UNC Basketball Recruiting: Duke continues to push for Tar Heels’ top target

Things have been a bit quiet on the recruiting front for the UNC basketball program after adding Simeon Wilcher to their 2023 class in October.

After Wilcher became the first player to commit to UNC for the 2023 class, doing so at Late Night With Hubert Davis, the Tar Heels put the focus on fellow five-star recruit G.G. Jackson out of South Carolina as their top target. Jackson was on campus when Wilcher committed and has been back since, with Davis and his staff also visiting him recently.

At one point, the Tar Heels were considered the strong favorites to land him and still might be but a few other programs are starting to move in on him. Among them? The Duke Blue Devils.

Last week, Duke sent coaches Jon Scheyer, Nolan Smith, Amile Jefferson to The Bash which is an annual tournament in December in South Carolina. The Blue Devils were on hand to watch Jackson play for Ridge View High School in the event:

While UNC has made a strong push for Jackson, it appears as if Duke is also making a strong case and doing what they can to get Jackson’s attention. The same can be said for in-state South Carolina as Jackson recently attended a few Gamecocks’ games.

The Tar Heels have their work cut out for them in this recruitment. Battling it out against Duke and Scheyer is no easy task plus they will need to fight off in-state South Carolina as well. Things are still good for the Tar Heels but another push might be needed to finally land that commitment for the five-star 2023 prospect.

Jackson is ranked No. 10 overall, the No. 3 power forward, and No. 1 player in the state of South Carolina per the 247 Sports recruiting rankings.

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