UNC Basketball: Sterling Manley eyeing a return to program

UNC Basketball center Sterling Manley breaks down his rehab and a potential return as early as October in a recent interview with Adam Lucas

The North Carolina Tar Heels basketball program suffered their fair-share of injuries in 2019-20 and a little more.

Roy Williams’ squad really struggled with their 14-19 record but saw injuries to Cole Anthony, Anthony Harris, Jeremiah Francis, and Brandon Robinson last season which really hurt the depth of the team. Another player that was injured was center Sterling Manley who missed the entire season with a knee injury that he suffered in his sophomore season.

The pain was too much for Manley, causing him to sit for the entire year as he continued to rehab and march towards a return. The loss of Manley really had an impact on UNC’s depth in the post despite Garrison Brooks breaking out and Armando Bacot showing signs of being a good player in just his first year.

Both Brooks and Bacot will return next season and UNC will welcome in a recruiting class that includes two five-star recruits that play in the post. The depth will be better but what role will Manley have?

The center caught up with Adam Lucas of GoHeels.com to talk about his rehab process and a potential return. He also talked about playing through that injury in his sophomore year:

"“What people don’t know is that for most of my sophomore season, I felt like I was playing on one leg,” Manley said. “Then I started having some swelling, so I had to readjust and figure out what the problem was. Sometimes you have to take some time and do something in the immediate future to get your body right to be able to return in the long-term.”"

Lucas also wrote on no timetable being set for Manley just yet but provided an update on what he’s doing:

"Manley’s sole focus is on building muscle around his knee and quadriceps. He’s doing frequent motion and mobility work, and while he doesn’t have a timeline, he wants to be able to participate in some fashion by October if the Tar Heels are practicing—perhaps not full speed, but more than he was able to do last season when he mostly just watched."

Manley is working hard to get back and on the court when the Tar Heels practice in October but it’s going to take some time. It seems unlikely Manley would be fully ready to go for the season opener in November but it’s hard not rooting for this kid to return and succeed.

For more on Manley and other UNC Basketball players, please check back with Keeping It Heel.