UNC Basketball 2019-20 Player Preview: Walker Miller
By Zack Pearson
Keeping it Heel is helping count down the days until the start of the 2019-20 UNC Basketball season with our annual player previews. Today we look at another Walker Miller
Jeremiah Francis | Cole Anthony | Armando Bacot | Anthony Harris | Rechon Black | Sterling Manley
One of the vital members to North Carolina’s bench mob titled “Blue Steel” is the brother of former UNC guard and current head coach at UNC Greensboro, Wes Miller. The younger Miller, Walker, is entering his entering his junior year with the Tar Heels and will have a similar role as the previous two seasons.
Miller appeared in 20 games as a freshman, recording five points and seven rebounds as part of Blue Steel. A year later, he appeared in 19 games and made 7 of his 12 field goal attempts.
When you think of Blue Steel, you think of the bench guys that get into the game late during UNC blowouts. But what you don’t see is what happens behind the scenes. Guys like Miller are key during UNC’s practices, challenging the starters and role players while also helping with scouting process of upcoming opponents by playing as them in those practice sessions. Any starter or player that earns key minutes will tell you that Blue Steel has an impact on this team.
Let’s get into Miller’s season preview for 2019-20.
2018-19 Season in Review
Miller averaged 0.8 points and 0.4 rebounds per game in 2018-19 for the Tar Heels but did set a career-high with four points in a blow out win over Virginia Tech. In that game, Miller made two of his three field goal attempts for Blue Steel late as UNC was wrapping things up.
The forward played a total of 30 minutes last season, including a high of four in the win over Wake Forest. He had a total of 16 points and grabbed 7 rebounds while adding 2 blocks and a steal.
When he was out there, Miller was active.
He crashed the boards hoping to grab some rebounds which would lead to extra attempts for Blue Steel and took advantage of his playing time. Miller wasn’t hesitant to put up a shot either and actually shot 48 percent from the floor for UNC in limited time.
What to expect in 2019-20?
I think for this upcoming season, we can expect something very similar for Miller in terms of his playing time. He will once again be on that Blue Steel unit that comes in at the end of the game to get some time.
Miller has improved in each of his two seasons so far at UNC and at 6-foot-10 and 230-pounds, he provides some height for that unit. He will be behind Garrison Brooks, Armando Bacot, Sterling Manley, and Brandon Huffman in the pecking order but there’s also a chance he could see time in some key moments. That would depend on foul trouble and if Roy pulls his five starters due to poor play, like we have seen in the past.
For Miller, the improvement of his game is big. If he continues to improve this season, we could actually see him up his totals from last year.
As mentioned above, Miller’s height will also provide an excellent challenge for UNC big men Brooks, Huffman and Bacot in practice. Having to go against him should help those guys in terms of grabbing rebounds and possibly shot attempts.
Bold prediction
For my bold prediction on Miller, I’m going to say he sees 40 minutes of action this year. He did see 30 a year ago but I think there’s the chance UNC blows out some more teams this year leading to extra minutes for Blue Steel.
Miller could also see an uptick in points as well. I mentioned his shot has improved a little so there will be some opportunities for him to score. It wouldn’t shock me to see him hit more than 7 field goals this year even if they all do come late in games where UNC has it wrapped up.