Brooks On His Career, Duke & Platek; Black On Seniors & More

CHAPEL HILL - Garrison Brooks and Leaky Black met with the media on Thursday afternoon ahead of North Carolina’s regular season finale and senior night matchup against Duke on Saturday afternoon in the Smith Center.

Among the topics discussed were the Blue Devils, Brooks' legacy, the importance of this weekend's game, and much more.

Below are videos of their full interviews along with some pulled notes and quotes from what Brooks and Black had to say as well as full videos of the press conferences:

*Freshman guard Kerwin Walton has struggled to find his shot over the last three games, shooting a combined 6-for-29 in the win over Florida State and losses to Syracuse and Marquette.

Most of those attempts have come from three-point range, with Walton going 0-for-7 against the Orange, 3-for-10 against the Seminoles and 2-for-7 against the Golden Eagles.

While Brooks knows how tough it can be on a freshman, in particular not seeing the ball go in the net, he’s confident Walton will come out of this slump sooner rather than later.

“It’s tough on him,” Brooks said. “He’s a guy that wants to make a lot of shots for us, wants to take all the shots he makes, but I think he’s tough enough to get through it.”

As a leader on the team, Brooks has talked with Walton on and off the court to help keep his confidence up.

“I just try to keep my voice in his ear and pretty much talk to him and tell him he’s gonna be alright,” Brooks said.

*Brooks hasn’t quite lived up to the hype this season after being named the ACC Preseason Player of the Year before back in November.

Through 24 games, Brooks is averaging 10.5 points on 47.1 percent shooting, 7.0 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 28.7 minutes per contest. In comparison, Brooks averaged 16.8 points, 8.5 boards and 2.0 assists in 34 games for the Tar Heels last season.

While last year's team was completely different and some have speculated the expectations and pressure of being named the ACC Preseason POY have affected Brooks this go-round, the veteran big doesn’t see it that way.

“That stuff doesn’t matter,” Brooks said. “We’re at this point in the season, it doesn’t really matter, I’m not gonna lie to you.

“It was fine, it was nice to be named that, but I didn’t overthink it.”

*Brooks’ last game in the Smith Center is Saturday against the Blue Devils in what is also the regular season finale for both teams.

The senior and Lafayette, AL, native has scored 1,242 points and pulled down 770 rebounds in his UNC career. He was the 78th player in UNC history to score 1,000 points and is now 25th all-time at Carolina in rebounds.

Saturday’s rivalry will be Brooks’ 130th game for Tar Heels, having played in 37 games as a freshman, 36 as a sophomore, 32 as a junior and 24 so far this season. Brooks has started in 104 of those games throughout his four-year career in Chapel Hill.

So, how does Brooks want to be remembered when his time in a Carolina uniform eventually comes to an end? For him, it’s pretty simple.

“I want to be remembered as a hard-working guy, a great teammate,” Brooks said. “The kind of guy that has grown since day one. I think that’s something I’ll always want to look back at. And a guy that just, overall, had a lot of fun over four years.”

*Duke freshman forward Mark Williams has really emerged for the Blue Devils since UNC's 91-87 win in Durham on Feb. 6.

In the 12 games before that loss, Williams averaged just 2.6 points in 7.9 minutes per game. In the seven games since, including the last five following freshman forward Jalen Johnson opting out, Williams has averaged 10.8 points in 22.5 minutes per game.

Williams is also coming off his best performance in a Duke uniform, posting a season-high 20 points in a season-high 35 minutes in the Blue Devils’ overtime loss at Georgia Tech on Tuesday.

Brooks knows the kind of troubles Williams can present Carolina's frontcourt and thinks the former 5-star center has a bright future ahead of him.

“He's a really good player,” Brooks said. “A really good rim protector, (he) can finish around the basket. I think he could be really good one day. We just have to use our bigs to our advantage and do what we do best.”

*Another senior that will be playing his last game in the Smith Center this weekend is Andrew Platek, someone whom Brooks came to Chapel Hill with back in 2017 alongside Sterling Manley, Brandon Huffman, and Jalek Felton. Only three players from that five-man class are still a part of the program.

Having spent the better part of four years together, Brooks has a good relationship with Platek and considers the Guilderland, NY, native one of his best friends.

“Platek’s a great guy,” Brooks said. “A guy I met on my visit; it means a lot that he’s still here… I think that, personally, he’s gonna be one of my best friends for the rest of my life. I appreciate him because he works hard every day and he tries to get things done for us.”

*Having arrived in Chapel Hill just one year behind Brooks in the 2018 class, Black knows the veteran big better than most players on this young Carolina team.

So, how has he seen Brooks grow as a player over the last three seasons?

“I feel like he’s just more of a leader now,” Black said. “He's willing to take on that role of being that guy, even though we have a lot of horsepower on this team. I feel like he's willing to take the blame, step up for everyone else slacking kind of thing. His leadership has just made a huge jump since I’ve been here.”

And what is Brooks like as a friend and teammate?

“As you see on the bigs camera, like on the social media stuff, he’s always joking around,” Black said. “Off the court, he’s just a fun guy, he’s just joking around a lot. He’s like a big kid and, on the court, he’s really serious. So, when he steps between the lines, he’s cut-throat. Outside, he’s just one big kid.”

*With Carolina currently sitting at 15-9 and Duke sitting at 11-10, Saturday’s game doesn’t quite have the buzz and importance of a typical Duke-Carolina matchup.

Both teams are playing to beef up their NCAA Tournament resumes, with the Tar Heels’ likely securing a spot in the field of 68 if they win this weekend while the Blue Devils have more work to do.

Despite all this, Black doesn’t see the game any differently. It’s still the greatest rivalry in college basketball, and arguably sports, for the players and coaches involved in it.

“It’s just another big game,” Black said. “They know it’s Duke-Carolina regardless, unranked or not. Everyone’s gonna be tuned in I’m sure, so you always want to play your best. Someone new might be watching, you never know.

“So, just go out and play hard. They know what’s at stake here.”

*Despite being up and down for most of the season, the Heels have still picked up some solid wins and shown flashes of just how good they can be, with last Saturday’s win over ACC leaders Florida State a prime example of this.

So, has there been a point this season where Black realized just how good this young team can be when they're firing on all cylinders?

“I think after the first Duke game is when I started really feeling it,” Black said. “And there was another game, I'm drawing a blank right now on which game it was, but there were a couple of times where you're like, ‘Dang, this team can really be good’ once we all start playing. But, I feel like right now, we’re just so inconsistent and it’s what’s hurting us.”