UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team is Seeking to Get Back to The Carolina Way

by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn

The North Carolina basketball team is coming off an extremely disappointing season, where many thought, they were going to make another Final Four run but ultimately failed to even make the NCAA tournament. The Tar Heels returned every player from that Final Four team from the 2021-2022 season except Brady Manek but didn’t even come close to meeting the lofty expectations thrust upon them. It was a failure of a season in all aspects for both the coaching staff and the players. They won just 20 games and lost 13 and were 11-9 in ACC conference play. Last year’s team lacked the focus, commitment, dedication, and leadership to have a successful season. They played selfish basketball and never fully bought into the identity of the team. As a team, they shot 43% from two, 31% from three, and averaged only 12 assists a game. It was truly a season to forget for the Tar Heels and now they look forward to starting afresh this upcoming season. 

This season the North Carolina basketball team looks to turn the page and put last season behind them. In the offseason, the coaching staff and players had to make some tough decisions regarding roster reconstruction. Only four players returned to this year’s team, including RJ Davis, Armando Bacot, Seth Trimble, and Jalen Washington. 7 players entered the transfer portal including Caleb Love, Dontrez Styles, Puff Johnson, D’Marco Dunn, Tyler Nickel, Justin Mccoy, and Will Shaver. Leaky Black and Pete Nance graduated and went pro. With several players leaving, the coaching staff had their work cut out for them to replace those players but did a very good job bringing in some good players to add to this North Carolina team. UNC brought in forward Harrison Ingram from Stanford, guard Cormac Ryan from Notre Dame, forward Jaelyn Withers from Louisville, center James Okonkwo from West Virginia, and forward Paxon Wojcik from Brown. Carolina also has two extremely talented freshmen coming in, guard Elliott Cadeau and forward Zayden High.   

This is a very well-balanced team with a mix of freshman and veteran players. Coach Hubert Davis and his staff did a great job of filling out the roster after all those players left. UNC has 11 players that could be in the rotation this year. They are deep and have talent at every position. This team will be led by RJ Davis and Armando Bacot. They are the foundation of the team and are expected to be the two most impactful players on the team.  

Team Breakdown 

Coming into this season, the Tar Heels have four quality guards to spread around minutes to including RJ Davis, Cormac Ryan, Elliott Cadeau, and Seth Trimble. Each of the four guards will bring something different to the table that will be a positive contribution to this team. RJ Davis will be starting in one of the two starting guards’ spots and all signs point to Cormac Ryan being the other starting guard. Last season RJ Davis was the second leading scorer for the Tar Heels with 16.1 points per game, led the team in three-point percentage at 36%, and led the team in assists with 3 per game. This season RJ Davis will look to continue being a dynamic scorer at the guard position, but also be a better on-ball defender, and oversee UNC consistently being a fast-paced offense.  

Cormac Ryan has scored over 1,000 points and made over 200 three-pointers in his college career thus far. Ryan is coming off a season where he averaged a career-high 12 points per game while shooting 40% from the field and 34% from three-point range.  Cormac Ryan not only brings his shooting and scoring prowess and experience to this UNC squad, but he also can defend guards and forwards at an extremely high level and has a very high basketball IQ. 

Elliott Cadeau is a true freshman point guard who is a facilitator, and a floor general, and has end-to-end game-changing speed. Cadeau can score from midrange, shoot the three, get to the basket whenever he needs to, and be a very good point-of-attack defender.

Seth Trimble is an athletic guard, who excels at attacking the basket and is a great on-ball defender. If Trimble can develop a consistent jump shot it will be hard to keep him off the floor. This group of guards complement each other well and will fit together seamlessly on the court with their different skill sets, including putting a lot of pressure on opposing teams’ offenses and defenses.  

At the forward position, there will be a rotation of Harrison Ingram, Paxson Wojcik, Jaelyn Withers, and Zayden High. Right now, Harrison Ingram and Paxson Wojcik look to be the starters at the small and power forward positions. Harrison Ingram is a versatile forward who can handle the ball, initiate offense, score off the dribble, and defend positions 1-4.  Ingram was the second-leading scorer and rebounder on his team and averaged 10 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists last season. Harrison Ingram is on the preseason watchlist for the Julius Erving Award for one of the top 20 small forwards in the nation.

Paxson Wojcik is a hard-nosed versatile forward, who can shoot the three, make plays off the dribble, play hard defensively, and make all the hustle plays. Wojcik made second-team All-Ivy league conferences last season, was second on his team in scoring with 14 per game, was second in rebounding with 7 per game, shot 38% from three, and led his team in total assists and steals for the season.

Jaelyn Withers is a supreme athlete at the forward position. Withers can defend at a high level, make the open three, score off the dribble, and has incredible leaping ability. Withers averaged 9 points and 5 rebounds per game last season while shooting 43% from the field and 41% from three.

Zayden High is a very skilled player who can play both power forward and center. He has a high motor, is an effective offensive and defensive rebounder, can be a rim protector, can score around the basket, and has an overall great feel for the game. With the versatility and skill Carolina possesses at the forward positions, UNC will be difficult for opponents to match up with.

