CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina forward Brady Manek met with media Wednesday afternoon for the first time since transferring from Oklahoma in April.
Manek went into detail about the options he had after his senior season at Oklahoma ended, what brought him to UNC, his time so far in the Carolina program, the kind of player he is, how he fits into what Hubert Davis wants, and so much more.
At 6-foot-9 and 245 pounds, Manek left Oklahoma as the program’s 14th all-time leading scorer with 1,459 points. He is the tallest player in Big XII history to convert 200 three-pointers in a career and became the first player ever in the conference to make 200 threes and block 100 shots. He is the only OU player to collectively hit the following milestones: 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 200 three-pointers, and 100 blocks.
Last season, Manek averaged 10.8 points and 5.0 rebounds while playing 25.1 minutes per contest. He had higher scoring averages as a sophomore and junior, a year he was at 14.4 points per game and made the All BigXII team. A year ago, Manek shot 42.4 percent from the floor, including 37.5 percent from three-point range after converting 48 of 128 attempts. For his career, Manek has shot 45.4 percent overall, including 37.4 percent (235-for-628) from beyond the arc.
Manek scored 15 or more points 42 times as a Sooner, 18-plus 22 times, 20-plus 12 times, and he hit the 30-point mark twice. His high game was 31 points in a win over TCU in 2020. He also went for 30 versus Oklahoma State in 2020.
The native of Harrah, OK, had some struggles last season, however. He scored in double figures in just half of OU’s 30 games, and he totaled five or fewer points in six games, including his last as a Sooner, when Manek tallied only three points in a loss to Gonzaga in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Manek started 111 of the 122 games in which he played at Oklahoma averaging 26.8 minutes per outing over his career.
Complete Brady Manek Transcript
On how deciding to transfer to UNC played out…
MANEK: “It was something I didn’t really expect, it was a last-minute thing. I was just sitting back, I was gonna go professional, not gonna go back to college, especially when (Oklahoma) coach (Lon) Kruger left (retired), and then I kinda just decided, ‘let’s see what happens.’ I didn’t have anywhere I wanted to go, and last minute, going through a coaching change here. Coach Davis called, and it was something that I wanted to do, and me and my family decided to do it.
“Going from 45 minutes away from home to eighteen-and-a-half hours, it’s very different. I don’t really know anybody around here, except people on the basketball team, and it’s been good so far. I’ve been here all summer, I got to know a lot of people, so it’s been fun.”
On impact of Coach Kruger leaving had on decision to leave…
MANEK: “I went in and talked to him, he decided he was going to be done, so it put me in kind of a position where I could stay for a fifth year, or I could transfer, or I could go professional. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, so I put out every option I could, and this is what I ended with.”
On Hubert’s pitch to get him to Chapel Hill…
MANEK: “I don’t know if it was really anything except his personality. First-time coach, got a good program here, and got a lot of players that want to stay and play for him, so that was a big first sign for me. I really don’t know how to explain it, it was just something that we liked what he was saying, we liked the position I would be in. He hasn’t done anything to steer us away from that. He’s the same person he was three months ago, when I first met him, and he’s the same person in person.”
On what it’s like coming into a new team and being the oldest…
MANEK: “It’s weird. You start off in college and you’re the youngest, and you gradually get older, and older. Realistically, I’m not sure I should still be in college, but Covid gave me another year, and now I get to play one more year, and have a fun year. New experience, new environment, new set of people, new coaching staff, new teammates. I just want it to be fun, I want it to be how I envision it being, fans, and get back to everything being normal. I just want it to be one of those years I get to look back on, and absolutely love.”
On being the 14th all-time leading scorer at Oklahoma, having a really good career there winning a lot of games, then in a new situation but still in college, how the adjustment has gone…
MANEK: “There’s a lot to live up to here. There’s a lot of guys that come through here, a lot of NBA guys that come through here. I was a four-year program guy at Oklahoma, had a great career. We were eight, nine seed every year, and I wanted to improve that, and I think I can make it farther in the tournament, and play on a really good team, and I think we can do that here.
