By R.L. Bynum
North Carolina’s frontcourt makeover has leaned hard into height and upside, but lacks a big and experienced center who can mix it up inside with the best big men in the country.
One answer could be 6–11, 247-pound Brice Dessert (pronounced “Breess deh-ZAHR”), a 23-year-old French center who has been mentioned as a possible target for the Tar Heels. ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla suggested on Wenesday that “signs point to him landing in a Big 12 program.”
Dessert has a wingspan of 7–3¾ and would provide the seasoning that UNC won’t be getting with frontcourt newcomers Maximo Adams, Sayon Keita and Cade Bennerman.
A YouTube video Dimche Hoops released this week hailed him as “the future of French basketball.”
Dessert has four years of professional basketball experience, playing this season for Anadolu Efes in the Basketball Super League and the EuroLeague, the latter of which features players who are, on average, six years older than him.
Born in Pontoise, France, he averaged 8.7 points and 3.4 rebounds in 22 BSL games. Dessert scored in double figures 10 times, with his best game 19 points, five rebounds, three blocks and two assists in a 93–80 win Jan. 4 over Mersin MSK. He had five blocks in two games and four in another, scoring a season-high 20 points on Dec. 21 in a 92–84 victory over Galatasaray MCT Technic.
In 17 games for Anadolu Efes’s EuroLeague team, he is averaging 5.3 points and 2.5 rebounds per game. He posted EuroLeague season-highs of 16 points and five rebounds on April 2 in a 103–89 loss to Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv. Anadolu Efes (12–26) has two more regular-season games left, on May 2 and 9, and won’t make the playoffs.
A big part of the appeal is that Dessert’s body looks like a finished product compared to most 18- and 19-year-old centers. With a 9–3 standing reach, he has the kind of length and mass that lets a team play more physically.
He played his first two professional seasons for Blois, first in the LNB Pro A league, then in the LNB Élite league. In the latter, he scored in double figures in nine of 34 games, with a high of 18 points and 11 rebounds on May 4, 2024, against SIG Strasbourg in an 88–80 win.
When he signed with Strasbourg of that same league in 2024, the club’s coach, Laurent Vila, quoted on the BeBasket website, marveled at Dessert.
“His physical dimension, his density, control of the rebound, his ability to finish under the rim with a very high success percentage [are impressive],” Vila said (translated). “He’s a very deterrent player in the paint [on defense] given his size, his physique, and his very interesting shot-blocking timing. He demonstrates a real self-sacrifice for defense.”
That season, he scored in double figures in 13 of 26 games, with a high of 25 points and 12 rebounds on Oct. 25, 2024, in a 110–90 win over Limoges CSP.
In BeBasket’s story on him signing with Strasbourg, he described that surge at the end of the previous season.
“I’m not surprised by my end of season because I knew I was capable of it,” Dessert said (translated). “I just had to be able to translate into games what I was doing in practice. It made me happy to manage to do it, since I hadn’t been doing it before. But I wasn’t surprised.”
Sports Illustrated’s story after his June 2025 appearance at EuroCamp in Treviso, Italy, noted that while Dessert “is not explosive,” he plays with “strength and physicality” and uses his length to affect shots.
For UNC, that translates to a center who can make post entries less comfortable and can keep possessions alive on the offensive glass.
After signing with Anadolu Efes, Dessert talked about what that meant to his career progression.
“It’s a big step for me. The EuroLeague was one of my goals in my career. It’s only the beginning,” he told SKWEEK. “As a basketball player, I’m the kind of guy who gives everything on the court.”
Could he do that in Carolina blue next season?
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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 three 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 |
| Freshman | Sayon Keita | C | 7–0 | 215 | |
| 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
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
May 8–10 — G League Combine in Chicago
May 10 — NBA Draft Lottery
May 10–17 — NBA Draft Combine in Chicago
May 27 (11:59 p.m.) — NCAA early-entry withdrawal deadline
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)
(10 of 14 games)
Nov. 2 — vs. Western Carolina
Nov. 6 — vs. Wofford
Nov. 10 — vs. Wyoming
Nov. 13 — vs. Georgia
Nov. 20 — vs. Marshall
Dec. 1 or 2 — vs. SEC team in ACC/SEC Challenge
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 @brice_dsh on Instagram