At the center position, there will be a rotation of Armando Bacot, James Okonkwo, Jalen Washington, and Zayden High. Armando Bacot was the best player on last year’s team even though he played most of the season with an ankle injury. The injury bothered Bacot all season long because he was not nearly as effective in being explosive around the basket, being a force in the paint, or being the team’s rim protector. It was still a meaningful season for Armando Bacot. Bacot became the all-time leader in North Carolina basketball history in rebounds and double-doubles. He was the third leading scorer on last year’s team with 15.9 points per game and led UNC and the ACC in rebounding with 10 a game. One Achilles Heel of last year’s team was the lack of depth behind Armando Bacot, so he had to play heavy minutes. This year that will not be a problem with the return of sophomore Jalen Washington and the additions of James Okonkwo and Zayden High.  

Jalen Washington is a very skilled big man. He can score from the post, and the midrange, and even extend his range to the three-point line. Washington has the size and length to become even more of a force defensively and on the boards this year as well.  

James Okonkwo is very athletic big. He runs the floor well, can catch lobs, protects the rim, is a very good rebounder, and scores well around the basket. The size, length, and athleticism at the center position this season will be very useful for the Tar Heels and allow the Tar Heels to do some different things on offense and defense that they couldn’t do in the last couple of seasons, including keeping Armando Bacot fresh throughout the season. 

Coach Davis and his staff had their struggles and growing pains last season. They didn’t do a very good job of preparing the players to play or helping them execute the game plan throughout the season. They failed to make in-game adjustments and didn’t utilize the bench well enough.  Their biggest issue was getting their team to execute down the stretch of games. Carolina lost several close games and struggled all last season to close out games, which was totally unacceptable for a team full of veteran, experienced players.  

The Tar Heels had no idea of what play to run or who to go to late in games to help them be effective offensively in crunch time. Last year’s offense was often stagnant, lacked ball movement, had very poor shot selection, included settling for entirely too many threes, and had a lot of isolation from the guards. The Tar Heels were last in three-point percentage in the ACC, and second to last in assists and field goal percentage in the ACC. They also didn’t do a good enough job of emphasizing getting the ball to Armando Bacot in the post and each player did a lot of standing around when they did not have the ball in their hands. That is a recipe for disaster offensively and caused the Tar Heels to struggle offensively all season long. 

Defensively, the Heels weren’t bad last season, but didn’t get timely stops down the stretch of games and struggled with defensive rotations and help-side defense. This had a lot to do with the lack of continuity and chemistry last year’s team fostered. With the improved roster this season, some of these issues will fix themselves because of the new style of play and the improved skill set of the new players brought in, but overall, they will need to work hard to correct those issues they had last season.  

This offseason, Coach Hubert Davis has talked about them preparing the guys to go back to playing Carolina basketball and focus on establishing a winning culture once again. It starts off the court though and the close bond that a team needs to have to build towards a winning season. Coach Davis has praised all offseason about how close this team is and how much they love being around each other.   

Once the off-court things were taken care of, the main habits and priorities they have been establishing on the court are emphasizing ball movement and player movement, good shot selection, crashing the boards, playing fast, pushing the ball in transition, playing hard every possession, playing together, playing with fire and hunger and playing for each other. This year the Heels have 11 legitimate players that can play and make key contributions to this team, which is always a good thing to have if utilized right.  

North Carolina has everything they need to have a bounce-back season this upcoming year. Coach Davis and his staff have attacked the offseason the right way with roster reconstruction and making sure the team in their preparation is focusing on the details of both sides of the floor, emphasizing unselfish basketball, playing for each other, and giving it their all every time they are on the court.  

UNC will be a much better shooting team this year and have multiple guys who can aggressively attack the basket and score off the dribble, which will greatly improve the offense. Defensively they have guys who can defend multiple positions with great size and length and will be able to switch, cover for each other, and play effective help defense, which makes them a more effective defensive unit.  

We saw a glimpse of what this team will look like and some of the things this team brings to the table last week in their exhibition game against St. Augustine. In that exhibition game, the Tar Heels looked like a brand-new team with a new philosophy and identity. In their 117-53 victory over St. Augustine, Carolina had 22 assists, made 16 threes, shot 55% from the field, 45% from three, was completely dominant on the boards, and most importantly the team was having fun out there and playing a fast-paced offense that North Carolina is known for.  

Seven players scored in double figures including RJ Davis, Harrison Ingram, Armando Bacot, Cormac Ryan, Jalen Washington, Zayden High, and Creighton Lebo and everyone that played contributed in a positive way. The team is legitimately deep and balanced, and the pieces look like they fit together seamlessly.  

Offensively, they were moving the ball around to the open man and making the extra pass, getting out in transition, and the shot-making from the perimeter players from three and off the dribble was exceptional.  

Defensively, they were rotating, communicating well, and playing great help-side defense. The Heels won’t play or shoot that way every game this season, but a lot of what we saw in that game can translate to the regular season.  

The chemistry and continuity that this team has already looks great. As long as the foundation is set and they can continue to get better every game and practice, they will put themselves in a great position to have a successful season. The expectation is that the Tar Heels will once again be exciting to watch, and put together a winning season including competing for the ACC title and making some noise in the NCAA tournament. The first game of the season will be on Monday, November 6^th against Radford at 7 P.M on the ACC Network.