This week the UNC men’s basketball team officially added four transfer students to their 2022-2023 roster. Here’s everything you need to know about them:
Jae’Lyn Withers:
Withers is a 6-9 forward who made 64 starts in 81 games over the past three seasons at Louisville, where he averaged 8.0 points and 5.6 rebounds. Originally from Charlotte, where his father, Curtis, was a three-time all-conference standout for the 49ers, Withers attended North Mecklenburg High School in Huntersville, N.C., for three years before finishing his scholastic career at Cleveland Heights High School in Ohio.
He red-shirted at Louisville in 2019-20 and earned All-ACC Freshman team honors the following season, when he averaged 10.1 points and 7.7 rebounds and led the Cardinals in field goal shooting at 55.1%. He was third in the conference in offensive rebounding percentage and seventh in total rebounds per game as a red-shirt freshman.
Jae’Lyn (pronounced JAY-lynn) scored in double figures 30 times with a career-best 20 vs. Prairie View and Notre Dame, grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds twice and had five double-doubles in points and rebounds.
Last season he averaged 8.9 points and 5.3 rebounds and made 41.7% from three-point range (40 of 96). He made a career-best four three-pointers three times, all last season against Georgia Tech, Florida State and Miami.
“Jae’Lyn is a versatile big man who can do a number of things really well on both ends of the court,” says Davis. “He can consistently make three-pointers, run the floor, post up, attack the offense and create plays off the bounce. He is also an excellent defender and rebounder, exactly what we were looking for at that position. He is a North Carolina kid and we are glad he is back home.”
Harrison Ingram:
Ingram is a 6-7 forward from Dallas, Texas, where he attended the St. Mark’s School. Harrison totaled 682 points, 405 rebounds and 218 assists in two seasons at Stanford. He was the 2022 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, when he won conference freshman-of-the-week honors six times.
Last season, Ingram averaged 10.5 points and 5.8 rebounds, and led the Cardinal and was eighth in the Pac 12 in assists with 3.7 per game.
He started 62 of 65 games, scoring in double figures 37 times, including his last 10 games, a stretch in which he averaged 12.7 points. He scored a career-high 24 points against Ole Miss early last season and had 21 in a win over fifth-ranked Southern California as a freshman. He made three three-pointers in both of his 20-point games.
Ingram had five double-doubles in 2021-22, when he averaged 6.7 rebounds per game, the second- highest figure ever by a Stanford freshman. In two seasons he had five or more assists 22 times with a career-high nine in a win at Oregon State. He had 12 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in the Cardinal’s upset win over No. 4 Arizona in February 2023.
“I love Harrison’s elite versatility on both ends of the floor,” says Carolina head coach Hubert Davis. “He’s a great passer, playmaker and scorer with size. He is a great leader and teammate who has a burning desire to win. We initially recruited him in high school and are glad he’s a Tar Heel.”
Cormac Ryan:
Ryan, a 6-5 guard from New York City, has scored 1,173 points and made 212 three-pointers in 116 games over four seasons. He played three years at the Milton Academy in Massachusetts before beginning his collegiate career at Stanford in 2018-19 (scored 14 points vs. UNC in Chapel Hill that season). He transferred to Notre Dame, where he red-shirted in 2019-20 and then averaged 10.5 points for the Irish from 2020-23.
Ryan has scored in double figures 57 times with 20 or more points in six games. He went 10 for 13 from the floor, including 7 of 9 from three, and scored 29 points (all career highs) in an upset win over Alabama in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament. He scored 28 points in a 2021 win at Duke.
Cormac (pronounced CORE-mack) is an 80.5% career shooter from the free throw line and made 212 of 603 threes (35.2%). He made a three in 95 of 116 games, multiple threes 58 times and five or more in nine games. He totaled 21 threes over his final five games.
He averaged 12.3 points for the Irish last season (14.1 in the last 13 games), scoring in double figures 21 times, including 11 of the last 13 games. He scored a season-high 23 in Notre Dame’s 70-52 win at Michigan State, when he connected on six of seven from three-point range.
“Cormac is an accomplished college basketball player who has consistently performed at the highest level on the biggest stages,” says Davis. “He’s a great shooter, defender, leader and fierce competitor every time he steps on the floor. We are thrilled to have him here at UNC.”
Paxson Wojcik:
Wojcik (pronounced WO-jick), a 6-5 guard, has played two seasons at Loyola Chicago and the most recent two at Brown, where he earned second-team All-Ivy League honors, Academic All-Ivy honors and was a team captain for the Bears in 2022-23.
Originally from Chapel Hill, where his dad, Doug, was an assistant coach for the Tar Heels from 2000-03, he attended the La Lumiere School in Indiana and calls Charleston, S.C., home.
He started all 54 games the previous two seasons at Brown. Wojcik averaged 9.6 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 2021-22 and 14.9 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists last season. In 2022-23, he made 57 of 150 three-pointers (.380) and was fourth in the Ivy League in assists per game, tied for fourth in rebounds per game and fifth in scoring.
Wojcik has compiled 759 points, 326 rebounds and 147 assists and made 107 three-pointers in 99 college games. He scored in double figures 38 times (24 times last season) with five 20-point games. He totaled 24 at Penn, 20 at Columbia and a career-high 25 vs. Yale in his final three games for Brown.
He had a career-high 13 rebounds at Michigan State last season and scored 14 points with six rebounds, three assists and two steals in the Smith Center vs. the Tar Heels on Nov. 12, 2021.
His father is in his second stint as an assistant coach on Tom Izzo’s staff at Michigan State.
“Paxson is a talented basketball player who excels at doing everything on the court at a high level,” says Davis. “He brings consistent perimeter shooting, rebounding and passing from the wing. He will be a great leader for us. We are excited to have Paxson as part of the Carolina Basketball family.”
Ingram and Withers have two seasons of eligibility remaining, while Ryan and Wojcik each have one.
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