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Carolina and Kansas will play a home-and-home men’s basketball series, with games in the 2024–25 and 2025–26 seasons. The series starts in 2024–25, with the Tar Heels visiting Lawrence, Kansas, for the second time in program history and the first time since 1960. When the Jayhawks come to the Smith Center during the 2025–26 season, it will be their first visit.
Brady Manek’s performance for the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA Summer League wasn’t enough to earn him an NBA contract. Zaligiris Kaunas, a team based in Kaunas, Lithuania, of the Lithuanian Basketball League, signed Manek on Friday to a 1+1 contract, meaning there is an option to play a second season.
CHAPEL HILL — Since Carolina’s frustrating season ended without an NCAA tournament berth, Coach Hubert Davis said he has had no days off. Offseason is genuinely a misnomer these days with the transfer portal, players able to transfer and not sit out a year, some players playing a fifth season and NIL luring others to weigh their options.
UNC coach Hubert Davis ran through many topics during his summer press conference after a busy offseason full of changes.
After playing for the Charlotte Hornets’ Summer League team, Leaky Black’s reported two-way contract with the team became official on Wednesday.
Pete Nance won a championship, but Brady Manek was the most productive of the four UNC alums who played in the NBA Summer League. Meanwhile, Leaky Black got few chances to show what he could do, and Garrison Brooks had some solid games.
GREENSBORO — On Monday night, most players faced some of the toughest competition of their careers, but that was far from the case for Sydney Barker. After going up against her talented North Carolina teammates in practices and pickup games at Carmichael Arena in the past month, the talent level was down a few notches for the 5–7 freshman at the N.C. Coaches Association Women’s East-West All-Star Game at the Greensboro Coliseum.
Although UNC transfer James Okonwko struggled to score in Great Britain’s FIBA U20 European Championships Division B finale, he showed off his passing skills. After collecting only three assists in the first six games, the 6–8, 240-pound former West Virginia player dished out a team-high four assists as the British team lost to Switzerland 82–73 in its final consolation-bracket game in Skopje, North Macedonia.
Sydney Barker turned down mid-major scholarship offers for a chance to walk on to her dreams in Chapel Hill. Even before wearing a Carolina uniform, the 5–7 freshman point guard from Durham’s Jordan High School already cherishes her choice.
James Okonkwo scored 18 points, his highest total of the FIBA U20 European Championships Division B, but it wasn’t enough for his Great Britain team in the first of two consolation-bracket games. After playing before a packed arena in a quarterfinal loss Friday to host North Macedonia, it was back to a mostly-empty Sports Centre Boris Trajkovski arena in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Saturday as the Netherlands pulled out an 82–78 victory over the British team.
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