UNC Basketball: Will Coby White start at point guard?

Roy Williams may have tipped his hand with who will start at point guard when the Tar Heels open up the 2018-19 college basketball season

With the 2018-19 college basketball season starting this week, the North Carolina Tar Heels begin the campaign with a road game at Wofford on Tuesday, a team that beat them in Chapel Hill last season.

It’s not a game that the national audience will circle on their calendar but it is one that UNC fans are excited about in the form of revenge. UNC can get some revenge from suffering that home loss last season in what was an ugly game.

But before the Tar Heels take the court, there is a big question mark surrounding the starting lineup.

The talk throughout the offseason has been what head coach Roy Williams will do at the point guard position. Seventh Woods is entering his junior year with the Tar Heels but so far his career has been plagued with injuries.

Woods hasn’t been able to show his full potential in his brief too years and hasn’t been able to grab a hold of the starting job in the offseason. With the departure of Joel Berry II, there was an instant void to fill and all signs pointed at Woods filling them.

But when UNC landed talented combo guard Coby White in its 2018 recruiting class, he instantly became a contender for the starting spot.

In UNC’s exhibition game against Mount Olive on Friday night, White may have won the starting job.

White played 22 minutes and finished with 10 points in the game. The most important thing to note is that White started the game and came out as a starter in the second half in the win.

It appears as if the Wilson, North Carolina native has grabbed a hold of the starting spot, winning the competition from Woods.

When White was running the offense against Mount Olive, he looked smooth out there as he was able to push the ball up the floor. While White has a scorer’s mentality, he showed off his ability to distribute the basketball as well.

“He did a great job of pushing the ball,” Kenny Williams said via Go Heels. “At first, he had those couple of plays where he was trying to dribble through and go between his legs instead of just getting the ball and beating his man. And then Coach and Seventh (Woods) told him, ‘Just get it and go. Don’t wait.’ Once he did that, I think we got out in the open floor a little bit better.”

While White played well, his head coach noted that the four turnovers are something that he will have to work on.

We still have some time before Williams announces his starting lineup for Tuesday’s game at Wofford. But for right now, as it stands it looks to be White’s job to lose.

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