Events in North Carolina basketball world have obviously taken a turn over the last week or so, with the school letting go of Hubert Davis and beginning the search for a new basketball coach. However while a lot of the thoughts surrounding the men’s program are looking forward to what’s ahead, we still have some of a season to look back on. We’ll continue that today by issuing our grades for the senior class from the 2025-26 season.
Henri Veesaar
After transferring in from Arizona, Veesaar was tasked with forming
an imposing frontcourt along with Caleb Wilson, and for the most part, they did that. For the season, Veesaar finished with averages of 17.0 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.2 blocks, and 0.6 steals per game.
While everyone had their faults in UNC’s final two frustrating losses to the season, Veesaar had added pressure on carrying the team when Wilson went down with his injuries, and he mostly did so. In those final seven games of the season, he went for 19.3 points a game, including 28 and 26 in the tournament losses to Clemson and VCU respectively.
One negative that you could pin on Veesaar is that he wasn’t always the most physically imposing big. That’s not to say that he didn’t have his games and moments on defense and/or in rebounding, but he wasn’t always the inside force you might hope to get from a 7-footer. That being said, obviously, you can trade off some of that for the fact that he shot over 40% from three on three attempts per game.
While he’s officially listed as a senior, Veesaar could theoretically return for another season. The expectation is that he will test the NBA Draft waters, and he certainly could be an intriguing option for a team, considering his skill set. Whether he comes back depends on how he’s seen through the Draft process, and probably that whole new coach thing.
Grade: A-
Seth Trimble
Trimble’s 2025-26 season was a bit of an odd one. While his didn’t end up being as late or as costly as Wilson’s, he was another Tar Heel that fell victim to the injury bug, missing over a month of action in November and December. He only played two games prior to suffering the injury, but one of them was a very impressive 17-point effort in the victory over Kansas.
Upon returning from the injury, he was hardly bad. Trimble finished the season with a 14.0 points and 3.0 assists per game averages, both of which will go down as career bests. Besides that, he also made by far the best memory of the season with his game-winning three-pointer in the victory over Duke.
That being said, there were times when you couldn’t help but feel that something was off about his season. Most notably, he really struggled at the free throw line, making just 66.7% of his attempts on the year. While that number isn’t out of line with some of his early seasons at UNC, last year he was over 80%. Especially in the brutal season-ending loss to VCU, some of those misses ended up costly. You couldn’t help but wonder if the injury he suffered was still affecting him to some degree. I’m not a doctor, but I can’t help but guess that.
Grade: B-
