Heel Tough Blog: Central Arkansas Preview
- Joshua Marlow
- 2 minutes ago
- 4 min read
The 2025-26 college basketball season gets underway tonight across the country, with the #25 Tar Heels in action, as they are set to host Central Arkansas from the ASUN, to begin the season. Carolina enters the season with its head coach under a lot of pressure, as Hubert Davis has failed to enjoy sustained success since taking over for Roy Williams, and many believe this is a make-or-break season for him if he wants to be on the sidelines for many years to come. With so much on the line, Carolina is banking on 11 newcomers to help restore the program to the top of the ACC, and among the nation’s elite, headlined by top-10 freshman Caleb Wilson, who recorded two double-doubles in preseason exhibition play. In addition to the star-studded freshman, Carolina was relying on international pro, Luka Bogavac, to be the missing piece for the half-court offense, but as we sit here on game day, he’s still awaiting to be cleared by the University after being cleared by the NCAA. Now Carolina should be able to navigate that tonight against Central Arkansas, but when a top-20 Kansas team visits Chapel Hill on Friday, they’d like to have him on the court in Carolina Blue.
The Central Arkansas Bears are looking to bounce back after a disappointing 9-24 season in 2024-25, where they went just 4-14 in ASUN competition, barely qualifying for the conference tournament. They will be led by Camren Hunter, who is back with the program after transferring to Wisconsin last year, but only played in 11 games. In his freshman and sophomore seasons, Hunter averaged 14.1 PPG and 16.9 PPG, respectively, earning ASUN Freshman of the Year honors and earning All-ASUN honors both years. The ASUN is a fun, competitive mid-major conference, but Central Arkansas isn’t ready to be a factor in that conference, as they lack the size and experience necessary to do so, making them an overmatched opponent for tonight’s contest in the Smith Center.
Tonight begins what Carolina hopes is a six-month marathon that ends with them competing for an ACC Championship and a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. Like many Carolina teams of old, this team has the look and the feel of a team that will get better as the season moves along, and that is possible with a softer schedule in the non-conference, a stark difference from last year, when Carolina played ranked team after ranked team. Tonight offers us our first glimpse at what this can and will be. Here’s how Carolina can get off to a fast start, to the 2025-26 season:
Establish Inside Scoring Presence: As you could expect with a mid-major opponent coming to town later tonight, they don’t have the size to compete with a UNC on the interior, and with perimeter shooting concerns still abound with the potential absence of Luka Bogavac, that means Carolina should play inside-out, all night long. With the way this roster is constructed, it made sense for Hubert Davis to reinsert the high-low offense into UNC’s half-court offense, and that’s what he did. Carolina will play with two bigs on the floor quite a bit this season, including starting tonight. They don’t have a player on the roster that can match up with Caleb Wilson, so he needs to be the primary focal point of the offense, as well as Henri Veesaar, when he screens and rolls to the basket. Points in the paint should be an area dominated by Carolina for 40 minutes.
Get Kyan Evans Some Confidence: In the two exhibitions, point guard Kyan Evans appeared to be struggling with some growing pains after transferring in from Colorado State over the off-season. The absence of Luka does make things harder on him in the halfcourt, but that can’t be an excuse that carries over into the season. Carolina is hoping for him to be an upgrade over Elliot Cadeau, who transferred to Michigan after last season. He did make two perimeter shots against WSSU last week, and hopefully that carries over into the season opener tonight. He needs to be more confident about his decision-making, in terms of shot selection, or when making a read, or calling a specific defense. Where his mental state is after tonight will play a role in Friday’s showdown with Kansas.
Play Aggressively on Defense: After not seeing any full-court pressure against BYU, Carolina pressed early and often last week against Winston-Salem State, certainly impacting what the Division II school was trying to accomplish. That should be the case once again tonight, as UNC has the size and the length to impact what Central Arkansas will try to accomplish on the offensive end of the floor. Carolina should press after made baskets, trap after timeouts, to try and get the speed of the game at their desired pace, so they can overwhelm them on the offensive end in the open floor.
Series History:
This is the first-ever matchup between UNC and Central Arkansas.
KenPom:
North Carolina - 33rd overall. Adjusted Offensive Efficiency: 116.1 (25th) Adjusted Defensive Efficiency: 96.9 (45th)
Central Arkansas - 346th overall. Adjusted Offensive Efficiency: 97.3 (321st) Adjusted Defensive Efficiency: 112.7 (354th)
TV Info:
Tonight’s game is set to tip at 7 PM on the ACC Network.
The Four Corners Podcast: