Senior guard Seth Trimble headlines the University of North Carolina’s 2025-26 men’s basketball roster. Trimble is one of 16 players on the roster, including five players who were previously on Tar Heel rosters, three incoming freshmen, six collegiate transfers, one player who competed internationally and a former member of the junior varsity team.
Trimble has played in 102 games in three seasons for Carolina. Last year, he started more than half of the team’s games and averaged 11.6 points and 5.0 rebounds, scoring in double figures 24 times with a high of 27 in a win over Dayton. The Menomonee Falls, Wis., native won the Marvin Williams Carolina Way award, given to the Tar Heel who best exemplifies playing hard, being unselfish and putting the team first.
“I am very excited about this upcoming season and this year’s team, led by Seth Trimble,” says Hubert Davis, who is entering his fifth season as UNC’s head coach. “In college basketball’s current state, Carolina has been fortunate to have multiple accomplished veteran players choose to stay at UNC. Players like Leaky Black, Armando Bacot, RJ Davis, and now Seth Trimble are difference makers for us. Going into the summer, we wanted to get bigger and more versatile to give us the ability to be better on both ends of the floor, and I believe we’ve done that.”
Other returning players include senior guard Elijah Davis of Chapel Hill, who red-shirted last season after playing three seasons at Lynchburg; and sophomore forwards James Brown of Aurora, Ill., Zayden High of San Antonio, Texas, who played in 23 games in 2023-24, and John Holbrook of Hickory.
The incoming college transfers include Kyan Evans, a 6-2 junior guard from Kansas City, Mo.; Ivan Matlekovic, a 7-0 sophomore center from Sisak, Croatia; Jonathan Powell, a 6-6 sophomore forward from Centerville, Ohio; Jarin Stevenson, a 6-11 junior forward from Chapel Hill; Henri Veesaar, a 7-0 junior forward from Tallinn, Estonia; and Jaydon Young, a 6-4 junior guard from Goldsboro, N.C.
Evans played two seasons at Colorado State, where he led the Mountain West Conference last season in true shooting percentage and earned All-MWC Tournament honors in leading the Rams to the title. He averaged 10.6 points and 3.1 assists and shot 44.6% from three-point range and 85.2% from the free throw line. He scored in double figures 23 times, all as a sophomore, including a career-best 23 points vs. Memphis in the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
Matlekovic appeared in five games last season as a freshman at High Point University. Before that, he played two seasons for HAKK Mladost Zagreb in the Prva Liga (Croatian Basketball League) and two seasons for the Cedevita Olimpia Ljubljana U18 team in Slovenia.
Powell averaged 8.3 points and 3.1 rebounds last season at West Virginia. He scored in double figures 15 times, with a season-high 17 points against NC Central and Oklahoma State. He made 64 three-pointers, including multiple threes 19 times. He connected on four or more five times, with a season-high five against Oklahoma State and UCF.
Stevenson played in 74 games for Alabama over the previous two seasons, helping the Crimson Tide win the 2024 NCAA West Regional. He averaged 5.4 points and 3.0 rebounds and made 63 three-pointers for the Tide. The 2023 North Carolina High School Gatorade Player of the Year scored in double figures 13 times. He scored a career-high 22 as a sophomore against Texas. He made five three-pointers and netted 19 points vs. Clemson in the 2024 Elite Eight win that sent the Tide to the Final Four. Stevenson played against the Tar Heels in each of his two seasons at Alabama.
Veesaar (pronounced VAY-sarr) spent the last three seasons at Arizona, playing in 2022-23 and 2024-25 with a red-shirt year in between. He averaged 9.4 points and 5.0 rebounds and shot 59.2% from the floor last season as the Wildcats advanced to the Sweet 16, where he had 13 points and six rebounds in 28 minutes against Duke. He scored a career-high 22 points in a win over Arizona State and had 19 on 9 of 11 shooting from the floor in a victory over Baylor.
Young played in 58 games over two seasons at Virginia Tech. He averaged 8.1 points and shot 34.7% from three as a sophomore. He made multiple three-pointers 18 times with a high of five in a win at Miami and scored in double figures 11 times with highs of 27 against the Hurricanes and 26 in an overtime win over Syracuse. Young made 57 threes in two seasons and shot 84.1% from the free throw line.
Luka Bogavac comes to Chapel Hill after playing the previous two seasons in his native country of Montenegro for SC Derby Podgorica in the AdmiralBet ABA League (Adriatic Basketball Association). He averaged 14.9 points in 29 games in 2024-25. He scored in double figures 23 times last season with a career-high 27 points against Serbia’s Mega Basket.
The three incoming freshmen include Derek Dixon of Vienna, Va., Isaiah Denis of Charlotte and Caleb Wilson of Atlanta, Ga.
Dixon was the 2025 Gatorade Player of the Year in the District of Columbia, where he averaged 14.1 points and 2.6 assists and led Gonzaga College High School to the 2025 DC State Athletic Association Class AA championship.
Denis missed half of his senior season at Davidson Day School due to an injury but averaged 16.7 points in 19 games. He led Davidson Day to the 2024 state title.
Wilson, the 2025 Gatorade Player of the Year in Georgia, led Holy Innocents Episcopal School to the 2025 private school state title. He averaged 21.7 points, 11.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists as a senior.
Junior guard Evan Smith competed on the UNC junior varsity team last season. The Charlotte native played at Ardrey Kell High School.
2025-26 TAR HEEL NUMERICAL ROSTER
Uniform Number • Name
#0 • Kyan Evans
#1 • Zayden High
#2 • James Brown
#3 • Derek Dixon
#4 • Jaydon Young
#5 • Isaiah Denis
#6 • Elijah Davis
#7 • Seth Trimble
#8 • Caleb Wilson
#11 • Jonathan Powell
#13 • Henri Veesaar
#15 • Jarin Stevenson
#25 • John Holbrook
#32 • Evan Smith
#40 • Ivan Matlekovic
#44 • Luka Bogavac