UNC Basketball: Dawson Garcia on visit with Tar Heels

The UNC Basketball’s pursuit of former Marquette standout Dawson Garcia has officially begun nearly a week after he announced he was entering the transfer portal.

Per Sherrell McMillan of Inside Carolina, Garcia is on campus Thursday in Chapel Hill to visit the UNC program. It was expected that the Tar Heels were set to show interest in Garcia but the timeline was the one thing that was unclear.

Now we have some clarity and it appears as if the Tar Heels are indeed in full pursuit of the talented forward. This is significant as the Tar Heels do have an open scholarship left and would love to add the talented forward to their frontcourt that includes Armando Bacot and recent transfer Brady Manek.

Garcia also took a trip to Illinois on Wednesday to visit the campus in Champaign, as both teams have now expressed interest.

The 6-foot-11, 235-pound forward had a big season for the Golden Eagles a year ago, averaging 13 points and 6.6 rebounds in his freshman year. That included a 24-point, 11-rebound performance in a win over North Carolina in the Dean Dome, so UNC knows first hand what Garcia can do. He was named to the Big East All-Freshman team for his efforts.

A product out of Minnesota, Garcia was recruited by the Tar Heels as part of the 2020 class but opted to commit to Marquette over UNC, Kansas, Indiana, and Memphis among others that offered him.

Garcia is testing the NBA draft waters as well, participating in the G-League combine last week and has left the door open to a return to Marquette as well. There’s no timetable on a school decision but him visiting campuses tells us that he could be close to one within the next week or so.

For more on Garcia and other UNC Basketball recruiting targets, please check back with Keeping It Heel.