UNC freshman Leaky Black practiced on Monday for the first time since spraining his ankle against Georgia Tech in late January.
“We had a new player on the court today,” head coach Roy Williams said of the freshman’s return to the court when responding to a question about his status on Williams’ weekly radio show.
“I’ve been calling him ‘2020’ for the last two months, because I thought he was going to come back and play for us in 2020,” Williams joked.
Black, at 6 feet 7 inches, has provided versatility for the Tar Heels in a backup role throughout the season leading up to his injury. Carolina was also without backup forward Sterling Manley for a large chunk of the regular season. Manley has returned to make an appearance in two recent games, but he totaled only three minutes across the two games.
It is unclear if Black will be back in game shape and available for the ACC Tournament when Carolina opens play in Charlotte on Thursday.
“We’ve got some hope for him,” Williams said. “But, seriously, it was the first thing he’s done since the Georgia Tech game. But he looked ok; it’ll be really interesting to see how he feels [Tuesday].”
UNC finished the regular season in a tie with Virginia for the ACC championship. Virginia held the tie-breaker over UNC after the Cavaliers beat Carolina in Chapel Hill in mid-February and took the top seed in this week’s tournament.
UNC has a double-bye in the conference tournament. The winner of the Georgia Tech – Notre Dame matchup will advance to play Louisville. The winner of that contest will take on Carolina at 7 p.m. Thursday.
If Carolina and Duke both win their first games in the conference tournament on Thursday night, a third UNC-Duke matchup would be set up for Friday night.
Carolina won both meetings with Duke this season. The Blue Devils are expecting to have star freshman Zion Williamson back for the first time on Thursday night after he was injured in the first 34 seconds of the first game between Carolina and Duke in Durham on February 20.
Photo via Todd Melet
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