NBC Names Joel Berry, Justin Jackson as Co-National Players of the Week

After losing its ACC opener to Georgia Tech in a stunning upset, the UNC men’s basketball team has won its last four conference games and has risen to second place in the league standings.

While the Tar Heels have certainly used their depth with great success this season, two players consistently seem to shine above the rest on a game-by-game basis.

Following UNC’s recent wins over Wake Forest and Florida State, NBC didn’t even try to pick one over the other–naming point guard Joel Berry and wing Justin Jackson as its Co-National Players of the Week.

Both juniors in school, Berry and Jackson have been as clutch as it gets for head coach Roy Williams.

Berry poured in a game-high 26 points against the Seminoles on Saturday, including a number of buckets that put a stop to Florida State’s comeback attempts in the second half.

Earlier in the week he posted 18 points and seven assists as the Tar Heels held off a late run by the Demon Deacons.

Jackson tallied 22 points in the Florida State game, while also adding 19 against Wake Forest–including a three-pointer that essentially sealed the victory for UNC with just over a minute remaining.

Each player has been exactly what the doctor ordered for a Tar Heel team that desperately needed new leaders to step up in the absence of last year’s stars Marcus Paige and Brice Johnson.

For one, they both shoot over 40 percent from the three-point line–giving UNC a serious perimeter threat it hasn’t had over the past few years.

Then you’ve got Berry making everything flow according to plan offensively, while the 6-foot-8-inch Jackson has morphed into the cold-blooded scorer everyone has expected him to be when he arrived in Chapel Hill two years ago as a McDonald’s All-American.

Their emergence as a two-headed monster for UNC is what should make the Tar Heels legitimate national title contenders coming down the stretch–especially given the amount of talent and experience surrounding them.