9/26/2019 basketball Edit

As Practice Begins, Here's A Look At The Tar Heels

Garrison Brooks is the lone returning starter for a UNC team that includes a lot of new faces. (Jenna Miller, THI)

Andrew Jones • TarHeelIllustrated

Publisher

Andrew Jones has covered sports for 26 years, including all major college & professional sports for daily newspapers & national sites. He's done radio and TV & is entering his seventh year at THI.

As Late Night With Roy Williams takes center stage Friday night, basketball is here and the games aren’t far behind.

Technically, practice starts Thursday for North Carolina, but the Tar Heels’ annual event celebrating the start of practice begins at 8 pm Friday night and will be hosted by former UNC soccer standout and current Team USA goalie Ashlyn Harris and UNC alumnus and CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin.

The evening concludes with a 20-minute scrimmage, so UNC fans will get a chance to see the new team in action, even if for just a short period of time. So, what do we know about the 2019-20 Tar Heels?

They are coming off a 29-7 season in which they won a share of the regular season ACC title and advanced to the Sweet 16. Carolina lost its top five scorers from the team, three of whom were selected in the first round of the NBA draft this past June.

Six new players have joined the team, including graduate transfers Christian Keeling (Charleston Southern) and Justin Pierce (William & Mary) as well as four freshmen, headlined by Cole Anthony and Armando Bacot, a pair of McDonald’s All-Americas.

Keeling, who will wear No. 55 this season, was an important pickup last spring.

In Keeling’s three seasons with the Buccaneers, the 6-foot-3 shooting guard averaged 17.9 points per game and shot 35.2 percent from 3-point range. In eight games against teams from power conferences, he converted 10 of 23 shots from 3-point range, which is 43.5 percent. His best game came as a junior when he drained 5 of 6 from beyond the arc in a loss at Clemson. He also averaged 6.9 rebounds per game last season. He was at 5.2 as a sophomore and 7.1 as a freshman.

Pierce averaged 14.9 points and 8.9 rebounds as a junior and 14.7 points and 8.6 rebounds per game for the Tribe as a sophomore. He shot 41.6 percent from the perimeter two seasons ago but dipped to 32.4 percent last season.

Known as an aggressive rebounder, Pierce, who is 6-foot-7 and 210 pounds, grabbed 576 rebounds in 2,275 minutes at William & Mary, which is a rebound every 3.9 minutes he was on the floor. The last two seasons versus Power 5 or comparable programs, he pulled down 29 boards in 118 minutes, which is one every 4.07 minutes. Twice in those four games, versus TCU and UCF, he grabbed 10 rebounds.

Anthony (left) abd Bacot (right) could start from day one. (THI)

Anthony was named the McDonald’s Game MVP and was co-MVP of the Jordan Brand game. The 6-foot-2 point guard finished last season rated the No. 4 prospect in the nation after averaging a triple-double (17.8 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists) at Oak Hill Academy.

Bacot, who is 6-foot-10 and 235 pounds, was rated the No. 27 overall prospect in the nation and the No. 5 center. In addition to the McDonald’s Game, he played in the Jordan Brand Classic.

Carolina’s returning leading scorer is junior forward Garrison Brooks, who averaged 7.9 points and 5.6 rebounds per contest. He started all 36 games the Tar Heels played last season. Brooks extended his game a bit from the basket during the course of the campaign and displayed a more refined game on the lower blocks in February and March, too. His ability to follow teammates’ missed shots and immediately score is also something that improved as the season went on.

Brooks scored in double figures 12 times, with a high of 20 points coming in the opener at Wofford, and his best overall game may have been in UNC’s win at Duke on Feb. 20, when he scored 14 points, grabbed eight rebounds and registered a pair of steals. He was named UNC’s Defensive Player of the Game 12 times.

Robinson will serve a valuable role for the Heels this season. (Jenna Miller, THI)

UNC’s senior class includes Brandon Robinson, who averaged 3.4 points per game last season and shot 46 percent (23-for-50) from 3-point range. Robinson was seventh on the team in minutes played, averaging 11.8 per game but he played 14 or more minutes in the 23 games UNC played once the ACC part of the schedule began in January. Robinson handed out 48 assists against just 17 turnovers.

UNC also returns 6-foot-11 junior Sterling Manley, who battled through injuries last season. In his two seasons, Manley has played 519 minutes averaging .51 points and .36 rebounds per game minute while shooting 56.9 percent from the field, so a healthy Manley can be a solid part for the Tar Heels.

Sophomore jack-of-all-trades Leaky Black suffered an injury in late January and logged just a handful of minutes in the postseason, but he’s healthy and ready to go. In the six ACC games before his injury, the 6-foot-7 Black played 63 minutes, scored 13 points, handed out nine assists versus five turnovers, grabbed nine rebounds and recorded five steals. It was clear that with added experience he would develop into a quality player for the Tar Heels. He will get that opportunity this season.

Wing guard Andrew Platek is back for his junior season as is junior big man Brandon Huffman and UNC welcomes two other freshmen: Guards Anthony Harris and Jeremiah Francis. Harris suffered a torn ACL last December and missed the rest of the season while Francis had two major knee operations over the last two years and missed last season, as well.

Late Night is here and that’s a snapshot of the 2019-20 Tar Heels.