UNC Basketball: Tar Heel coaching staff watches as 4-star target shines

The UNC basketball coaching staff was on hand over the weekend to watch 4-star small forward Tyler Nickel.

East Rockingham’s Tyler Nickel is one of the nation’s top 100 high school basketball prospects, and he’s got nearly 20 scholarship offers to show for it. Included in Nickel’s growing and increasingly distinguished list of schools are Cincinnati, Creighton, Indiana, Iowa, LSU, Virginia Tech and West Virginia. He’s also received interest from the likes of Georgia, Georgetown, Marquette, Maryland, Ohio State, Texas Tech and Wisconsin.

But it was the North Carolina coaching staff that was out in full force on Sunday afternoon to watch Nickel’s latest brilliant performance. After scoring 67 combined points in two games on Saturday, Nickel recorded games of 33 points and 31 points on Sunday, proving that the prior day’s offensive outburst was no fluke.

And after watching him average nearly 33 points per game over the weekend, and having their entire travel staff on hand for Sunday’s games, the Tar Heels must be nearing a decision to extend a scholarship offer to the 6-foot-8, 210-pound wing out of Elkton, Virginia.

Nickel is among a group of about 10 prospects from the class of 2022 that the Tar Heels are keeping an eye on, and an offer would make him the 13th player in the senior class to hold an invitation to UNC. Don’t be surprised if that happens in the coming days, as Nickel continues to impress coaches and scouts on the recruiting trail.

Nickel is currently ranked 70th in the nation according to the 247Sports Composite. He’s No. 17 among small forwards in the class, and first in the state of Virginia.

For all the latest on Tyler Nickel and the Tar Heels’ 2022 recruiting class, check back with Keeping It Heel.