Justin Coleman has played 46 minutes of basketball at UNC, which is 46 minutes more than he was expected to play.
“J. Cole had a tremendous accident when he was in high school,” head coach Roy Williams said. “He was told he’d never play basketball, it was going to be challenge to walk and do all those normal things.”
Williams frequently refers to Coleman as “J. Cole.”
Coleman suffered three broken vertebrae in his neck after a dunk attempt in a high school AAU game went horribly wrong.
Doctors told Coleman he may never walk again, let alone play basketball, but after watching his team from the sidelines his junior season, Coleman returned to the court his senior year at Broughton High School.
“Then he was involved in a terrible accident involving a motorcycle and someone was killed,” Williams said. “He’s been challenged as much as I could ever imagine an individual being challenged.”
After all of that adversity, Coleman found himself at UNC. He played on the JV team for two years, before earning a spot as a walk on last year.
He scored one point in 19 minutes his first year wearing Carolina Blue.
Before the 2015-16 season started, Williams rewarded Coleman’s work ethic with a surprise during a meeting with the team.
“I said ‘son we’ve got a scholarship and we’re not going to keep it in our pocket, you’ve done such a great job for us I want you to enjoy it,'” Williams said. “‘This will be nice for you, but a heck of a lot nicer for your mom and dad, we’re going to put you on full scholarship.'”
Williams said Justin Coleman is the kind of kid he just wants to do things for and that he loves his smile.
“You think as a youngster you’re told you’re never going to play basketball again,” he said. “It may be difficult for you to even walk again and you come back from that and then think about being involved in a car accident where someone is killed. It truly is one of those warm, fuzzy, good feeling stories about it.”
The Tar Heels are hoping to put a storybook ending on the senior’s basketball career as they take on Villanova in the national championship game Monday.
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