UNC Basketball: Tar Heels pursuing Kentucky transfer

UNC has their eyes on a big Kentucky transfer according to a report and he’s very familiar with Chapel Hill

The North Carolina Tar Heels appear to be done with their 2018 recruiting class with just Jordan Brown left as the lone target. Even then, the chances of landing Brown right now are slim.

But that doesn’t mean they are done adding to their roster.

Roy Williams and his staff are reportedly pursuing a Chapel Hill native to add to the Tar Heels already talented roster.

Inside Carolina’s Sherrell McMillan is reporting that the Tar Heels have reached out and are interested in University of Kentucky transfer Sacha Killeya-Jones, citing the mother of Killeya-Jones. His former AAU program, Team Felton, revealed on Friday night that 10 schools are under consideration for the forward, including UNC.

UNC, Clemson, Notre Dame, Pitt and Wake Forest are the five Atlantic Coast Conference schools that made his final transfer list.

The 6-foot-10 forward is a Chapel Hill native and was recruited out of high school by Williams and his staff.

He made the decision to attend Kentucky as part of a loaded recruiting class in 2016. That same class featured De’Aaron Fox, Malik Monk, Bam Adebayo and Wenyen Gabriel for the Wildcats.

Killeya-Jones struggled to see the floor in his freshman season playing just 6.9 minutes per game.

He earned some more minutes in his sophomore season, moving that number up to 13.7 per game for the Wildcats, but his role in offense was limited.

McMillan notes that this process will be different from his recruitment and that Killeya-Jones knows what he wants.

The North Carolina native originally committed to Virginia back in 2015 but reopened his recruitment with both UNC and Kentucky showing interest. Killeya-Jones admitted that the academic scandal was a red flag and eventually committed to Kentucky.

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If the Tar Heels were to land Killeya-Jones, he would have to sit out the 2018-19 season and would be eligible for the 2019-2020 season.