Black On Being Healthy, Stronger, Confident, Freshmen & More

CHAPEL HLL – North Carolina junior Leaky Black met with the media via zoom Wednesday for the Tar Heels’ annual basketball media day to discuss his game, health, the freshmen, moving on from 14-19, Garrison Brooks’ outside shooting and much more.

At 6-foot-8, Black started games at four positions last season, including the four spot at Louisville. He also played some four in the Carrier Dome in UNC’s best offensive performance of the season.

The Concord, NC, native averaged 6.5 points, shooting 35.9 percent from the field, and 5.0 rebounds. He struggled from the field converting just 16-for-63 (25.4 percent) from 3-point range, was 32-for-46 (69.6 percent) from the free throw line, handed out 84 assists, turned over the ball 56 times, registered 40 steals and 25 blocked shots.

Black missed one game (loss to Wofford) due to an injury but finished the season second on the team with 950 minutes starting 31 of the 32 games he played.

Above is the video of Black’s full Q&A session and below are some notes and pulled quotes from what he had to say:

*Black said two weeks ago he made getting stronger and in better shape a major point of emphasis this offseason. In particular, he wants to avoid the injuries that bothered him the last two years.

“Just getting my legs stronger so my ankle doesn’t have to work so much,” Black said. “That’s one thing about (head athletic trainer) Doug (Halverson), wake up at 7 every morning, go through our little routine, it’s a lot of rehab.”

*And back to his body, what else does Black do each day to try and avoid more injury issues?

"It's everything. It's the stretching, like I said at 7 am, me and Doug are rehabbing the ankle and stretching out the hips and the knees,” he said. “And making sure my body's good, getting in the cold tub, the pool, whatever the case may be. And then I'm in the weight room getting stronger with Jonas (Sahratian), so it's two, three times a day I'm doing stuff like that. So, I just feel better, I feel stronger just walking around."

*Black refused to make excuses last season, but he just wasn’t healthy. He did hit on it a little bit Wednesday, though, while also discussing how he's feeling now.

“Right now, I feel great,” he said. “I feel like this is the best I’ve felt in a long time. It’s the most I’ve worked on my body and my game since high school and middle school days.

“But going back to last year, I’d say overall I was probably 70 percent here and there. There was some games when it was higher than normal, I came in not so swollen, (I was) really hydrated so the ankle didn’t bother me that much. Probably 70 percent overall, though.”

*Being healthy and having worked a great deal on his game, Black’s confidence is at an all-time high right now, too. His expectations are to be a more productive and overall better player this season.

"I feel like I'll be more of an offensive weapon,” Blask said. “Just getting up, like I said, with Doug (Halverson) at 7 am every morning. Right after that treatment, I'm on the court with coach (Hubert) Davis every morning too, for an hour, hour and a half. Just individual, working on my game, just trying to work on my skills.

“Just dribbling, my shot, probably don't leave the gym until I make at least 300 a day, that's just in the morning. I feel like I'm setting myself up to have a pretty successful season... I've never been this confident in my life."

*One of the questions about the Tar Heels heading into this season centers around the wings and getting scoring from the three spot, and in some respects to two, depending on who plays the point. What’s Black’s take on things on the perimeter?

“I feel like we’re pretty deep,” Black said. “We have a lot of different weapons, every guy brings something different to the table. Puff (Johnson) is a big guard, he can guard one-through-four, he can really shoot the ball. Caleb’s (Love) really explosive – I’m pretty sure you guys (media) are pretty familiar with his tape.

“R.J. has been surprising me a lot this year the ay he pushes the ball. He really can shoot the outside jumper, but he’s really good at getting downhill and getting to the cup and finishing over seven-footers like Walker (Kessler) and Day’Ron. There’s just a lot of different weapons.”

*Jacob Turner contributed to this report.