UNC Basketball Player Previews: Isaiah Hicks
After spending his freshman campaign battling for minutes and playing out of position, it’s safe to say that we never say the real Isaiah Hicks. With a year of seasoning under his belt, double the PT and return to power forward, don’t be surprised If Isaiah is the Tar Heels breakout player in 2014-2015.
The 6’8 sophomore from Oxford, North Carolina showed the world very small glimpse of what he’s capable of during his freshman season. But with James Michael McAdoo and Brice Johnson getting all the run at the four, young Isaiah had to sit and watch and when he did get on the court it was mostly at small forward. Every now and then Hicks would jump into a passing lane, steal the ball and finish on the other end with a nice jam but for the most part he never looked comfortable and the main reason for that in my opinion was all the time he spent on the perimeter. With McAdoo now in the NBA and Brice as the starter, Isaiah will be the top reserve at power forward and he should have plenty of opportunity to show off his skill and athleticism at his natural position.
Last season Hicks’s numbers were underwhelming. He averaged just 1.2 points and 1.0 rebound in 7.3 minutes per game. Don’t let that fool you, this kid is a whole lot better than that. With a return to power forward, Isaiah will get better looks at the basket and that alone will provide a boost to his field goal percentage and to his points per game. This rising sophomore will also be a huge asset in transition. His ability to run the floor fits right into what ‘Ol Roy likes to do, so expect Hicks to be on the finishing end of a lot of fast breaks this season. Although he’s not a great outside shooter, I believe Isaiah can make shots from about 15 feet which will keep opposing defenses honest and allow him face them up and attack the basket, which is one of his strong suites.
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Defensively, Isaiah has a chance to be really good as well. His athleticism goes without saying which should allow him to block a decent amount of shots but it will also help him guard smaller quicker fourss. At 220 lbs, Hicks already has more girth than Brice Johnson so his number could get called a little more when Carolina faces teams who has a back to the basket power forward. His size will not only prevent him from getting beat up in the post but it will help him out on the back boards. Like I said earlier Hicks only averaged one rebound per game but I’ll chalk that up to a lack of playing time. This young man can be really active on the glass and there’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll be amongst UNC’s top rebounders. If Isaiah can grab five or six boards a game that would be huge because it would take some pressure off of the other big men who got pushed around sometimes.
I think big things are ahead for Isaiah Hicks this season. I predict he’ll average around eight to ten points, six rebounds and a blocked shot per game. If that comes true, the rest of the county had better beware because the emergence of Hicks will make the Tar Heels even better for a squad who will already be really good!