Henri Veesaar, the 7-foot center from Estonia, announced his move to North Carolina in April, pointing to a strong bond with former teammate Caleb Love as a decisive factor.
Veesaar’s arrival provides the Tar Heels with much-needed depth in the frontcourt heading into the 2025–26 campaign, making the transfer a significant roster development. Before his decision, Veesaar and Love shared two seasons together at Arizona, following Love’s own highly publicized transfer from UNC.
Why Did Henri Veesaar Cite Caleb Love as Key to Tar Heels Move?
Henri Veesaar, a 7-foot, 235-pound transfer from Arizona, pointed directly to his former teammate Caleb Love as one of the strongest influences in his decision to commit to North Carolina.
Speaking on the “Carolina Insider” Podcast with Jones Angell and Adam Lucas, the Estonian center detailed how Love helped guide his choice when the Tar Heels emerged as an option.
“For sure. I kind of when I found out it was an option first of all UNC is a big place. Love like everybody knows where UNC is and the whole program,” Veesaar said. “And I had my really close friend Caleb like he’s a really good player. He pushed me a lot when I was at Arizona. I have only good things to say about him. And I kind of asked him what he thinks about it. Is it like a good fit for me? And he said that UNC plays a lot through bigs. He thinks the coaching staff here is great. He had only good things to say about it and he said it’s going to be good for my development. So I trusted him on that.”
Veesaar also credited former Arizona assistant Rob, who had ties to North Carolina, for reinforcing the message.
“We had also coach Rob in Arizona who was here as a coach and he said the same thing. So I didn’t see that they didn’t have any personal benefit to it. So I thought they were just going to tell me how it is and I kind of trusted them with it,” he explained.
Ranked by 247Sports as the No. 19 overall player and No. 2 center in the transfer portal, Veesaar is the highest-ranked transfer to commit to UNC in the portal era. He averaged 9.4 points and 5.0 rebounds in 20.8 minutes as a redshirt sophomore, while finishing second in offensive rating (133.7) and two-point field goal percentage (70.0 percent) in Big 12 play.
For Veesaar, choosing North Carolina was less about showmanship and more about trust, development, and a shared vision for winning
