UNC Basketball: Five Questions Surrounding Tar Heels Going into ACC Play

4. Which One Of The Freshman Will Step Up?

Coming into the season, even with a talented recruiting class, there were a lot of questions surrounding the freshman class.

Each game there have been flashes of the sky-high potential that the freshmen have, but it is the lack of consistency that needs to change in order for the Tar Heels to reach their full potential this season.

Obviously, with a freshman, there are going to be growing pains and that is to be expected all throughout the season.

For Garrison Brooks, Sterling Manley and Jalek Felton, all three have been thrown into different roles than what may have been expected when they signed with Carolina.

Both Brooks and Manley were expected to see spot minutes behind a returning Tony Bradley but after his departure, they both have been relied on heavily thus far. Both have had their good and bad moments, but one of them needs to step up as a starter and cement themselves in the lineup.

For Felton, though a highly sought after recruit, the backcourt was obviously very talented and busy with Kenny Williams, Joel Berry, Seventh Woods, Brandon Robinson, Andrew Platek, and Cameron Johnson, but injuries to both Woods and Johnson has forced Felton to play important minutes behind Berry as the only other “point guard” on the team.

In Felton’s last eight games, he has been held scoreless in five of them but has averaged 12.3 points and 4.3 assists in the other three, including shooting 80 percent from three in his last four games (8-for-10 3pt FG).

Felton won’t be asked to averaged double digits, but if he can be a consistent spark off the bench, his spot minutes for Berry will be much more of a help for the Tar Heels.