UNC Looking To Henri Veesaar In Physical Matchup Vs. Kansas

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The 7-foot Henri Veesaar, to the surprise of Hubert Davis, turned in the first double-double of his career against Central Arkansas in North Carolina’s season opener. On Friday night, Veesaar will need to bring that level of production inside against Bill Self’s squad.

The Kansas Jayhawks are paying the Tar Heels a visit in Chapel Hill, bringing the 6-foot-10 Flory Bidunga along with them. Bidunga scored a team-high 23 points, grabbed six rebounds and blocked three shots in Kansas’ season-opening win against Green Bay. The Jayhawks defeated Louisville in a preseason game, and Bidunga delivered 14 points and six rebounds before fouling out in 23 minutes.

When the teams matched up last season at Allen Fieldhouse, Bidunga played 11 minutes off the bench and turned in eight points and eight rebounds against UNC’s interior.

Hubert Davis spoke to Veesaar’s traits on Thursday and how they’ll aid him in the post matchup against the Jayhawks’ frontcourt, which includes Bidunga.

“Obviously from a defensive standpoint, rebounding the basketball,” Davis said on Thursday. “But he also, with his length, can block and alter shots. Obviously, they have a lob threat, rim threat, and so that’s something that we’ve talked about and we want to try to eliminate as much as possible.

“But on the offensive end, Henri does a really good job of running the floor. He’s a post presence for us, and that’s real. We’ve talked at great length (about) how we want to dominate points in the paint. We want to throw the ball inside, and so just using Henri around the basket, but also his ability to pass on the perimeter and shoot from three. He hasn’t shot a lot of threes, but just trying to find more opportunities for Henri in pick-and-pop situations, because that’s a real gift of his and that’s something that we really need to utilize.”

Veesaar scored 14 points on 6-9 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds on Monday. He went for 14 points and eight rebounds in the exhibition game against BYU, but was less efficient, shooting 5-12 from the floor and turning the ball over three times. Six of his eight rebounds that night were on the offensive glass.

North Carolina has used Veesaar in screen actions more often than sending him directly to the post. In the team’s two exhibition games and in the season opener, Veesaar has shown his ability to finish inside when grabbing offensive rebounds and when players dish him the ball off screens.

“Coach Davis always preaches getting points in the paint through post, penetration or drives, getting rebounds,” Veesaar said after Monday’s win.

Davis added on Thursday: “His versatility is real. He’s a gifted passer. He can score around the basket. He’s our best offensive rebounder, and he can really shoot from three. Just encouraging him and also showing him opportunities out there, whether it’s a halfcourt set or just in the flow of our freelance offense, to be able to utilize his ability to shoot the ball from the perimeter.”

Bidunga isn’t the only player on Kansas’ roster with some height to him. Melvin Council Jr. stands 6-foot-4, and everyone else in the team’s starting lineup is at least 6-foot-6, with Bidunga being the tallest. The Jayhawks also have the 6-foot-11 Bryson Tiller off the bench.

Davis feels North Carolina matches up well against the height Kansas employs. North Carolina’s backcourt of Kyan Evans and Seth Trimble was shorter than Kansas’ starters at 6-foot-2 and 6-foot-3, respectively, but they were accompanied by the 6-foot-10 Caleb Wilson, 6-foot-10 Jarin Stevenson and 7-foot Veesaar.

“We have some pretty good size and athleticism as well, so that gives us an ability, throughout the game on both ends of the floor, to determine some matchups or some concepts that could be favorable to us,” Davis said.

Davis has emphasized and re-emphasized physicality “every day, all day” with his team since the season started. On Friday, that will start in the middle with the post play.

“At the end of the day, I really believe it’s all the little stuff,” Davis said. “It’s rebounding, it’s defending without fouling, it’s taking care of the basketball, getting good shots, getting to the free throw line, making your free throws, getting second-chance opportunities. So we could talk about all the size and athleticism. You just go down to those things, and those will be the determining factor of the outcome of the game.”