Cole Anthony Announces He's Leaving For The NBA

Cole Anthony has announced he will enter his name into the NBA draft and will not return to North Carolina.

Anthony leaves after his freshman season at UNC in which he played in just 22 of the Tar Heels’ 33 games, as he missed seven weeks recovering from a knee injury. The 6-foot-3 New Yorker averaged 18.5 points while shooting 38 percent from the field, including 34.8 percent (49-fot-141) from 3-point range. He averaged 5.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists per contest.

Anthony scored 20 or more points nine times, including a career-high 34 in his debut, UNC’s season-opening win over Notre Dame. His best stretch came during Carolina’s late-season three-game win streak when he scored 19, 25 and 28 points, respectively, in victories over N.C. State, at Syracuse and at home over Wake Forest.

However, Anthony scored 10 or fewer points four times, including in UNC’s final three games, in which he tallied nine, 10 and five points in a loss at Duke, a win over Virginia Tech and a loss to Syracuse, respectively. He was 23-for-39 from the floor, including 12-for-20 from 3-point range, during the win streak, but dipped to 9-for-34 overall, including 2-for-11 from beyond the arc, in the final three games.

Anthony grabbed 10 or more rebounds four times and handed out eight or more assists eight times with a high of eight in a win over Elon.

THI looked at six of the more respected mock drafts and the range for Anthony is anywhere from the No. 5 overall pick to No. 15.