UNC-Kansas Preview: Blue Bloods Take Center Stage for Top 25 Showdown

No. 25 North Carolina (1-0) vs. No. 19 Kansas (1-0)
Chapel Hill, N.C. — Smith Center
Friday, Nov. 7 — 7 p.m.
ESPN (Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas)

Quotables

“I think it’s an added sense of urgency for us to continue to improve and get better. One of the things that I’ve said to you guys a number of times, I speak to the team, and I give them Proverbs 4:25, ‘Ignore all side show distractions. Just keep your eyes straight ahead.’ So obviously winning big games is important. But the most important thing is to focus on what is real, and that for us is our preparation, our practice, and for us to play at the highest level that we can play tomorrow night. And at the end of the day, the results will take care of itself.” — UNC coach Hubert Davis on Thursday, when asked if the Tar Heels’ Quad 1 résumé struggles from last season add a sense of urgency to the showdown against Kansas.

“I think that’ll be really good for me. I need that. These last three games, the exhibitions and in this game, I’ve been a little slow to start offensively and defensively. So y’all know who I can be. I know who I can be. I think that matchup will allow me to get going a little bit. It has to. And he’s a great player.” — UNC guard Seth Trimble earlier this week, when asked about a possible defensive assignment against Kansas star freshman Darryn Peterson.

Pregame Notes

Sharpshooter Cleared for Action: Luke Bogavac’s five-month eligibility saga came to an end Monday night, when he officially was cleared to play less than an hour before UNC tipped off the new 2025-26 season against Central Arkansas. The 22-year old Bogavac arrived at Carolina after playing professionally in Serbia and Montenegro, including the last two seasons in the Adriatic Basketball Association (ABA League) with SC Derby.

He played 20 minutes off the UNC bench, providing 10 points and five assists. Bogavac connected on just one 3-pointer among his five attempts beyond the arc. He also swiped two steals against Central Arkansas.

Bogavac is one of the 10 newcomers for the Tar Heels. Obtaining more positional size was a clear point of emphasis for Hubert Davis and Co. across the course of this offseason. Last season, Carolina’s roster checked in as the second-shortest among all major-conference teams, ranking outside the top 300 nationally in average height, per Ken Pomeroy’s college basketball database. But this season, UNC ranks as the 12th-tallest team in the country, and second in the ACC with an average height of 79 inches (or 6-foot-7), per KenPom.

Kyan Evans Connects from Deep: The transfer guard Evans splashed in four 3-pointers and finished with 15 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals in UNC’s rout of Central Arkansas.

Evans played two seasons at Colorado State, before joining Carolina through the portal. He shot better than 44 percent from 3-point range last season, on a sizable 4.4 attempts per game. He delivered a career-high 23 points, including six 3-point makes, in Colorado State’s defeat of Memphis in the Round of 64 in the NCAA Tournament last season.

Looking at Kansas: The Jayhawks picked up the No. 19 ranking in the Preseason AP Top 25. Kansas has been ranked in the AP preseason poll across 34 straight seasons. Kansas blasted Green Bay 94-51 on Monday night to open the season. The Jayhawks raced out to a 21-point lead by halftime (48-27), and never looked back. Kansas was picked to finish sixth in the Big 12 preseason poll, behind Houston, BYU, Texas Tech, Arizona and Iowa State.

The Jayhawks, of course, are led by Hall of Fame coach Bill Self. He took over the job in April 2003, after Roy Williams left Kansas to take the head post at UNC. Self has directed the Jayhawks ever since and is entering his 23rd season at Kansas. He has led Kansas to a whopping 16 regular-season titles in the Big 12, three Final Four appearances and two NCAA championships.

Darryn Peterson Delivering Early Returns: The 6-foot-6 freshman Peterson has lived up to the hype early on this season. He was tabbed as the No. 2 overall prospect coming out of high school, according to On3. Peterson supplied 21 points, four rebounds and three assists in the blowout of Green Bay. And in Kansas’ exhibition victory at No. 11 Louisville, Peterson pumped in 26 points, including six successful 3-pointers, and swiped five steals.

