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UNC Basketball 2020-2021 Player Preview: Sterling Manley

By Zack Pearson

CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 11: Sterling Manley #21 of the North Carolina Tar Heels reacts against the Virginia Cavaliers during their game at the Dean Smith Center on February 11, 2019 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Virginia won 69-61. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 11: Sterling Manley #21 of the North Carolina Tar Heels reacts against the Virginia Cavaliers during their game at the Dean Smith Center on February 11, 2019 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Virginia won 69-61. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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Our 2020-21 UNC Basketball player preview series continues with big man Sterling Manley as he continues to recover from knee surgery

Kerwin Walton | Donovan Johnson | Creighton Lebo | Day’Ron Sharpe | Walker Kessler | R.J. Davis | Caleb Love | Armando Bacot | Leaky Black  | Anthony Harris

In our last preview, we detailed guard Anthony Harris and his return from a knee injury that sidelined him most of last season. And next up is another player that is hoping to finally get healthy enough to be back on the court.

When Sterling Manley arrived at North Carolina in 2017, the power forward was hoping to be the next post player to find success in Roy Williams’ offense. However, a serious knee injury in 2018 forced him to miss all of last season to rehab. Manley had surgery back in December of 2019, ending his season and giving him a medical redshirt.

Now, Manley returns to the court in hopes of being a legit role player in what is a crowded depth chart at forward and center.

The 6-foot-11, 250-pound Manley averaged 5.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game in his freshman season back in 2017-18 providing a nice boost off the bench. The following season, before his injury, Manley averaged 3.5 points, 2.9 rebounds and shot 57 percent from the field.

It was safe to say that many expected him to take the next step in his game. But that next step was stalled with the injury and now the goal is just to contribute in his redshirt junior season.

What to expect in 2020-21?

Like Harris, the goal for Manley is simple: Get on the court when you can.

The power forward has now spent close to a year recovering from his knee injury and to start the new season, he will need some more time. With just a few days until the opener, Roy Williams has yet to provide a significant update on Manley which isn’t good news. That likely means that Manley isn’t ready to hit the court anytime soon.

For Manley, he needs to take his time and get to the place where he can step out onto the court and perform. It wasn’t just his injury in college but two other major injuries he suffered in high school that have to have taken a toll on him not only physically but mentally as well.

It’s very hard to predict what we should expect from Manley as his health is the top priority this season. But when he does hit the court, he will likely be a part of Blue Steel to start as the Tar Heels are loaded in the frontcourt with two more freshmen coming in

Bold Prediction

As I mentioned above, it’s tough to give any predictions for Manley. We simply don’t know when he will be ready to play this season. It could be late December, it might not be until late in conference play either.

But for a prediction, I’ll say this… I think Manley does return in January and plays more minutes than we expect. I’l set his minutes at around 7-8 per game which might be too high especially early on in the season.

Let’s just hope Manley can get back out there.

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