Seven-foot center Cameron Fens, who had exhausted his collegiate eligibility until a recent court ruling granted him and other graduating athletes one more season, committed to UNC Friday afternoon.

Fens, originally from Dubuque, IA, graduated high school in 2022. He began his career with Illinois-Chicago in the Missouri Valley Conference but failed to make much of an impact: in 52 total games for the Flames, Fens started 15 times and averaged only 2.4 points and 2.3 rebounds per game.

Fens transferred to South Dakota in the Summit League prior to the 2024-25 season and immediately saw an uptick in production. He played in 19 games as a junior and posted career highs in both points (8.6 per game) and rebounds (5.0 per game). That set the stage for a senior season which would be the most productive of Fens’ career: his scoring (14.4 points per game), rebounding (8.7 per game) and shot blocking (1.5 per game) all reached new career bests, as did his availability — Fens started all 32 of the Coyotes’ games and averaged 25.3 minutes per game. He was named First Team All-Summit League and to the Summit League’s All-Defensive team. Fens’ 12 double-doubles and 57.9 field goal percentage both ranked 29th among all Division 1 players. He averaged a double-double of 17.6 points and 10.3 rebounds in Summit League games.

Fens is one of a number of student-athletes across the country who are taking advantage of U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney’s recent ruling which granted an additional year of eligibility to graduates from the high school class of 2022. Elsewhere on the UNC campus, kicker Rece Verhoff recently did the same for the football program. There are still potential pitfalls to Fens’ eligibility, however; the NCAA plans to appeal Sweeney’s ruling.

For a full list of newcomers joining the UNC men’s basketball program for the 2026-27 season, click here.

 

Featured image via South Dakota Athletics/Hailey Price

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