UNC-Central Arkansas Preview: New-Look Tar Heels Embark on New Season

No. 25 North Carolina vs. Central Arkansas
Chapel Hill, N.C. — Smith Center
Monday, Nov. 3 — 7 p.m.
ACC Network (Anish Shroff, Chris Spatola)

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Quotables

“I like the exhibition games that we played, and it really has identified things that we’re doing well and things that we need to improve on. And we’ll be prepared and ready for a good Central Arkansas team on Monday night.” — UNC coach Hubert Davis on Wednesday night, after the Tar Heels pulled away from Winston-Salem State to win their final exhibition game.

“I think everyone on this team can score in bunches like that. It’s been shown over the summer, preseason, and stuff like that. We’ve got a lot of guys that can step up at any time. So it’ll be a fun year.” — UNC guard Jaydon Young, on the Tar Heels’ flurry of nine 3-point makes in the second half against Winston-Salem State.

Pregame Notes

Carolina Begins Anew with Fresh Faces: UNC starts the 2025-26 campaign looking to continue its run of season-opening success. The Tar Heels have won 20 straight season openers since losing to Santa Clara in Oakland, Calif., to begin their 2004-05 NCAA championship season. And at the Smith Center, the winning streak is 23 consecutive victories in home openers. Carolina hasn’t lost its first home game since the 2001-02 season.

UNC underwent a full roster reconstruction across the course of the offseason, following the turbulence of last season, during which the Tar Heels tumbled from a preseason top-10 ranking to becoming the last team in the NCAA Tournament field. The newcomers have arrived in the form of six transfer additions, one international import and three freshman recruits.

The Tar Heels have been picked third in the 18-team ACC’s predicted order of finish, behind Duke and Louisville. Carolina only returns 14 percent of its scoring, 12.8 percent of its rebounding, and 8 percent of its total assists from a season ago. And among the scholarship players back this season for UNC, guard Seth Trimble is the lone returner who has played a significant role. He started 18 games last season, serving as a defensive stopper and secondary scoring option.

Freshman Looks Primed for Big Role: Caleb Wilson’s potential was on display across UNC’s two exhibition games. The freshman forward flexed his rangy tools against No. 8 BYU, en route to supplying 22 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots. And five nights later, Wilson delivered 23 points and 10 rebounds in the rout of Division II Winston-Salem State. Wilson had the highlight of the night against the Rams, throwing down a poster-worthy dunk in the first half, a one-handed slam he cocked way back before flushing over 6-foot-8 Abou Camara.

Wilson was a consensus five-star recruit, tabbed the No. 5 overall high school prospect and second-best power forward in the 2025 class, according to On3 Sports. He was named to the second team Preseason All-ACC squad and to the league’s Preseason All-Freshman team. Wilson is set to become the first UNC freshman to start a season opener in the frontcourt since Armando Bacot in 2019-20.

Looking at Central Arkansas: The Bears finished 9-24 overall and 4-14 in Atlantic Sun Conference play last season. Central Arkansas won just one true road game. UCA’s recent outings against ACC opponents have gone awry. The Bears fell at Georgia Tech last season (87-68), and were pounded early in the 2019-20 season at Duke (105-54).

Central Arkansas most notably is the home of NBA Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen, a six-time champion and seven-time All-Star with the Chicago Bulls. Pippen played at UCA from 1983-87, back when the program competed on the NAIA level. The Bears dedicated their basketball court to Pippen in June 2021.

This season, UCA has been picked 11th in the 12-team ASUN in the media’s predicted order of finish. The Bears revamped their roster, bringing in 11 newcomers. Central Arkansas is ranked No. 346 out of 365 teams in Ken Pomeroy’s preseason power ratings for college basketball. That’s the lowest projection for any Carolina opponent this season, per the KenPom database.

The Bears are under the direction of second-year coach John Shulman. He joined Central Arkansas after coaching five seasons at Division II Alabama-Huntsville, where he compiled an impressive 112-39 record. Among Shulman’s various coaching stops, he served as an assistant coach under current UNC assistant Jeff Lebo, then the head coach at Tennessee Tech and Chattanooga. They were assistants together at East Tennessee State.

Boomerang Transfer Tops Reloaded Roster: Camren Hunter has made a boomeranging return to the Bears. He spent three seasons at UCA, before transferring to Wisconsin ahead of last season. But his time with the Badgers was hindered by injury and illness, as Hunter appeared in just 11 games, logging 23 total minutes and scoring three points across those brief appearances.

Hunter led the Bears in scoring in both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. The 6-foot-3 guard earned ASUN Freshman of the Year honors, and twice was named first-team All-ASUN. As a sophomore, Hunter produced 16.9 points, 5 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game. He medically redshirted the next season after suffering a season-ending injury in the preseason.

Rashad Bolden figures to play alongside Hunter in the Bears’ starting backcourt. Bolden joins UCA after spending two seasons at Division II Mississippi College. He was a prolific scorer there for the Mocs, ranking eighth in scoring in the D-II ranks, while pumping in 24.3 points per game. Bolden shot 37.8 percent from 3-point range last season, and delivered a career-high 41 points in a victory. Prior to his two-year stint at Mississippi College, Bolden made one-year stops at McNeese State and Southern Mississippi.

Last Meeting: Monday night’s season opener marks the first-ever meeting between the UNC and Central Arkansas programs. It’s Carolina’s first matchup against a current member of the ASUN since squaring off against Lipscomb in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament.

Projected UNC Starters:
0 Kyan Evans (Jr., 6-2, 175) — 10.6, 3.1 apg, 2.9 rpg (last season at Colorado State)
7 Seth Trimble (Sr., 6-3, 200) — 11.6 ppg, 5 rpg
8 Caleb Wilson (Fr., 6-10, 215)
13 Henri Veesaar (Jr., 7-0, 225) — 9.4 ppg, 5 rpg (at Arizona)
15 Jarin Stevenson (Jr., 6-10, 215) — 5.4 ppg, 3.4 rpg (at Alabama)

Projected Central Arkansas Starters:
1 Camren Hunter (Sr., 6-3, 205) — 0.3 ppg, 0.5 rpg (last season at Wisconsin)
11 Rashad Bolden (Sr., 6-0, 180) — 24.3 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 4.5 apg (at Mississippi College)
12 Ty Robinson (Rs-Fr., 6-4, 190) — 3 ppg, 3 rpg
24 Cole McCormick (So., 6-6, 200) — 8.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg
32 Malachiah Marable (Fr., 6-9, 245)

UNC Info
Schedule/Results
Roster & Bios
Stats

Central Arkansas Info
Schedule/Info
Roster & Bios
Stats