UNC Basketball: Luke Maye reaches milestone in Tar Heels’ win

University of North Carolina senior Luke Maye reached a big milestone in the Tar Heels’ big win over No. 4 Gonzaga Saturday night.

In the 103-90 win over the Bulldogs, the forward finished with 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field giving him 1,000 points for his career. The senior reached the milestone with a three-point play late in the game to help extend UNC’s lead.

Maye made a layup and was then fouled, converting at the free throw line on the and-one attempt.

The senior becomes the 78th player in UNC’s rich basketball history to achieve the milestone and is the first to do it since Joel Berry in February of 2017. His teammate, Cam Johnson reached the 1,000-point milestone but spent most of his career with Pitt. Johnson has played in just two seasons with the Tar Heels.

Maye has been an incredible story for the Tar Heels since joining the program four years ago. He was virtually unranked by many top scouting sites and accepted a walk-on role with the university.

The forward played very little in his freshman season but seeing an increase in minutes in his sophomore year. Maye hit one of the biggest shots in Carolina Basketball history when he drained a jumper with just .2 seconds left in the 2017 Elite 8 to beat Kentucky and send the Tar Heels to the Final Four, before they eventually won it all over a week later.

Maye then had his big breakout season last year for the Tar Heels finishing with 17 double-doubles and was named to the All ACC First-Team. Going into this season, Maye was named the conference’s preseason player of the year but he’s struggled at time so far.

Saturday was one of his better games and it came at a big time for the Tar Heels with them hosting No. 4 Gonzaga.

For more on Maye and the Tar Heels basketball program, please check back with Keeping It Heel.