UNC Basketball 2019-20 Player Preview: Leaky Black

We continue our 2019-20 UNC basketball player previews with sophomore guard Leaky Black and what to expect in his second year with the Tar Heels.

Jeremiah Francis | Cole Anthony | Armando Bacot | Anthony Harris

Leaky Black seems to be a bit of the forgotten member of the 2018 recruiting class, a class that included two one-and-done players in Coby White and Nassir Little, but now he looks to make a major impact this season.

His play has been often times compared to former Tar Heel Theo Pinson, with his terrific court vision and ability to create for others at 6-foot-7. The former point guard who turned wing in high school, Black still contains a lot of point guard skills to play the position at North Carolina.

His versatile skillset allowed him to play all over the court as a freshman and gives Roy Williams someone who can be plugged in, in almost any situation and be able to be effective.

2018-19 Season in Review

Despite being one of the first couple of players off the bench to start the season, Black sprained his ankle on January 29th and didn’t see action again until March. The injury made it difficult for Black to make a lot of progress towards the end of his freshman year.

When he was on the floor, you could see exactly what he would provide for the Heels throughout his college career though; a versatile player who can pass, shoot, and defend.

On the season, Black averaged 2.5 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 10.3 minutes per game on what was a very deep Tar Heels’ roster.

Black’s best game in his freshman season came in the blowout win over Elon in the second game of the season. He played 15 minutes, scoring eight points, grabbing six rebounds and dishing out five assists.

What to expect in 2019-20?

Playing in just seven ACC games last year due to his ankle injury, Black still has a lot to prove when it comes to becoming a big-time player for the Tar Heels.

While it is still to be determined what role Black will have, whether it be a starter, sixth man, or part of what should be another deep rotation for Roy Williams, Black should provide Carolina with a lot of positives this year.

With the additions of Cole Anthony, Anthony Harris, Christian Keeling, and Justin Pierce in the backcourt and on the wing, Black probably won’t spend too much time in one position.

However, I think the majority of his minutes will come at the point guard spot. With Carolina losing a lot of its scoring punch from a season ago, Cole Anthony will assume much of that role, leaving a perfect spot for Black as the distributor on the offensive end.

Despite everyone being obsessed with offensive production, I’ll be shocked if it isn’t the defensive end of the floor that Black makes the most impact. With his size and length, his ability to disrupt other point guards from getting their respective teams into their offensive set could be a terrific addition to a UNC defense that is lackluster at times.

Overall, Black will definitely see a jump up in his production, but I think a lot of his positive plays will come from plays not seen in the box score.

Bold prediction

Black is still working his way back from the nagging ankle injury but assuming he is 100 percent come Nov 5, he could cement himself as a major part of the Tar Heels team this season.

As mentioned above, his scoring may not be where he is needed, but if Black brings in the confidence he may have lacked at times last season, putting up a production line of 7.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.0 assists is something that would be a tremendous asset to the team.

Think of Danny Green as an underclassmen or Theo Pinson as a junior, someone who was always a stat sheet stuffer, but never someone who would explode in the points column.

Black is like a Swiss army knife  and bringing that skillset on a regular basis for nearly 25 minutes a game will be a huge positive for Roy Williams and the rest of the Carolina crew.