6/4/2021 basketball Edit

No. 21: Jerry Stackhouse

Jerry Stackhouse could take over a game from any spot on the floor and was a supremely relentless competitor at UNC. (USA Today)

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.

*Publisher's note: THI is ranking the top 25 basketball players in UNC history, gauging each player solely on their careers as Tar Heels. NBA accomplishments do not factor into these rankings.

No. 21

Name: Jerry Stackhouse

Position: Forward

Jersey #: 42

Years: 1993-95

Honors: National Player of the Year 1995; First-team All-America 1995; First-team All-ACC 1995; NCAA Tournament Southeast Region MOP 1995; ACC Tournament MVP 1994; UNC jersey is honored in the Smith Center.

Notable Stats: Averaged 19.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.7 blocks per game as a sophomore in 1995; Averaged 15.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per game for his two-year career at UNC; 11th most made free throws in a season in UNC history with 185 in 1995; Scored 1,080 points for his career at UNC; Shot 49.6 percent from the field during his career.

In Closing: Stackhouse was the epitome of an alpha dog. He had a drive that was relentless, and while he was undersized at 6-foot-5 (some even swore he was 6-4), he could play up front with the bigs, post taller forwards, but also on the perimeter where he could shoot and take it to the rack.

He was one of the best Tar Heels ever at scoring while drawing a foul. But it was his motor that infused his teammates and was a big reason a thin UNC team beat a loaded Kentucky team to win the 1995 Southeast Region and advance to the Final Four. That may have been one of Dean Smith’s greatest coaching jobs and willing the team on the court was Stackhouse and his 18-point, 12-rebound performance. His dunk and strut at Duke in 1995 is one of the more iconic clips in UNC history and is played multiple times on the video board before each home game at the Smith Center.

As a freshman, he came off the bench on a team that returned four starters from the 1993 national championship but still averaged 12.2 points and 5.0 rebounds per contest playing 21.0 minutes a game.