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CHARLOTTE — With Lexi Donarski gone, there’s little mystery about who will likely take on the toughest defensive assignments for North Carolina this season. Senior guard Indya Nivar, the Tar Heels’ best returning defensive player, is ready to embrace that challenge, and as one of the team’s veterans, she’ll do it while leading a younger, retooled backcourt.
CHARLOTTE — North Carolina will be part of the first day featuring men’s basketball teams at the ACC Tipoff on Tuesday at the Hilton Charlotte Uptown, and you can watch the Tar Heels on ACC Network.
CHARLOTTE — Most coaches replacing three starters, including a decorated five-year player, face significant challenges. It’s not as if North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart wouldn’t love to have forward Alyssa Ustby, center Maria Gakdeng and guard Lexi Donarski back. But the influx of six talented players, including an incoming recruiting class ESPN ranked No. 5, along with stars returning, could make that transition easier after last season’s Sweet 16 run.
On Sunday afternoon, it felt like 2020 when Javonte Williams and Michael Carter were scoring touchdowns for Carolina. Sunday night, Drake Maye showed he’s poised to be a star in the NFL.
CHAPEL HILL — He doesn’t mean to do it. He snaps. One bad possession, one missed defensive rotation and suddenly, Jonathan Powell is tearing at his practice jersey, fabric ripping down the middle, and emotion flowing. It’s not a tantrum. It’s combustion.
Here are some images from the first public appearance of the season’s North Carolina men’s basketball game at the Blue-White scrimmage Saturday afternoon at the Smith Center.
CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina fans gladly turned their attention to men’s basketball after watching the Tar Heels’ football team get blown out by Clemson, and they discovered that there are plenty of reasons to look forward to basketball season.
CHAPEL HILL — On a day when Ludacris gave a pre-game concert at Polk Place, what transpired at Kenan Stadium was beyond ludicrous. The only competition from North Carolina was whether the Tar Heels’ offense or defense was worse in an embarrassing 38–3 loss to Clemson in their ACC opener Saturday.
RJ Davis had a productive preseason debut for the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night. In the Lakers’ 103–81 loss to the Phoenix Suns at the Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, Calif., he put up the team’s second-highest point total with 14 points, only surpassed by the 20 points from expected starter Austin Reaves.
Fans will get their first chance to see the new-look Carolina men’s basketball team Saturday at the Blue-White scrimmage at the Smith Center. What can you expect to see at the scrimmage, which is scheduled to start about an hour after the conclusion of the noon UNC-Clemson football game?
Quarterback Gio Lopez is listed as questionable for the Clemson game in the ACC availability report released on Thursday night.
Nearly a century after their first meeting, two top men’s basketball programs — North Carolina and Butler — have agreed to a home-and-home series.
ABC will televise two North Carolina games as part of its college basketball package, one each for the men’s and women’s teams.
When North Carolina offensive lineman Austin Blaske looks at the Tar Heels’ front five, he doesn’t just see positions. He sees combinations. A 6-foot-5, 310-pound graduate transfer from Georgia, Blaske gives UNC something it badly needs after a September filled with shuffling and injuries: someone who can line up anywhere.
The North Carolina men’s basketball team is heading west — not for a game, but for a weekend of connection, celebration and a sneak peek at the season ahead.
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