By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — There were wow moments and one anxious moment on Saturday as a tradition going back to the 1970s returned for the first time since 2003: A Blue-White men’s basketball scrimmage following a Carolina football game.

With the way the game went at Kenan Stadium and the tragic news of Tylee Craft’s death, Tar Heels fans needed a pick-me-up. The deep UNC basketball team didn’t disappoint as Seth Trimble scored 19 points to lead the Blue team to a 63–53 victory Saturday at the Smith Center in a 24-minute game.

Coach Hubert Davis watched from a courtside table and didn’t address the media after the scrimmage.

The anxious moment that had the crowd nervously quiet came in early in the second half. Fifth-year guard RJ Davis was driving to the basket on freshman James Brown, lost his balance and landed awkwardly, suffering a lower-back contusion.

Davis, who scored nine points and one 3-pointer in 11 minutes, was slow to get up. After getting attention from athletic trainer Doug Halverson, he joined his White teammates on the bench but didn’t return to the game.

“I think the whole building got a little silent,” said Belmont transfer Cade Tyson, who collected 13 points, four rebounds, two assists and a block for the Blue team, but missed all three 3-point attempts. “But RJ is a tough kid. I knew he’d get back up. He should be fine.”

Trimble provided one of the wow moments in the second half when he got the crowd going with a monster dunk on Georgia Tech transfer Ty Claude.

“That was crazy,” said White teammate Drake Powell, who had eight points and two rebounds. “I was trailing behind him a little bit. Ian [Jackson] and I were just talking about, like [an NBA] 2K animation or something.”

The Blue team included Tyson, Trimble, Brown, Ven-Allen Lubin and Elliot Cadeau, and walk-ons Russell Hawkins and John Holbrook. On the White team were Davis, Jackson, Drake Powell, Jae’Lyn Withers, Jalen Washington and Ty Claude, plus walk-ons Elijah Davis (Coach Davis’ son) and Dante Mayo.

Washington led the White team with 11 points and Jackson added 10.

“I just wanted to go out and play my game,” Jackson said. “I wanted to go out and compete, not trying to do too much.”

Two other Blue team players scored in double figures: Cadeau with 12 and Vanderbilt transfer Lubin with 10.

“I feel like everything’s coming together,” Cadeau said. “We improved a lot from when we when the group of guys came in first together. I see a lot of improvements. So hopefully we can keep improving.”

Cadeau was relieved that RJ Davis will be OK after going up against him during the scrimmage, as he routinely does in practice.

“It’s always a blessing to be able to play against what I think is the best guy in the country,” Cadeau said. “It just makes me better every day. So any chance I get to be able to guard him. I just think it pushes me and makes me better. So I just try my hardest.”

Cadeau said that he feels like he’s more mature now that he was last season and that the game is slowing down some for him.

“I feel like my pace is different, and I feel like I’m a more of a leader this year,” Cadeau said. “As a point guard, you have to be very vocal. I feel like I wasn’t that vocal last year because we had a lot of veterans on the team, but this year, I feel like I’m one of the veterans.”

Tyson enjoyed his first Smith Center experience, even if it was just a public scrimmage.

“It was awesome. It was fun to be out there with my teammates,” said Tyson, who was matched up for much of the game with Powell. “Feel like we really competed. It’s a different type of energy with all the fans in there. You know, I really loved it.”

NOTES — The proceeds from the game went toward relief for victims of Hurricane Helene. … UNC plays two exhibition games — at 7 p.m. ET Tuesday at Memphis (ESPN2) and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 27, against Johnson C. Smith (ESPN3) — before opening the season at 9 p.m. Monday, Nov. 4, at home against Elon (ACC Network). … The players wore Craft No. 13 T-shirts during warmups. … UNC’s game at Hawaii on Friday, Nov. 22, will start at 7:30 p.m. Hawaii time (12:30 p.m. ET) and air on ESPN2.

Blue 63, White 53

No.	Class	Player	Pos.	Hgt	Wgt
8	Freshman	Caleb Wilson (5 star)	4	6–10	215
5	Freshman	Isaiah Denis (4 star)	CG	6–4	180
3	Freshman	Derek Dixon (4 star)	CG	6–5	200
40	Sophomore	Ivan Matlekovic	5	7–0	255
11	Sophomore	Jonathan Powell	G	6–6	190
2	Sophomore	James Brown	5	6–10	240
1	Sophomore	Zayden High	4	6–10	230
44	Junior	Luca Bogavac (BO-guh-VAHTS)	W	6–6	215
4	Junior	Jaydon Young	2	6–4	200
13	RS junior	Henri Veesaar (VEH-sar)	5	7–0	225
0	Junior	Kyan Evans	1	6–2	175
15	Junior	Jarin Stevenson	4	6–10	215
7	Senior	Seth Trimble	2	6–3	200
		Walk-ons
25	Sophomore	John Holbrook	4	6–8	230
32	Junior	Evan Smith	2	6–1	195
6	RS senior	Elijah Davis	2	6–3	205

Former UNC players who transferred

Player	Class next season	Pos.	Hgt	Wgt	Next school
Elliot Cadeau	Junior	PG	6–1	180	Michigan
Jalen Washington	Senior	C	6–10	235	Vanderbilt
Ian Jackson	Sophomore	G	6–4	190	St. John’s
Cade Tyson	Senior	F	6–7	200	Minnesota
Ven-Allen Lubin	Senior	C	6–8	230	N.C. State

Date	Month/day	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
24	Friday	L, 78–76	vs. No. 10 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. 9 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	8 p.m.	vs. East Carolina	ACCN
30	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Florida State	ESPN2
	January
3	Saturday	2:15	at SMU	The CW
10	Saturday	6 p.m.	vs. Wake Forest	ACCN
14	Wednesday	9 p.m.	at Stanford	ACCN
17	Saturday	4 p.m.	at California	ACCN
21	Wednesday	7 p.m.	vs. Notre Dame	ESPN2
24	Saturday	2 or 2:30	at No. 21 Virginia	ESPN or ESPNU
31	Saturday	2 p.m.	at Georgia Tech	ACCN
	February
2	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. Syracuse	ESPN
7	Saturday	6:30	vs. No. 6 Duke	ESPN
10	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at Miami	ESPN or ESPN2
14	Saturday	2 p.m.	vs. Pittsburgh	ESPN
17	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at N.C. State	ESPN or ESPN2
21	Saturday	1 p.m.	at Syracuse	ABC
23	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. No. 16 Louisville	ESPN
28	Saturday	6:30 or 8:30	vs. Virginia Tech	ESPN or ESPN2
	March
3	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Clemson	ESPN or ESPN2
7	Saturday	6:30	at No. 6 Duke	ESPN
10–14	Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament	Spectrum Center, Charlotte