BYU has its second and final exhibition Friday night when North Carolina comes to the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. BYU lost to Nebraska 90-89 on Saturday in a game when Kevin Young experimented with several rotations and players in the second half.
The game tips off at 7pm MT and will be broadcast on ESPN+
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BYU and North Carolina by the Numbers
BYU KenPom: 18
EvanMiya: 9
AP Poll: 8
UNC KenPom: 33
EvanMiya: 27
AP Poll: 25
North Carolina Overview
The Tar Heels are coming off a season when they were the last one of the last teams in the tournament and fell in the round of 64 after beating SDSU in the play-in game. They return just one rotation player from last season, guard Seth Trimble, who was third on the team in scoring last year with 11.3 ppg. North Carolina was picked to finish third in the Preseason ACC Poll and Freshman Caleb Wilson was Preseason Second Team.
In the offseason UNC brought in five players from the transfer portal, three freshman, and one international player. The highest-rated player is 5-star forward Caleb Wilson, who is a projected lottery pick in next year’s draft. If Wilson’s name is familiar to you, it’s because BYU recruited the top 10 prospect. BYU coaches did an in-home visit with him and had an official visit scheduled that ultimately fell through.
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Arguably the top transfer UNC brought in was Arizona big man Henri Veesaar. The 7-footer played well in both games against BYU both games last season, scoring 17 points in Provo and 12 in Tucson. Alabama big man Jarin Stevenson was another quality big man UNC got from the portal.
Overall I like North Carolina’s front court but have questions about their backcourt, which is why they are a borderline top 25 team and not top 10 team. Colorado State transfer Kyan Evans is the likely starting point guard — Evans averaged 10.6 ppg last season on 44.6% shooting from distance. He and returnee Trimble form a solid starting back court, but UNC will really need Wilson to carry some scoring load if they want to markedly improve from last season.
Prediction and What to Watch
I’m not going to make a prediction for this game — it’s anyone’s guess how coaches will work their rotations. One matchup I am very curious to see is how BYU guards UNC’s front court. Henri Veesaar will be one of the better bigs BYU sees all season, and this will be a great chance to BYU’s young backups like Xavion Staton and Khadim Mboup to matchup with him and Alabama transfer Jarin Stevenson.
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I also want to see BYU guard the three-point line much better than they did at Nebraska. The Cornhuskers have some good shooters, but they are not so good where they should be shooting 16-34 from distance. UNC has been top 50 in tempo the last two seasons, so this will be good practice for BYU to work on transition defense and not overhelping when unnecessary.
The third thing I want to see is AJ Dybantsa vs Caleb Wilson. Depending on what coaches do with their starting lineups, the two star freshmen should be matched up on each other quite a bit. Both are 6-foot-9 and long and will be able to give fans and scouts a show between two likely lottery picks in next year’s draft.
I expect a high-scoring game that will be BYU’s final tuneup before the season opener November 3 versus Villanova.
