By R.L. Bynum

One missing piece in the construction of the roster for Coach Michael Malone’s first North Carolina team is a center who is more physical inside.

A court ruling will allow players who just finished their fourth seasons to play a fifth season, and the Tar Heels have been in contact with a pair of centers who might fill that need: 7–1, 212-pound Micah Handlogten, who played the last three seasons at Florida, and 7–0, 255-pound Cameron Fens, who played at South Dakota the past two seasons.

UNC has one roster spot remaining.

Handlogten had been seeking an NCAA waiver to allow him to play a fifth season, but that’s now not needed, assuming the court ruling holds up. In addition to Carolina, Fens has heard from Virginia Tech, Auburn, Fresno State, Washington, Ole Miss, USC and Creighton.

The decision that has opened a new opportunity came down Friday, when U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney in Colorado ruled that all high school class of 2022 athletes who exhausted their fourth season of college eligibility this spring are eligible for a fifth season in 2026–27.

The Colorado order followed a similar ruling hours earlier in Tennessee that had already restored eligibility to Fens, former UNC center Jalen Washington and 17 other basketball players. That combination of rulings suddenly flooded programs with late options.

Handlogten’s possible path to Chapel Hill has been building for months. UNC first made contact with him back in May, while he was still hoping the NCAA would grant him a medical hardship waiver stemming from a broken leg he suffered early in the 2024 SEC tournament, an injury that limited him to just 16 games the following season.

The Huntersville native, who starred at Southlake Christian Academy, began his college career at Marshall, where he was the Sun Belt Freshman of the Year in 2023. He averaged 7.6 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.3 blocks across 32 starts.

He transferred to Florida for the 2023–24 season, averaging 5.3 points and 6.9 rebounds while starting 32 games. The broken leg he suffered in that year’s SEC championship game against Auburn was expected to cost him the following season entirely. He chose to forgo his redshirt and returned in February 2025 to provide bench depth as the Gators won their first national championship since 2007.

Over three seasons in Gainesville, Handlogten appeared in 83 games with 34 starts, averaging 4.3 points, 6.1 rebounds and 0.8 of a block per game.

Handlogten entered the transfer portal on April 6, still uncertain whether the waiver would come through.

The waiver never arrived, and rather than wait any longer, Handlogten signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Utah Jazz in late June, a franchise with family significance since his father, Ben, played for Utah from 2003 to 2005. He made two appearances in the NBA Summer League for the Jazz, including an 11-minute outing against Portland in which he grabbed nine rebounds.

Friday’s ruling changed his calculus again, and it’s why UNC and others are now circling back to a player many had assumed was gone from college basketball for good.

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Fens, who is from Dubuque, Iowa, set Hempstead High School’s single-season rebounding record with 272 boards as a senior, when he averaged a double-double at 18.7 points and 11.3 rebounds and earned first-team all-state and all-conference honors.

He spent his first two college seasons at UIC, appearing in 53 games with 15 starts, before transferring to South Dakota ahead of the 2024–25 season. His first year at South Dakota was cut short by injury after 19 games, though he still averaged 8.6 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.1 blocks while shooting 56.8% from the floor.

He broke out fully as a senior this past season, starting all 32 games and earning All-Summit League First Team and All-Defensive Team honors. In conference play, Fens averaged 17.6 points and 10.3 rebounds, the only player in the Summit League to post a double-double average against league opponents.

He ranked seventh in the conference in scoring and first in rebounding while shooting 60.9% from the field. For the season overall, he finished at 14.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game.

When word of Friday’s ruling broke, Fens posted on X (formerly Twitter): “All glory to God. Finally earned my 5th year of eligibility and am open for recruitment.”

