When Pete Nance walked on to the Smith Center floor Monday afternoon, reporters flocked after him en masse. It was a scene akin to the gallery following Tiger Woods down the fairway at Augusta. Everyone wanted to know head coach Hubert Davis’ newest signee.
From an outside perspective, it’s easy to view Nance as simply a plug-and-play replacement for the recently departed Brady Manek. Of course, it’s not at all that simple, but Nance said Manek did play a role in his decision to come to Chapel Hill.
“I got to speak with him a little bit at the NBA G-League Elite Camp,” Nance said. “It was really cool, because I hadn’t even spoken to North Carolina yet or anything like that. And I asked him, ‘How was it, how was your experience?’ And he said it was the best basketball experience of his life.
“For him to say that after just being here for one year, I thought it says a lot about North Carolina and the kind of people that they have here.”
After Manek opened the door, Hubert Davis stepped in. Nance eventually began considering graduate transfer options following the conclusion of the G-League camp, and Davis and the Tar Heels had an open scholarship. Davis’ pitch to Nance was simple: a chance to succeed both in college and in the pros.
“Obviously, there’s a long list of NBA players. That was something that was really important to me,” said Nance. “But everybody should know watching me play, I’m not a selfish guy who’s gonna come out here and try to make it to the NBA just by shooting it every single time. Obviously, being able to compete for a national championship is something he didn’t really have to pitch me on very much. It’s pretty obvious this team is pretty special.”
Nance’s offensive game includes a nice shooting touch both inside and outside the three-point line. In his senior season at Northwestern, Nance averaged a career-high 14.6 points per game while shooting 45.6 percent on three-pointers, also by far the best rate of his career. And while Nance isn’t quite the volume shooter Manek was, his ability from downtown is certainly welcome in Davis’ spread offense.
But it’s Nance’s defense which has caught the attention of teammates so far, including UNC’s own defensive ace.
“He can definitely guard 1 through 5. He’s super versatile,” said fifth-year wing Leaky Black. “Big-time player, big-time athlete as well. So yeah, he’ll definitely be able to help us out, setting the tone. He’s not scared to talk, he’s screaming ‘Screen right!’ He’s super vocal. He plays like a professional already.”
At 6-foot-10, Nance should also be able to provide critical rest for center Armando Bacot in the post. It’s welcome news for both Carolina fans and Bacot himself, who quite literally played until he had to be carried off the New Orleans floor last season.
“He’s got good length and he’s athletic,” Bacot said. “I think when I get in foul trouble or I get subbed out, it won’t be that huge of a drop-off in the paint. He’s got that ability to block shots and just give us a paint presence.”
Bacot was a major part of Nance’s official visit to Chapel Hill earlier this summer, a visit which Bacot said included a bowling trip with several teammates. The cherry on top was Nance getting an inside look at the UNC basketball camp, which featured the famous scrimmages between alumni and the current roster. It clearly made an impression on the Northwestern transfer, who announced his commitment to UNC shortly after his visit.
“It’s not really something you see a lot of places,” Nance said of the alumni games. “I think having guys like Justin Jackson, Marcus Paige, Cam Johnson, seeing Tyler Hansbrough, all these guys in the gym, it’s really a special thing having everybody still around the program. It really says a lot, not only about the type of basketball here, but the type of person that’s here. That was something that was really attractive to me.”
Last spring, the “Iron Five” Tar Heels shocked the world by reaching the national championship game. After joining the returning core of four starters, Nance made the sentiment clear: next season, the only way Carolina shocks the world is if they don’t.
Featured image via Inside Carolina/Jim Hawkins
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