UNC Basketball: 5-star prospect eliminates Tar Heels

The UNC basketball program missed out on 5-star power forward Jabari Smith, who committed to the Auburn Tigers on Friday evening.

Roy Williams and the North Carolina basketball program were relatively late getting involved in the recruitment of 5-star power forward Jabari Smith. And by all accounts, it was pretty impressive that they were able to make up as much ground as they did, and work their way onto his list of finalists.

As it turns out, though, it was simply too little too late for the Tar Heels, as Smith committed to the Auburn Tigers on Friday evening, eliminating North Carolina, Georgia, Georgia Tech, LSU and Tennessee.

Smith becomes the second 5-star prospect to spurn North Carolina in the last three days after consensus top-10 small forward Caleb Houstan left the Tar Heels off of his list of four finalists on Wednesday. Losing Smith is probably a bit less painful given the Tar Heels’ current front court depth. Sure, they’ll lose senior big man Garrison Brooks after this season, and it’s possible that sophomore center Armando Bacot could test the NBA waters next spring, but incoming freshman bigs Day’Ron Sharpe and Walker Kessler have North Carolina in a pretty good position moving forward.

Smith, the No. 5 prospect in the nation, joins an Auburn program that garnered a top-10 ranking with its 2020 recruiting class, but hadn’t gotten a single commitment from a 2021 prospect until Smith’s pledge on Friday. Bruce Pearl and the Tigers are still involved with a number of top-100 prospects in the class of 2021, including Chet Holmgren and Hunter Sallis, a pair of UNC targets.

Check back with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on the Tar Heels’ 2021 recruiting class, and everything UNC basketball.