For the first time since a Sweet 16 loss to Auburn on March 29, 2019, UNC basketball will play a game without Armando Bacot on its roster when the preseason No. 9 Tar Heels visit unranked Memphis for an exhibition bout at 7 p.m. ET Tuesday (ESPNU).

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That said, Bacot will be on hand at the Tigers’ FedExForum to watch the 2024-25 UNC basketball squad in action. The 24-year-old big man from Richmond, Va., advertised his plans via the following post on Monday night:

Granted, the former five-year UNC starter doesn’t have to travel far to check in on his Tar Heels against the Tigers. No, Bacot is currently on the Memphis Grizzlies preseason roster, averaging 3.7 points and 3.0 rebounds in 9.0 minutes per outing off the bench across their first three outings.

Fortunately for the Tar Heels and Bacot, who went undrafted in late June despite leaving Chapel Hill as the storied program’s all-time leading rebounder and double-double producer, the Grizzlies don’t play again until Friday night.

Meanwhile, following the contest against Penny Hardaway’s Tigers, Hubert Davis’ fourth UNC basketball team has one more exhibition game — versus Division II Johnson C. Smith in the Dean E. Smith Center at 2 p.m. ET on Oct. 27 (ACC Network Extra) — before hosting Elon in the regular season opener at 9 p.m. ET on Nov. 4 (ACC Network).

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