Neo Avdalas Has One Goal for UNC Basketball: ‘Just Win’

There will be plenty of discussion about exactly what Neo Avdalas’ role should be for North Carolina basketball this season.

Is the 6-foot-9 Virginia Tech transfer the Tar Heels’ point guard? Does Terrence Brown handle those responsibilities? Can they simply share them? How much will Avdalas score compared to how much he facilitates?

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Ask Avdalas, though, and the answer to the most important question is much simpler.

Just win.

That mentality was perhaps the biggest takeaway from Avdalas’ preseason press conference Monday as North Carolina continued preparations for Michael Malone’s first season as head coach. The talented sophomore certainly has individual aspirations, including eventually playing in the NBA, but his description of how he wants to play sounds exactly like the culture Malone is attempting to establish in Chapel Hill.

Avdalas referenced a message Malone regularly shares with his players from his time coaching Nikola Jokić in Denver. The three-time NBA MVP became one of basketball’s greatest players without making individual statistics his primary concern.

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“He wants to win,” Avdalas said of Jokić before adding that winning is what matters to him as well.

That philosophy could be particularly important in UNC’s loaded backcourt.

Malone has already spoken highly of the combination of Avdalas, Brown and Matt Able, calling the trio one of the potentially most dynamic backcourts in college basketball. Avdalas gives Carolina something especially unusual because his 6-foot-9 frame comes with legitimate ball-handling ability, court vision and pick-and-roll playmaking.

Avdalas said he prefers playing point guard and believes one of his greatest strengths is operating in the pick-and-roll and putting teammates in position to score. But Carolina doesn’t need to assign traditional labels to every possession. Brown can initiate offense. Able can handle the ball. Avdalas can create. Multiple Tar Heels should be capable of starting the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/neo-avdalas-one-goal-unc-140005419.html

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Publish date : 2026-09-30 14:00:00

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