UNC’s Seth Trimble Needs Surgery for Broken Bone in Forearm

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — North Carolina has lost senior guard and team leader Seth Trimble to a broken bone in his left arm, the program announced on Sunday night. He’ll have surgery this week.

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“So sad for Seth,” coach Hubert Davis said Sunday night in a statement. “He’s such a great kid and teammate and has worked so hard for his senior year. He loves being a Tar Heel, and we love him. The good news is he will be back at some point this year, and I know he will continue to be a great leader for us until he can get back in the lineup.”

The right-handed Trimble is a captain, defensive stopper on the perimeter, and engine in transition for the Tar Heels. He suffered the broken bone in his left forearm during a team workout on Sunday afternoon. According to information from UNC, the length of Trimble’s absence will be better determined after the surgery this week.

And while a more definitive timeline won’t be known until then, initial projections from sources close to the program have noted an expected recovery range of six-to-eight weeks. UNC opens the ACC league play portion of its schedule in a matter of seven weeks and two days, on Dec. 30 against Florida State.

It’s another injury setback for the veteran Trimble, who has played in 104 career games for Carolina across the last three-plus seasons. He has suffered concussions in practice sessions during each of the last two seasons. Now, he has broken a bone in his arm during a team workout.

UNC (2-0) plays host to Radford (2-0) on Tuesday night, beginning a three-game stretch of home games against mid-major opponents during which the Tar Heels will be heavily favored. Matchups against NC Central (later this week) and Navy (on Nov. 18) follow Radford on the schedule, before UNC travels to Fort Myers, Fla., to square off against St. Bonaventure (on Nov. 25) and Michigan State (on Thanksgiving Day).

The Tar Heels are two nights removed from sprinting past Kansas 87-74, and earning one of their most significant non-conference victories during Davis’s time in charge as head coach. UNC will move up from its No. 25 ranking in the AP Top 25, when the new poll comes out on Monday.

Trimble supplied 17 points, eight rebounds and three assists against No. 19 Kansas on Friday night in front of a packed house at the Smith Center, supplementing the contributions of Carolina teammates Caleb Wilson (24 points, seven rebounds, four assists, four steals) and Henri Veesaar (20 points) along the way.

In the days leading up to the blue-blooded showdown with the Jayhawks, Trimble was assertive and direct in calling for the primary defensive assignment on Kansas star freshman Darryn Peterson, the 6-foot-6 guard projected by some analysts as the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft class. Peterson’s 22 points topped the Jayhawks on Friday night, but Trimble and the Tar Heels didn’t allow the game to become a showcase for Peterson’s considerable progressional stock.

“He blanketed Darryn in a way that, to me, was terrific,” Kansas coach Bill Self said Friday night in the postgame. “Caleb was the best player probably in the game. But you can make a strong case for Henri and for Seth, too, from my vantage point without watching the tape.

“Even though Darryn got off 14 shots, that was a situation that he probably needed to get off 20 or 22, for us to have a realistic shot in here. Darryn played fine offensively, but I think Seth really did a good job. And in transition, nobody’s better. You guys see that every time they play. That if he can get ahead of the field, there’s nobody catching him from behind.”

Through two games on the new college basketball season, Trimble checks in third for UNC in scoring (14.5 points per game) and rebounding (5.0 boards per game), and tied for second on the team in assists (seven). He’s shooting 11-for-25 from the field (44 percent), including 0-for-7 from 3-point range. He’s 7-for-7 on free throws this season.