Tar Heels Seek Spacing Through Shooters

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Let Derek Dixon tell it, he’s the best shooter on North Carolina’s roster. Ask Jonathan Powell, and he’ll say the same thing. Where they both agree, though, is that the Tar Heels have options when it comes to perimeter shooting.

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The headlining shooters on this team, based on 3-point percentages from last year, include Kyan Evans (44.6% at Colorado State), Luka Bogavac (39.9% at SC Derby), Derek Dixon (38.5% at Gonzaga High) and Jonathan Powell (35.2% at West Virginia). Henri Veesaar and Jarin Stevenson, though not high-percentage shooters from distance, both had games last season in which they found the range on their respective teams.

Evans, Bogavac, Dixon and Powell all looked sharp when shooting threes in UNC’s drills on Thursday in a brief practice viewing for the media on Thursday.

“Everybody can shoot, up and down the lineup,” Caleb Wilson said on Thursday. “I feel like it’s gonna allow for so much spacing, and I’m gonna dunk on somebody. That’s what I like about it.”

At the Blue-White scrimmage last week, North Carolina kept the floor spaced out with four — and sometimes five — players on the perimeter at a given time. To get the bigs inside, the team would use pick-and-rolls rather than traditional post-ups. The open lanes also allowed players to cut to the rim for layup opportunities.

The Tar Heels, a guard-heavy team last year, seek to play with more offensive balance in the 2025-26 campaign, with more defined roles on the court. Within that goal, they still want room to work with on the court. The presence of shooting threats would spread out the defense and effectively create spacing.

Veesaar even hinted that centers could space the floor for UNC.

“I think the spacing is really good for us, because we can put in five guys who can shoot,” Veesaar said at ACC Tipoff. “We can play Zayden High at the five; he can shoot the ball. I can shoot the ball. So we can have all five guys who are elite shooters. And I think that’s really helpful for us to bring spacing. Seth Trimble, for example, it’s gonna give him more space to get downhill, and for everybody.”

North Carolina had respectable shooters last season, too, finishing fifth in the ACC in 3-point percentage with a 35.6% team rate. The team’s best shooters by percentage were Jae’Lyn Withers (44.3%) and Ian Jackson (39.5%). Drake Powell followed that up with a 37.9% on almost exclusively catch-and-shoot looks, and RJ Davis, after a slow start, finished with a 35.4% 3-point percentage.

Without a true inside presence for most of the season, though, teams didn’t have to heavily concentrate their efforts on guarding the interior against UNC’s offense. Additionally, isolation play became repetitive at times and created stagnation. North Carolina’s 3-point percentage spiked at the end of the year, but for the first 25 games — before finding a rhythm and reeling off wins after a victory at Syracuse — the Tar Heels shot 32.3% from downtown.

UNC will play a second intrasquad scrimmage next week in Cherokee, then two preseason games before the Nov. 3 season opener. The Tar Heels will face BYU in Salt Lake City on Oct. 24 and Winston-Salem State at home on Oct. 29.

North Carolina hopes to use the 3-point line as a weapon this season, and if the percentages on paper translate, the team will have some floor spacers in the fall.

“It makes my job a little bit easier knowing when I draw two defenders, I kick it out, there’s a guy that’s making shots, making plays,” Dixon said. “So I have to do less, and I can just keep it simple and just play the game the right way.”