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Date	Time/ scores	Month/day	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV
		October	Exhibitions
9	W, 88–70	Friday	vs. No. 21 USC in Greensboro
18	L, 76–58	Sunday	vs. Indiana in Indianapolis
27	W, 89–82, OT	Tuesday	vs. Charlotte
		November	Regular season
2	W, 80–72	Monday	vs. Western Carolina	1–0
6	7 p.m.	Friday	vs. Wofford	ACCN
10	7 p.m.	Tuesday	vs. Wyoming	ACCN
13	7 p.m.	Friday	vs. Georgia	ESPN2
20	9 p.m.	Friday	vs. Marshall	ACCN
23	7 p.m.	Monday	vs. Monmouth	ACCN
27	7 p.m.	Friday	Dick Vitale Invitational vs. West Virginia in Charlotte	ESPN
		December
1	7:30	Tuesday	ACC/SEC Challenge vs. No. 12 Arkansas	ESPN
6	3 p.m.	Sunday	vs. Butler	ESPN2
12	Noon	Saturday	at Georgetown	Peacock
15	7 p.m.	Tuesday	Tobacco Road Classic vs. N.C. State in Greensboro	ESPN2
19	2:30	Saturday	CBS Sports Classic vs. No. 23 Kentucky in New York	CBS
21	8 p.m.	Monday	vs. The Citadel	The CW
30	4 p.m.	Wednesday	vs. California	ACCN
		January
2	4 p.m.	Saturday	at Boston College	ESPN or ESPN2
5	9 p.m.	Tuesday	at No. 11 Louisville	ESPN or ESPNU
9	Noon	Saturday	vs. N.C. State	ESPN2
13	7 p.m.	Wednesday	at Florida State	ESPN2 or ESPNU
16	2:15	Saturday	vs. Stanford	The CW
19	9 p.m.	Tuesday	vs. No. 9 Virginia	ESPN
23	Noon	Saturday	at Syracuse	ESPN or 2 or U
26	7 p.m.	Tuesday	vs. SMU	ESPN or ESPN2
30	6 or 6:30	Saturday	Nashville Hoops Showdown vs. No. 3 Illinois in Nashville, Tenn.	ESPN
		February
2	7 p.m.	Tuesday	at Notre Dame	ESPN or ESPN2
6	2:15	Saturday	vs. Georgia Tech	The CW
8	6 p.m.	Monday	vs. No. 11 Louisville	ESPN
13	5:30	Saturday	at No. 2 Duke	ABC
20	7 p.m.	Saturday	at Wake Forest	ACCN
22	7 p.m.	Monday	vs. No. 14 Miami	ESPN
27	7 p.m.	Saturday	at Virginia Tech	ESPN
		March
2	9 p.m.	Tuesday	at Pittsburgh	ESPN or ESPN2
6	6 or 6:30	Saturday	vs. No. 2 Duke	ESPN
9–13		Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament in Greensboro

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No.	Class	Player	Pos.	Hgt	Wgt
25	Freshman	Maxi Adams	F	6–7	220
30	Freshman	Malloy Smith	G	6–5	180
21	Freshman	Sayon Keita (SIGH-on KAY-tuh)	C	7–0	205
5	Freshman	Kevin Thomas	W	6–6	205
35	Sophomore	Cade Bennerman — U	C	7–0	205
17	Sophomore	Neo Avdalas — W (NEE-oh ahv-DOLL-lus)	G	6–9	220
2	Sophomore	Isaiah Denis	G	6–4	185
3	Sophomore	Matt Able — X	G	6–5	200
22	Junior	Alex Samodurov (SAH-muh-DUHR-off)	C	6–11	225
1	Senior	Terrence Brown — Y	G	6–3	180
4	Senior	Jaydon Young (JAY-din)	G	6–4	200
15	Senior	Jarin Stevenson (JARE-in)	F	6–10	220
14	Graduate	Angelo Brizzi — Z (BRIZZ-ee)	G	6–3	200
54	Graduate	Cameron Fens — V (Fenz)	C	7–0	255
		Walk-ons
99	Junior	John Holbrook — SA	F	6–8	230
32	Senior	Evan Smith	G	6–1	200

V — South Dakota transfer; U — Northwestern transfer; W — Virginia Tech transfer; X — N.C. State transfer; Y — Utah transfer; Z — Buffalo transfer; SA — Holbrook is a designated student-athlete, so he doesn’t count against UNC’s 15-player limit.

Coach Michael Malone’s coaching staff — Associate head coach Chuck Martin; assistant coaches Bryan Tibaldi (tih-BALL-dee), Sean May, Jorge Sanz (HOR-hey sahnth), Pat Sullivan and Brandon Robinson; Director of player development Deon Thompson.

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Former players at other schools

Player	Class	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	Pacific

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Photos via floridagators.com and goyotes.com