Jarin Stevenson doesn’t need to wonder anymore whether he can handle a bigger load at North Carolina. He already lived it.
Late last season, when UNC’s roster thinned out, Stevenson was pushed into a much larger role and responded with the kind of stretch that can change how a player sees himself. By the time the season wound down, the versatile forward had not only taken on more responsibility, he had shown he could thrive with it.
“To be honest, I think it really boosted my confidence,” Stevenson said Thursday at his preseason press conference on September 24.
That confidence is going to matter for Michael Malone’s first North Carolina team. Carolina has changed a lot since Stevenson’s first year back in Chapel Hill after transferring from Alabama.
Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesaar are gone. Hubert Davis is no longer the head coach.
Stevenson is still here, and now he’s the lone returning starter on a roster that looks very different around him.
His late-season stretch last year offered a preview of what he can do when the pressure rises. After Wilson suffered a season-ending injury, Stevenson was asked to defend multiple positions, rebound more and take on a bigger offensive burden. Over the final 10 games, he averaged 10.7 points, shot 51.4 percent from the field and grabbed 6.4 rebounds per game.
Just as important, he came away with a better understanding of his own game. Stevenson said the extra responsibility taught him what he could do on the defensive end and showed him he could “create havoc on the court.”
That’s a useful discovery for a player entering his fourth college season with 107 games already on his ledger. At 6-foot-10, Stevenson gives Malone a rare blend of size, mobility and perimeter ability, and UNC’s new coach has already pointed to his capacity to play the three, four and five as one of his key traits.
The challenge now is making that late surge last for an entire season.
Stevenson’s junior year included plenty of signs that he can be a real difference-maker. He started 25 of 33 games, averaged 8.1 points and 4.4 rebounds, and delivered several notable offensive performances. But Carolina needs more than flashes this time around.
The good news for UNC is that Stevenson has already handled the kind of responsibility that used to be a question mark. He played through a bigger role.
He guarded different spots. He stepped in when the team needed him most.
Now Malone wants even more.
The new head coach has pushed Stevenson, who by his own admission can be a little reserved, to be more aggressive and let his game do the talking. Stevenson said Thursday that his personality can sometimes get in the way, but he’s trying to move past that.
For UNC, that makes the next step pretty clear: take the confidence Stevenson earned last March and turn it into something steady.
In Other News...
UNC Is Already In An Early Fight For A Massive 5-Star Center
A big man with a growing national market is already drawing plenty of attention, and North Carolina has made sure it is in the mix early. Dylan Betts, a five-star Class of 2028 center and 7-foot-3 prospect at IMG Academy, has taken an unofficial visit to Chapel Hill as part of a recruitment process that is quickly broadening beyond one region or one conference.
UNCs staff has been building a relationship with Betts while schools like Michigan and Illinois have already hosted him, and Alabama is also lined up for a future visit. For the Tar Heels, getting in early matters with a player of that size and ceiling, because the race for elite frontcourt talent tends to move fast once the major programs start pressing their cases. [Read more 🡒]
UNCs New Backcourt Duo Brings More Than Fans Might Expect
North Carolinas newest backcourt pairing arrived with plenty of intrigue during a recent media availability, as transfer guards Angelo Brizzi and Neo Avdalas were introduced to the Tar Heels audience. Brizzi brings a well-traveled resume, but also the kind of reliability UNC needs from a lead guard, having started all 32 games at Buffalo and finished with 14.5 points per game. Avdalas offers a different look entirely, a 6-foot-9 guard whose size and playmaking made him one of the more interesting additions in the ACC last season.
Avdalas started all 31 games at Virginia Tech, averaged 12.1 points and 4.6 assists per game, and earned ACC Rookie of the Week honors twice, which gives UNC a backcourt blend that is both experienced and unconventional. For a program always balancing immediate expectations with roster fit, the bigger question now is how quickly these two transfers can translate their production into chemistry, spacing and decision-making in Chapel Hill. [Read more 🡒]
Belichicks UNC Start Looks Worse As Passed-Over Options Keep Delivering
Bill Belichicks first season at North Carolina has already become a talking point across college football, and not in the way anyone around Chapel Hill would have wanted. As the Tar Heels try to settle in under one of the sports most famous names, the comparison game has only intensified, with other programs taking shape behind coaches who were in the same broader conversation before Belichick landed at UNC.
Those parallel developments matter because the coaches North Carolina did not hire keep stacking up results elsewhere. Jon Sumrall and Jake Dickert, in particular, have continued to build momentum, while Wake Forests early success under Dickert and quarterback Gio Lopez has only sharpened the optics. Even in games with uneven quarterback play, such as Clemsons outing from Tait Reynolds, the broader trend has been hard to miss for UNC fans watching the wider carousel. [Read more 🡒]