Former NC State SG Matt Able transfers to North Carolina, first to do so since WWII

For the first time since World War II, an NC State men’s basketball player has transferred to North Carolina. 

Rising sophomore guard Matt Able, a former top-20 recruit in the 2025 cycle, chose the Tar Heels on Tuesday after a brief stint in the transfer portal. He has three years of eligibility remaining. 

The Baltimore, Md., native is just the fourth player in program history to transfer from NC State to UNC, joining Bernie Mock, Fred Swartzberg, Bones McKinney in the rare group — all of whom did so after returning from war in the mid-1940s.

Able averaged 8.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 34 games as one of the Pack’s top bench players under Will Wade. Able shot 41.6 percent from the field, including a 35.5 percent mark from beyond the 3-point line in his lone season with the Wolfpack. 

Ironically, Able’s top performance of his rookie season was a 19-point outburst in the Pack’s 82-58 win over UNC on Feb. 17. He knocked down a season-best-tying five 3-pointers in what turned out to be the last time Hubert Davis, who was fired in March after the Tar Heels’ NCAA Tournament loss to VCU, faced off with NC State.

The Wolfpack was high on the crafty guard that has a knack for hitting threes at a high clip, though he wasn’t able to break into the starting lineup under Wade. 

But despite being in his bench role, Able attacked each opportunity he had on the floor. In turn, it earned the respect from the Wolfpack coaching staff.

“He’s got incredible mental toughness,” Wade said of Able. “He’s got an incredible ability to be able to move onto the next thing, and not let what happened the game before, the day before, the play before bother him. He can just stay in the present moment, which is really a superpower. He’s got that.”

Wade, however, left for LSU after just one season in Raleigh. He was soon followed by Able entering the transfer portal, leaving the door open for a return to NC State, but he elected to make the short drive to UNC instead. 

The NC State-UNC rivalry has a new character in the mix. Before now, it was the Wolfpack that had a former Tar Heel on its roster with wing Dontrez Styles competing for the program during the 2024-25 season and center Ven-Allen Lubin lacing up his shoes for NC State this past season. 

It flipped around this time, a first in about eight decades. UNC has NC State’s highly-skilled guard in Able, who will don the Jordan Brand logo on a Carolina blue uniform the next time the two teams square off.