UNC Basketball: Late Night With Roy recap

The UNC Basketball program hosted its annual Late Night With Roy event on Friday night as we are close to the start of the 2018-19 season

We can officially begin to get real excited about the upcoming 2018-19 college basketball season as the University of North Carolina held the annual Late Night With Roy event on Friday night.

LNWR is the unofficial tipoff to the upcoming season and gives fans their first look the new team ahead of the season opener in just a few weeks. While you may have already been excited about the upcoming season, the countdown is officially on for the start of the campaign which begins in early November at Wofford.

The Tar Heels are coming off a disappointing 2017-18 season which ended early in the NCAA Tournament, losing to Texas A&M in the second round.

But head coach Roy Williams landed a Top 10 recruiting class this year to go along with returning seniors Luke Maye, Kenny Williams and graduate transfer Cam Johnson. The Tar Heels also welcome back key role players like Seventh Woods, Sterling Manley, Garrison Brooks, Brandon Robinson and Andrew Platek.

It should be an exciting season again for the Tar Heels who have National Championship hopes.

While the Tar Heels have been practicing for a few weeks now, Friday night offered a little fun for the team and the fans. Along with the scrimmage, the team participated in some dance routines and games, putting on a show for the crowd:

But after the skits were all done, it was time for the main event.

The highlight of the night is the scrimmage between the men’s varsity squad, giving fans their real first look at the new team and it generally doesn’t disappoint. This year the excitement surrounded five-star freshman wing Nassir Little who is expected to be a one-and-done player for Roy Williams but he will be able to make an impact right away for Williams and the Tar Heels.

Little was on the white team which dropped the scrimmage to the blue team 36-34 as the freshman scored a white team-high 9 points.

While Little was impressive in his first action on the new Roy Williams Court at the Dean Dome, the scrimmage belonged to senior Kenny Williams.

Williams finished with a game-high 19 points to lead the blue team to the victory and the guard shot the ball well throughout. His 3-pointer with just over 30 seconds left proved to be the game-winner, helping give his squad the win.

You can few highlights of the scrimmage below:

Luke Maye and Sterling Manley finished with 9 points each on the white team in the losing effort on Friday night.

Garrison Brooks finished with 6 points and 4 rebounds on the blue team while Coby White went scoreless with 6 rebounds.

Up next for the Tar Heels is another week of practice ahead of the 2018-19 season opener on the road at Wofford on Nov. 6. The Tar Heels will have two games on the road to open up their season before returning to Chapel Hill.

For more on the upcoming season for the UNC Basketball program, please check back with Keeping It Heel.