UNC Basketball Recruiting: Tar Heels set sights on four-star forward

It was a big weekend for UNC basketball recruiting, as Hubert Davis and the Tar Heels’ coaching staff made contact with a number of talented prospects in the classes of 2023 and 2024.

The North Carolina Tar Heels coaching staff made a big splash at this weekend’s Nike EYBL event in Orlando, Florida. Hubert Davis and a pair of UNC assistants watched a number of the Tar Heels’ top recruiting targets, including ones from both the 2023 and 2024 classes.

Among the players they had their sights set on during the prestigious three-day extravaganza were class of 2023 UNC commit Simeon Wilcher and No. 1-ranked class of 2024 prospect Naasir Cunningham. They also attended a game first thing Sunday morning that featured class of 2023 consensus five-star recruit Matas Buzelis. Top-ranked 2023 power forward Gregory “G.G.” Jackson was there, too, capping off his team’s perfect 4-0 weekend with a 25-point, 10-rebound performance on Sunday night.

Also on the Tar Heels’ radar was class of 2023 big man Zayden High, a 6-foot-9, 225-pound junior forward from Spring Branch, Texas that named North Carolina as one of a handful of schools to show new interest in him this past weekend.

"”Crazy,” High said to Stockrisers’ Jake Weingarten as he paused for a brief moment. “Been a dream since I was a little kid to even have an interest from the same school Michael Jordan went to.”"

Given the kind of three-day stretch that he had in Orlando, it’s easy to understand the Tar Heels’ interest in High. In four games with JL3 Elite, High averaged nearly 22 points per game on 50 percent shooting from the floor and 30 percent from three-point range — the latter being an area of his game that he’d like to improve. He pulled down 5.5 rebounds per game and was a difference-maker on both ends of the court in a real breakout performance for the Smithson Valley High School standout.

High is currently the No. 112 prospect in the class of 2023 according to the 247Sports Composite, but I don’t expect him to stay there for long. Currently ranked just 25th among power forwards in the class and 10th in the state of Texas, look for the talented big man to make a substancial jump up the recruiting board the next time rankings are updated.

He’s already holding scholarship offers from more than a dozen schools including Alabama, Arkansas, Houston, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech. We’ll continue to follow High’s recruitment over the coming months, particularly if the Tar Heels extend an offer.

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