{"id":745733,"date":"2026-05-28T00:06:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T00:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/745733\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T00:06:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T00:06:24","slug":"former-unc-guard-derek-dixon-reflects-on-time-with-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/745733\/","title":{"rendered":"Former UNC Guard Derek Dixon Reflects on Time With Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former North Carolina point guard Derek Dixon found a new home this offseason, and he explained how his lone season at UNC shaped what became a pivotal moment for his career.<\/p>\n

Dixon had himself a strong freshman season for the Tar Heels, averaging 6.5 points and 2.7 assists per game, while also converting on 39.7 percent of his three-pointers. Halfway through the season, Dixon was inserted into the starting lineup by head coach Hubert Davis, and he helped kickstart what a sputtering UNC offense had been before that.<\/p>\n

\"D\"<\/p>\n

Mar 19, 2026; Greenville, SC, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels guard Derek Dixon (3) dribbles the ball against the VCU Rams in the first half of a first round game of the men’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

UNC Makes Head Coaching Change<\/p>\n

However, North Carolina made a major change after falling in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to VCU – their second consecutive first-round loss. After five seasons at the helm, Davis was fired, and after a long head coaching search, the Tar Heels chose former NBA champion Michael Malone to be the team’s next head coach.<\/p>\n

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As such, many players from last season’s roster, including Dixon, entered the transfer portal.<\/a> Instead of coming back to UNC for his sophomore season, Dixon transferred<\/a> to the Arizona Wildcats, where he’ll look to take another leap in his production.<\/p>\n

\"H\"<\/p>\n

Mar 19, 2026; Greenville, SC, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Hubert Davis instructs his team against the VCU Rams in the second half of a first round game of the men’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Dixon joins a Wildcats team that is fresh off its first Final Four appearance since 2001. Now a part of a juggernaut, Dixon reflected on his time with the Tar Heels in a recent interview with The Field of 68.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"d\"Apr 6, 2025; Denver<\/a>, Colorado, USA; Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone during the third quarter against the Indiana Pacers<\/a> at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images | Ron Chenoy-Imagn ImagesDixon Reflects on UNC<\/p>\n

“I thought it was good for me,” Dixon said. “Had a lot of ups and downs, grew a lot throughout the year. I came in, had my challenges just like any other freshman would. And just throughout the season, I just felt like I was getting better and better and just getting more and more experience.”<\/p>\n

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“Coach Davis recognized it and he started to trust me more and more, give me more minutes. I thought it was really good just from a learning experience to go from not playing very much to being kind of thrown in the fire, becoming a starter, all those types of things. So I mean, I was really happy with it.”<\/p>\n

\"D\"<\/p>\n

Mar 19, 2026; Greenville, SC, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels guard Derek Dixon (3) dribbles against VCU Rams guard Tyrell Ward (15) in the first half of a first round game of the men’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Without their floor general next season, the Tar Heels will need to find a way to replace his production as they enter a pivotal season in Michael Malone’s first year<\/a> as head coach. There will be a lot of pressure on Malone and his staff to be competitive right away, which will certainly be a little bit harder without their experienced, up-and-coming point guard to run the offense.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on www.si.com\/college\/unc as Former UNC Guard Derek Dixon Reflects on Time With Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former North Carolina point guard Derek Dixon found a new home this offseason, and he explained how his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":745734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[1982,7,85945,217,301,42393,11942,14168,126,4164,4231,231,772,1400,1544,1773,1770,11957,333,25678],"class_list":["post-745733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-arizona-wildcats","tag-basketball","tag-bon-secours-wellness-arena","tag-college-basketball","tag-denver","tag-derek-dixon","tag-greenville","tag-hubert-davis","tag-indiana-pacers","tag-mandatory-credit","tag-michael-malone","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaa-tournament","tag-ncaab","tag-north-carolina","tag-north-carolina-tar-heels","tag-sc","tag-unc","tag-vcu-rams"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116649288608398842","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=745733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/745734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=745733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=745733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=745733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}