Pete Nance's Season

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As we continue a postscript on North Carolina’s basketball season, we continue the individual player reviews with Pete Nance, who spent one season with the Tar Heels after playing four years at Northwestern.

Nance took advantage of his Covid season to play at UNC hoping to get to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in his career, but the Tar Heels went 20-13 and were not included in the big dance.

Nance was obviously upset following a loss to Virginia in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament in Greensboro, knowing it likely was the last game of his one year at UNC. As disappointed as he was, Nance had nothing but positives to say when asked how to characterize his time at Carolina.

“I’ve had an amazing time here,” he said. “I appreciate everybody for embracing me, bringing me into the Carolina family. I couldn’t be more thankful to my coaches, teammates, and fans for their support all year long. I’m sorry we came up short.”

Nance was the only new starter for the Tar Heels, joining a team that returned 14 of 17 players that were on last year’s club that played for the national championship and had slogans of “Run it back” and “Championship or bust” even before he arrived in the middle of the summer. It wasn’t an easy spot for any player to be in, especially when at times Nance was mad a scape goat by fans that the Heels weren’t playing near expectations.

A year after averaging 14.6 points per game and shooting 51.5 percent from the floor, including 45.2 percent from 3-point range as a senior at Northwestern, the 6-foot-11 Nance averaged 10 points while shooting 42.2 percent from the floor, including 32 percent from beyond the arc.

He took plenty of heat on social media, but nothing rose to the level of his own internal battle over the struggles. The “new guy,” as he occasionally referred to himself, had a hard time fitting in on the court while also displaying his talents. It was quite tough at times.

“It’s really hard,” Nance admitted. “When you play for a place like this, and coming to a new school, you want to be able to help. And sometimes when you’re in a slump, it feels like you’re not, you hear all the outside noise, what people are saying”

Eleven games into Nance’s tenure in Chapel Hill, he was averaging 13.0 points and shooting 53 percent from the floor, including 40 percent (16-fo-40) from the perimeter. Included in that stretch were scoring games of 18 versus Gardner-Webb, 28 against Portland, 15 at Indiana, 18 at Virginia Tech, and 16 versus The Citadel.

He would hit the 15-point mark just three more times, and over his next six games, beginning with UNC’s win over Ohio State when Nance’s buzzer-beating jump shot sent the game in to overtime, he scored a total of 32 points in his next five games.

Add scoring totals of three, two, zero, and two, and a four-game stretch in which he 15 points on 7-for-32 shooting, including 0-for-13 from the perimeter, and to say Nance was struggling would have been an understatement.

He kept plugging away, though, and was rewarded with a two-game period in which he scored 22 points in a win over Virginia and 15 in a win at Florida State. Nance was 10-for-20 combined, including 7-for-10 from beyond the arc.

Nance had plowed through the errant shooting, on-court discomfort, and negativity directed his way into a zone in which he played free and without worry. It was late in the season, but he eventually got there.

"I think he's playing very loose right now,” UNC Coach Hubert Davis said following the game at FSU. “I think he's extremely comfortable out there on the floor on both ends. Offensively, I think he has a nice rhythm shooting the ball from three-point range. His ability to make plays and to pass and give us another playmaker. I think he's rebounding better.

“I really feel like he's starting to hit his groove and feel really comfortable out there on the floor."

Nance’s time as a Tar Heel ended a few weeks ago, and it didn’t go as planned for him or for North Carolina. But he’s glad to have experienced this stage. He maintained that sentiment all season long.