CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Roy Williams brought in two graduate transfers in the offseason because he said the team had a need. So, the Tar Heels have welcomed shooting guard Christian Keeling and combo forward Justin Pierce, both of whom are expected to play vital roles this season.
THI wanted to know what some of the returning Tar Heels and their coach think about Keeling, who came over from Charleston Southern, and Pierce, who played his first three seasons at William & Mary.
Here’s what they said:
Garrison Brooks
On them together: “Christian’s got kind of a loud personality and Justin is the complete opposite… It helps out a lot that they’re just really good people and easy to get along with.”
On Keeling: “Christian is a great scorer, he just flat out scores the ball.”
On Pierce: “Justin shoots the ball at a really good rate. He doesn’t take very many shots but he makes them when he does.”
Leaky Black
On what they add: “They’re confident in themselves… When they committed, I hadn’t really heard too much about them, I hadn’t seen that much footage. But, they stay in the gym and it will be a fun year.”
On Keeling: “Christian can shoot the ball as well. His mid-range game is just elite.”
On Pierce: He really can shoot the ball. Outside of Cam (Johnson), I’ve never seen somebody shoot the ball like him. He really shoots it (well), and it’s really quick, too. It’s actually impressive, and I don’t really get that impressed.
Brandon Robinson
On Keeling: Christian, he can score the ball like crazy. He can score the ball like crazy, has a nice pull-up.
On Pierce: JP, he can shoot, knock down threes and get to he basket and dunk on you. He’s got sneaky bounce.
Roy Williams
On Keeling: “Christian gives you a little bit of scoring. He’s a tremendous player, very gregarious person – he’s Theo Pinson Jr… He’s been coached very well, he understands how to play, he’s never met a shot he didn’t like so far. We’ll see how that goes and we go down.”
On Pierce: “I think his qualities he has will be more beneficial to us in anything right now is rebounding… He’s a sneaky kind of rebounder that goes in and gets his hands on a lot of balls.”
