman | Kevin Thomas | W | 6–7 | 190 |
| RS freshman | Cade Bennerman — W | C | 7–0 | 205 | |
| Sophomore | Neoklis Avdalas — X | G | 6–9 | 215 | |
| Sophomore | Isaiah Denis | G | 6–4 | 180 | |
| Sophomore | Matt Able — Y | G | 6–6 | 205 | |
| Senior | Terrence Brown — Z | G | 6–3 | 174 | |
| 4 | Senior | Jaydon Young | G | 6–4 | 200 |
| 15 | Senior | Jarin Stevenson | 4 | 6–10 | 215 |
| Walk-ons | |||||
| 25 | Junior | John Holbrook | 4 | 6–8 | 230 |
| 32 | Senior | Evan Smith | 2 | 6–1 | 195 |
W — Northwestern transfer. X — Virginia Tech transfer; Y — N.C. State transfer; Z — Utah transfer
Michael Malone’s coaching staff: Chuck Martin, Bryan Tibaldi, Sean May and Pat Sullivan; Deon Thompson will be a graduate assistant, and Brandon Robinson will reportedly have a support staff position.
Players who left in transfer portal
| Player | Class next season | Pos. | Hgt | Wgt | Next school |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luka Bogavac | Senior | W | 6–6 | 215 | Oklahoma State |
| James Brown | Senior | C | 6–10 | 240 | Howard |
| Derek Dixon | Sophomore | G | 6–5 | 200 | Arizona |
| Kyan Evans | Senior | G | 6–2 | 175 | Minnesota |
| Zayden High | Junior | C | 6–10 | 230 | South Florida |
| Jonathan Powell | Junior | G | 6–6 | 190 | Pittsburgh |
| Ivan Matlekovic | Junior | C | 7–0 | 255 |
Key offseason dates
Through Sunday — NBA Draft Combine in Chicago
May 27 (11:59 p.m.) — NCAA early-entry withdrawal deadline
June 13 — Deadline for international players to withdraw from NBA draft and maintain college eligibility
June 23–24 — NBA draft at Barclays Center in Brooklyn
Nonconference schedule so far
(Other than the ACC/SEC Challenge, games without links revealed from reporting by Alex Rosinski or Rocco Miller)
(11 of 14 games)
Nov. 2 — vs. Western Carolina
Nov. 6 — vs. Wofford
Nov. 10 — vs. Wyoming
Nov. 13 — vs. Georgia
Nov. 20 — vs. Marshall
Nov. 27 — vs. West Virginia at the Dick Vitale Invitational at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center
Dec. 1 or 2 — vs. SEC team in ACC/SEC Challenge (announced last year on June 12)
Dec. 12 — at Georgetown
Dec. 19 — vs. Kentucky in CBS Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden
Dec. 21 — vs. The Citadel
November or December — vs. Butler
Photo via @UNC_Basketball