“When I talked to Coach Davis about the guys coming back, and how he saw the team, it really stuck out to me, and what we can do this year, and what he wants to do. It is a big adjustment, going from Oklahoma to here, but I’m just looking forward to it.”
On comparisons to looking like Larry Bird…
MANEK: “I grew my hair out my sophomore year, I always had a buzz cut, always was Brady with a buzzcut, and then I decided to grow my hair out. It started taking off through people like this, and this is how it all got started. I kept it going, then I started to grow it back out last year, and it kept it going. Publicity is publicity, and attention is attention, but I think it’s pretty funny. The nicknames people give me, it’s just something that is pretty funny to me.”
On being known as a great shooter and how he fine-tuned that part of his game…
MANEK: “It’s always been a part of my game. My mom and dad were really good shooters back in college, they played NAIA which is now a division two school. Our brother can shoot, he’s a year older than me, we’ve always been big on shooting. When I was younger, I always had to play up with my brother, two years up, whatever it was.
“I was never the guy bringing the ball up the floor, so I was always the younger brother in the corner and they said when you catch it, you shoot it, so that’s kind of how I developed shooting. I kinda wish they forced me to bring the ball up when I was younger, maybe I’d have a little more skill there, but shooting was a big thing, and a big thing for my parents.”
On how Coach Davis said he will be used, and what he’s been working on…
MANEK: “He talked about the past of Tar Heel basketball, and he wants to have guys that are threats shooting in the big spots. That’s why he got me, Justin (McKoy), and Dawson (Garcia), we’re guys that can be threats, and can space the floor if we need to. Stuff I’ve been working on is getting stronger. Over the years I’ve been guarding the five, I’ve been playing the five. It wasn’t the ideal spot for me, but I’ve been working on finding ways to push around bigger guys, and just improving on strength, and trying to play defense as best as I can.
“I’ve never been a great defender, but the harder I work, the better I’ll be, so just staying in the weight room. Offensively, just trying to create my own shot, maybe off the dribble, work on passing, getting other people open, moving without the ball, just small things.”
On what it’s like being in Chapel Hill…
MANEK: “Everybody is really welcoming, everybody is really nice, everybody wants to get to know me, wants to know what my life is like back home, everybody is really curious to figure out what kind of guy I am. In Chapel Hill, it’s a great college town. Norman was kind of like a big city, kind of a suburb outside of Oklahoma City. Several high schools, there’s a lot of stuff to do.
“This is kind of centralized around the university, and I like it. Everything around here is UNC, it’s basketball, and it’s really awesome to be a part of. A lot of people care about how we do, the season we’re gonna have, so it’s a good feeling to be a part of something like that.”
On what excites him about Coach Davis’ style…
MANEK: “Coach Davis, he wants to play fast, he wants to get up and down, he wants to run, he wants to score the ball. That’s something I’ve always liked, something I’ve always been good at is scoring the ball. Obviously, we need to work on our defense, we need to get better in that area.
“We got a lot of talent, we got a lot of shooters, a lot of weapons on the offensive end, and I think he’s really pushing us to be as best we can offensively. If we play well offensively, it will turn into defense, and vice-versa.”
On being in the 8-9 seed matchups a lot at Oklahoma and how that will change at UNC...
MANEK: “I’d just say that we really sparked early several of those years. I had some great teammates, great teams that I was on, but we always got caught in those eight-nine seed games, and if you win the first one, you turn around and are playing the one seed, and that’s always a really hard game. Yes, there’s upsets in there that come along, but that’s a really hard game to play in, especially knowing that you’re either playing one of the top four teams in the country, and you’re trying to make a run in the tournament. It’s just hard to play in.
“I played Gonzaga last year, I played Virginia that year, and my freshman year, we got beat, we would’ve had to play duke as a one seed. It’s always hard going into the game, especially when you know what you’re up against in that next game, you’re always going to be down. I like being here just because you have that feeling that we can do better than that, and I wanna do better than that.”
