The North Carolina Tar Heels have already lost one player to the transfer portal.
The North Carolina Tar Heels fired Hubert Davis after a miserable end to the 2025-26 campaign, and now, a roster exodus could be underway.
North Carolina is not only losing Caleb Wilson to the NBA Draft, but the Tar Heels are also expected to see some of their players enter the transfer portal due to the regime change.
The first player to reveal such a move? Guard Isaiah Denis.
Denis has revealed his intention to enter the transfer portal once it opens on April 7, and while he did not rule out a return to Chapel Hill, you have to figure that the former four-star recruit is a goner.
The Davidson, N.C. native was the top-ranked player in the state of North Carolina for the class of 2025 and committed to the Tar Heels in November 2024.
Denis missed extensive time during his senior high-school season at Davidson Day due to injury and also fell behind at training camp as a result.
Isaiah Denis. Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images.The 6-foot-4 combo guard barely saw the floor for UNC during his freshman campaign, playing in 10 games and scoring a grand total of 19 points. He scored a season-high six points in a win over East Carolina in December.
Denis made it abundantly clear that Davis' dismissal played a significant role in his decision to bolt North Carolina, so he almost certainly will not be the only Tar Heels player testing the transfer portal waters this spring.
UNC went 24-9 this season, going 12-6 in ACC conference play. North Carolina got off to a 13-1 start, but things began to unravel once they began conference play in January. Then, Wilson suffered a fractured hand followed by a broken thumb, ending his season and, thus, any chance of the Tar Heels making a deep run.
North Carolina was ousted by VCU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, blowing a 19-point lead in the process.
It ended Davis' five-year run at Chapel Hill, one that included a National Championship Game appearance during his inaugural campaign in 2021-22.
The Tar Heels are currently searching for a new head coach, which seems like a more arduous task than most initially anticipated.
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