UNC Basketball Reveals 2026-27 Roster: Jersey Changes, Family Tradition, and Eligibility Notes Stand Out

North Carolina officially unveiled its 2026-27 men’s basketball roster Friday, putting the finishing touches on the group that will take the floor for Michael Malone’s first season in Chapel Hill.

There were no surprises in terms of personnel. Carolina’s 16-man roster features five players who were part of last season’s team and 11 newcomers: four freshmen, six college transfers and international newcomer Alexandros Samodurov.

However, there are several interesting wrinkles buried within the roster reveal.

Perhaps the most meaningful involves freshman guard Malloy Smith, who will wear No. 30, continuing a family tradition at North Carolina. Smith’s father, Kenny Smith, famously wore No. 30 while becoming an All-American point guard for Dean Smith in the 1980s, and Malloy’s older brother, K.J. Smith, also wore the number during his Carolina career from 2017-21. Malloy now becomes the third member of the Smith family to wear No. 30 for the Tar Heels.

Two returning Tar Heels are changing numbers, including one particularly memorable switch.

Sophomore Isaiah Denis will move from No. 5, which he wore during his freshman season, to No. 2. Meanwhile, John Holbrook is making the considerably more dramatic jump from No. 25 to No. 99.

Yes, 99.

According to Carolina, Holbrook will become not only the first Tar Heel ever to wear No. 99, but the first UNC basketball player to wear any number higher than 55. Matt Wenstrom, Wade Moody, Christian Keeling and Harrison Ingram had previously shared the program’s high-water mark by wearing No. 55.

There are some other jersey-number history notes as well. Virginia Tech transfer Neo Avdalas will wear No. 17, becoming the first Tar Heel to do so since Bill White wore it at home during the 1949-50 season. South Dakota transfer Cameron Fens takes No. 54, which hasn’t been worn at Carolina since Vasco Evtimov in 1996-97.

The roster size itself is also noteworthy.

The House Settlement implemented a 15-player roster limit for Division I men’s basketball, but Carolina will have 16 players for the second consecutive season. NCAA rules allow teams to exceed the standard limit when a player qualifies as a Designated Student-Athlete, an exemption created for players whose roster opportunities were affected by implementation of the new limits.

Finally, the roster provides official classifications for two of Carolina’s most intriguing international additions.

As expected, Mali native Sayon Keita is listed as a freshman. Alexandros Samodurov, who arrives after playing professionally with Panathinaikos in Greece, is classified as a junior. The latter designation is particularly interesting given the changing NCAA eligibility landscape. Under the coming five-seasons-in-five-years framework, Samodurov could potentially have three seasons of college eligibility available should he choose to utilize all of them.

Keita also becomes just the second Tar Heel from Africa and the first since Senegal native Makhtar Ndiaye played at UNC from 1996-98. Avdalas and Samodurov, meanwhile, are the first two Tar Heels from Greece.

None of Friday’s roster news dramatically alters expectations for Malone’s first team. But between Smith continuing a Carolina family tradition, Holbrook rewriting the program’s jersey-number record book, and the eligibility classifications of UNC’s international newcomers, the official roster reveal offered plenty of details worth noticing as the 2026-27 season draws closer.

Here's the entirety of the roster: