UNC Basketball Recruiting: Scoring machine Tyler Nickel drops 54 points

Tyler Nickel, one of three players in the UNC basketball recruiting class of 2022, continues to score at an incredible rate. He dropped 54 points in a critical game on Wednesday night.

Tyler Nickel was already having an incredible season prior to breaking his school’s single-game scoring record — a mark that he already held and has now broken multiple times — but then he went and beat his previous career-best of 48 points with a superb 54-point performance on Wednesday night.

From very early on in the evening, it appeared as if Nickel might be on his way to a special game. After all, he had 38 of East Rockingham’s 46 points at halftime, outscoring the opposition by eight points all by himself. It marked the second time this season that Nickel has scored 38 points in the first half of a game. He also did it in a 73-41 victory over Strasburg on January 4.

Nickel has also had games of 43, 37, 34, 33 and 29 points, giving himself a legitimate shot at breaking the Virginia High School League career scoring record of 2,801 set by former Gate City standout and current South Bay Lakers guard Mac McClung. So, needless to say, what the 6-foot-8, 210-pound small forward is doing is nothing short of magnificent.

That’s good news for a North Carolina program that desperately needs a lethal scorer and game closer, two things they’ve largely lacked over the past few seasons.

One of three prospects committed to the Tar Heels’ 2022 class, Nickel gave his pledge to UNC head coach Hubert Davis in mid-September, joining a pair of four-star players in Seth Trimble and Jalen Washington. The class ranks 12th in the nation according to 247Sports’ 2022 Team Rankings, and third-best in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Nickel is currently the No. 81 recruit in the nation, ranked 19th among wings in the class and fourth in the state of Virginia. He’s ranked similarly in the ESPN100 at No. 82 and slightly higher according to the Top247. On the other hand, he’s only the 134th-best prospect in the nation according to the Rivals150.

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