Peterson has been limited some this season due to cramping issues. He exited the season opener against Green Bay at the 15-minute mark of the second half and didn’t return. He also was limited in the second half of the exhibition game at Louisville due to cramping. Across the season opener and the exhibition against Louisville, Peterson provided 42 total points in the first half, compared to 5 points in the second half.

Peterson was named Big 12 Preseason Freshman of the Year, becoming the 10th Kansas player to collect that distinction. He earned co-MVP honors of the 2025 McDonald’s All-American Game, after supplying a game-high 18 points in that showcase event. Sam Vecenie of The Athletic projected Peterson as the No. 1 overall pick in his latest mock draft for the 2026 NBA Draft. Green Bay coach Doug Gottlieb provided particularly high praise for Peterson earlier this week, calling him the “closest thing to Kobe (Bryant) I’ve seen.”

Big Man Withdrawals from Portal: Flory Bidunga is back for his second season at Kansas. He primarily came off the bench last season, backing up 7-2 center Hunter Dickinson. Bigunda contributed 5.9 rebounds, 5.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocked shots in just more than 16 minutes per game as a freshman. After last season, Bidunga entered the transfer portal for eight days — and figured to be one of the more sought-after big men on the free-agent market — before withdrawing his name and returning to Kansas.

Bidguna now is a full-time starter and is stepping into a centerpiece role for the Jayhawks this season. He tallied a career-high 23 points on Monday night in the opener against Green Bay. Last November, Bidunga provided eight points and eight rebounds against UNC in 11 minutes of action.

Last Meeting: UNC came up short in a 92-89 loss at Kansas in the second game of the season last season. The Tar Heels rallied out of a 20-point deficit and took a four-point lead with under four minutes remaining. But the Jayhawks closed on a 9-2 run to defeat Carolina. Seth Trimble scored a team-high 19 points, while RJ Davis finished with 16 points on 3-of-15 shooting from the field.

Series History: Kansas leads the all-time series 7-6, and has won five straight meetings against the Tar Heels. Four of those wins for the Jayhawks have come in the NCAA Tournament, mostly notably their second-half rally in the 2022 championship game (for Self’s second NCAA title) and victory in the 2008 Final Four (on the way to Self’s first NCAA title). The Tar Heels last beat the Jayhawks in November 2002, upsetting then-No. 2 Kansas in the Preseason NIT event at Madison Square Garden. That was the final season of former coach Matt Doherty’s brief stint at Carolina.

Projected UNC Starters:
0 Kyan Evans (Jr., 6-2, 175) — 15 ppg, 5 apg, 6 rpg, 4 spg
7 Seth Trimble (Sr., 6-3, 200) — 12 ppg, 4 apg, 2 spg
8 Caleb Wilson (Fr., 6-10, 215) — 22 ppg, 4 rpg, 3 apg
13 Henri Veesaar (Jr., 7-0, 225) — 14 ppg, 10 rpg
15 Jarin Stevenson (Jr., 6-10, 215) — 5 ppg, 1 rpg

Projected Kansas Starters:
3 Tre White (Sr., 6-7, 215) — 9 ppg, 3 apg
7 Kohl Rosario (Fr., 6-6, 200) — 6 ppg, 5 rpg, 3 apg
14 Melvin Council Jr. (Sr., 6-4, 180) — 10 ppg, 5 rpg, 4 apg
22 Darryn Peterson (Fr., 6-6, 205) — 21 ppg, 4 rpg, 3 apg
40 Flory Bidunga (So., 6-10, 235) — 23 ppg, 6 rpg, 3 bpg

UNC Info
Schedule/Results
Roster & Bios
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Kansas Info
Schedule/Info
Roster & Bios
Stats