UNC Basketball: Luke Maye to return for senior season
Luke Maye returns to North Carolina for senior season
North Carolina junior power forward Luke Maye will return to Chapel Hill in the fall for his senior season with the Tar Heels.
The 2018 first team All-ACC selection made the announcement on Thursday morning via Instagram.
"I have had a great experience learning from the NBA process and growing as a basketball player during the past couple weeks. I would like to thank my family, friends, coaches and teammates for all of their support. Through this process, I have decided that I am going to come back to school to improve as a player and finish my college career. I am looking forward to the opportunities and challenges that I will face and there is no better group to do it with than my teammates and the Carolina family! Time to finish the right way with two of the best players and leaders that I know! Let’s finish our legacy the right way!#RoadtoMinneapolis"
Maye declared himself eligible for the NBA Draft after the Tar Heels’ early departure from the NCAA Tournament. He did not hire an agent, however, preserving his final year of eligibility in the process.
His declaration was more of an effort to assess with NBA scouts and general managers where his skills and abilities were at, rather than actually making the jump from amateur to professional.
Maye averaged 16.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game as a junior, and was named third team All-American by the Associated Press. He was also voted the ACC’s Most Improved Player after averaging just 5.5 points and 3.9 rebounds per game as a sophomore.
He recorded 17 double-doubles on the season, second only to Duke’s Marvin Bagley III, and scored 30 or more points on three occasions. He shot better than 43 percent from three-point range, and recorded nearly two-and-a-half assists per game.
Maye will be joined in the fall by Kenny Williams and Cameron Johnson, representing all three of the Tar Heels’ seniors and 60 percent of the team’s starting lineup. The trio combined to record better than 40 points, 18 rebounds and seven assists per game last season.
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Stick with Keeping It Heel for more on Maye and the Tar Heels throughout the offseason.