UNC Basketball: Lineup options for Tar Heels in 2019-20

The blowout lineup

G – Jeremiah Francis
G – K.J.  Smith
G – Shea Rush
F – Walker Miller
F – Brandon Huffman

We’re all familiar with the blowout lineup. When the Tar Heels are up big late in a game — or getting blown out themselves — Roy Williams will put the blowout lineup on the court. It’s a lineup designed to get seldom-used players some time on the court, and keep starters and top reserves from sustaining a meaningless injury.

A healthy Jeremiah Francis finds his way onto this lineup in year one with the Tar Heels. A player who has skill but has struggled with injuries over the past couple of years, he’s definitely behind Cole Anthony and Anthony Harris on the Tar Heels’ depth chart. However, there’s potential for Francis to develop in Williams’ system, and become a starter in future seasons. That will rely more on Francis’ ability to stay healthy than anything else.

K.J. Smith is the son of former UNC great Kenny Smith, and he’s got some ability on the basketball court; just not as much as his dad did. He’s solid with the basketball in his hands, and can shoot it a little bit, too. The same can be said for Shea Rush, whose father was recruited by Roy Williams in the 90’s when he was at Kansas. Rush has decent size at 6-foot-5 and 210 pounds, but he’s definitely backed up a ways on the Tar Heels’ depth chart.

Walker Miller and Brandon Huffman are the big guys in this lineup, and neither projects to get much run with North Carolina’s first two units. Miller is the brother of former UNC sharpshooter Wes Miller, a member of the Tar Heels from 2004 to 2007. Huffman got fewer minutes as a sophomore than he did as a freshman, and has never logged more than 3.4 minutes per game in a season. He does hustle, though, when he’s on the court, and does the little things that make a head coach happy. He filled in nicely at times last season when Williams needed to steal some minutes off the bench.