SALT LAKE CITY (WNCN) — It won’t count, but Friday night will be a huge test for the new-look North Carolina Tar Heels men’s basketball team.
UNC is in Utah to face preseason No. 8 BYU and AJ Dybantsa, the top recruit in the country in the Class of 2025. Tip off at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET.
The Tar Heels have 11 new players on their roster between transfers and freshmen. However, senior guard Seth Trimble has returned to lead Hubert Davis’ team. Trimble averaged 11.6 points and 5 rebounds per game last season. He played in 33 games last season in both starting and backup roles, averaging 28.6 minutes per contest.
Dybantsa, who is originally from Massachusetts but played his final year of high school basketball at Utah Prep Academy, is the highest-ranked recruit to ever commit to BYU. He is expected to be a top draft pick in next year’s NBA Draft.
UNC and BYU have played each other five previous times, with the Tar Heels winning all the previous matchups. Only one of those — their first ever meeting, which took place on Dec. 20, 1976 — was played in Chapel Hill. The other meetings were in Honolulu, Charlotte, Maui and Las Vegas, according to UNC’s athletics department. This is the first time the programs have faced off in Utah.
The Tar Heels have one more preseason game, against Winston-Salem State Wednesday in Chapel Hill, before the regular season starts on Nov. 3 against Central Arkansas.