The shared history between Kansas and North Carolina may be generations old, but this year both teams are brand new.
The blue-blood programs have each, to varying extents, handed the reins to top-notch freshmen — KU guard Darryn Peterson and UNC forward Caleb Wilson — and surrounded those marquee players with well-placed transfers as both teams look to return to national prominence, more than three years after meeting in the 2022 national title game.
“I can’t speak for Hubert (Davis, UNC’s coach), but I would think there’s an element of excitement in their camp just because it is new and fresh and exciting, and I think that’s kind of what we have, too,” KU coach Bill Self said. “I see two similar teams that probably both don’t know really how good we are yet, but both have a chance to be really good.”
Also new is the venue of this year’s matchup between the Jayhawks and Tar Heels.
As the two teams wrap up a home-and-home series — though Self has said he “would love to” continue facing UNC — KU will make its first-ever trip to the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for Friday’s game at 6 p.m. Central Time.
“Certainly playing at their place in front of 21, 22 (thousand), whatever the number is, will be a tough, tough, tough challenge,” Self said, “but one that we need to go through to kind of see where we’re at and hopefully learn from.”
Both programs are coming over similar victories against mid-majors on Monday night. KU beat Green Bay 94-51 behind Peterson and sophomore forward Flory Bidunga. Peterson, who finished with 21 points, left early due to cramps after previously having done so in an exhibition game, but Self said on Wednesday that he had returned to practice on Tuesday and Wednesday and added, “It’s something that we don’t anticipate being anything that lasts, but we’re taking it serious and feel like that we’re in better shape than we were obviously a week ago.”
UNC, meanwhile, hosted Central Arkansas and beat the Bears 94-54, led by Wilson’s 22 points on 8-for-10 shooting.
“They got a pretty impressive freshman too,” Self said. “And they’re big, they’re always great on the glass, they’re always great in transition, and they’re skilled on the perimeter and make shots.”
Veteran guard Seth Trimble remains in the lineup as one of the few players back in this matchup from last year’s 92-89 thriller in Lawrence that went the Jayhawks’ way. He and Wilson are joined by Kyan Evans, a sharpshooter from Kansas City, Missouri, who transferred in from Colorado State, as well as additional transfers Jarin Stevenson (Alabama) and Henri Veesaar (Arizona). Veesaar, a center from Estonia, played a key role in eliminating KU from the Big 12 tournament last year when he was with the Wildcats.
Another international player, Luka Bogavac from Montenegro, was cleared to play almost immediately before the game against UCA. He came off the bench and promptly attempted nine shots, matching the second-highest total behind Wilson, and finished with 10 points.
“He’s an impressive guy, he comes in right off the bat and he doesn’t hesitate, he’s pulling it from deep,” Self said.
This year’s KU team has shown flashes, both in exhibition action and in Monday’s season opener, of defensive tenacity and offensive potency, but will get a much clearer sense of where it sits with an early season top-25 matchup on Friday.
No. 25 North Carolina Tar Heels (1-0) vs. No. 19 Kansas Jayhawks (1-0)
• Dean E. Smith Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 6 p.m. Central time
• Broadcast: ESPN
• Radio: Jayhawk Radio Network (in Lawrence, KLWN AM 1320 / K269GB FM 101.7 / KKSW FM 105.9 / KMXN FM 92.9)
Keep an eye out
1. Vintage Veesaar: It’s hard to imagine the Jayhawks, at least those who were around last year, will be eager to see Veesaar again. Foul trouble made him a nonfactor the first time KU played Arizona at Allen Fieldhouse on March 8, but five days later he went 7-for-11 from the field and made a pair of 3-pointers as the Wildcats triumphed at the T-Mobile Center. The Jayhawks will certainly have to stick with him more tightly on the perimeter and coming off ball screens, but Flory Bidunga has demonstrated a high level of agility and has been quite comfortable doing so in his brief career thus far. Veesaar is already off to a strong start in his redshirt junior season after a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double against UCA.
2. Shooting for success: Loyola-Chicago transfer Jayden Dawson and early-enrolling freshman Kohl Rosario are two of the primary players on which KU will theoretically rely this year for perimeter shooting, but neither looked sharp in exhibition play and they combined to go 2-for-11 from beyond the arc against Green Bay. The Smith Center might not be the most hospitable environment in which to get on the right track, but KU will surely need some big shots from distance from players other than Peterson to succeed in Chapel Hill and those two guards could be prime candidates to provide them.
3. Playing to size: Self said he made it a theme going into KU’s season opener against Green Bay that the Jayhawks’ post players needed to do better at playing to their size. That message clearly landed with Bidunga, as he went to work in the paint and came away with a career-best 23 points. In addition, he, Bryson Tiller and Paul Mbiya have all shown the ability to block or at least alter shots with their length in the early stages of the season. Now they will need to take their post prowess to another level to combat Wilson and Veesaar on Friday.
Off-kilter observation
Trimble and Veesaar aren’t the only Tar Heels with a history against KU. Rotational wing Jonathan Powell faced the Jayhawks when he was with West Virginia last season and drained three key 3s in the Mountaineers’ upset win at Allen Fieldhouse on Dec. 31.
AP Photo/Charlie Riedel
