UNC Basketball: Walker Kessler to transfer from program

In what is expected to be a wild offseason in terms of the transfer portal, the UNC Basketball program lost their first big player to the portal on Monday.

Just a few days after the Tar Heels saw their 2020-21 season come to and end at the hands of Wisconsin in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, they are losing one of their talented big men to the portal. Freshman center Walker Kessler announced that he is leaving the program and will enter that transfer portal after just one season in Chapel Hill.

Kessler, his father and Roy Williams had a long and emotional meeting on Sunday night to come to the decision via Inside Carolina. 

The 7-foot-1 center averaged 4.4 points and 3.2 rebounds per game while playing in 8.7 minutes per game this season for the Tar Heels. He was the fourth big in a rotation behind Garrison Brooks, Armando Bacot and Day’Ron Sharpe, struggling to find playing time early. But as the season went on, Kessler got more involved including scoring a career high 21 points in a comeback win over Florida State in late February.

The former five-star recruit picked the Tar Heels over Auburn, Cal, Duke, Gonzaga and Michigan, committing to the Tar Heels on a Sunday night in 2019 after wrapping up his official visit to the program. As Inside Carolina notes, Kessler loves the program and the campus but the decision to transfer is strictly a basketball one.

Rumors have been swirling that the Tar Heels could see a number of transfers from the program following their loss on Friday. It was unclear just how many or which players but now with Kessler gone, more could be coming in what could be a very dark offseason for the program.

UNC will now await some more decisions including Garrison Brooks potentially returning for a fifth year and the NBA for Day’Ron Sharpe.

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