UNC Basketball: What To Do With Tyler Nickel

UNC Basketball won a game last night versus Notre Dame 63-59 that oddly feels like a loss. The fanbase on Twitter is “eating their own” right now over a short video clip with Freshman Tyler Nickel.

At 9:57 pm on Wednesday night, I shared a video clip of the UNC basketball game.

Before we get into Tyler Nickel, let me say some key points.

1. This clip is actually a textbook teaching how to play zone defense. Let’s give credit to Notre Dame and its players for executing exceptional half-court defense.
2. Nickel was inserted at the 1:49 mark in the first half of this game.
3. The possession before this, Nickel was abused by the man he was defending.
4. One possession does not make a game, season, or career.
5. UNC had zero made threes and zero assists in the first half of this game.
6. We’re all frustrated.
7. None of us are in practice every day. One clip does not define that.
8. Everything looks different in screenshots and on video.
9. “The eye in the sky don’t lie” -Roy Williams
10. It’s never a bad day to be a Tar Heel.

Let’s break all of this down, and thank you to all of those that left me a comment on social media. Good, bad, or otherwise.

Nickel scored over 2900 points in high school. He holds a high school record in the state of Virginia. I don’t care who he was playing against, if you score 2900 points, you can put the ball in the basket.

Some of you said his defense is weak. I’ll accept that but is anyone on this team not named Leaky Black good defensively?

Another argument is his shooting percentage and I will point out that the kid gets 6.1 minutes per game for the season. Most of them at the end of the game. Shooters shoot. This kid was not recruited out of high school to be a lockdown defender. That’s what practice and game experience are for. He was recruited to shoot. He’s got to get warm, ready, and be in the flow.

He is a freshman.

The video that I posted is a perfect example. He entered a must-win game against Notre Dame, on the road, with 1:49 left in the half. That was his first moment. He got zero minutes in the second half.

None of us know if he would have made that shot. What I do know is his feet were set, he was ready and available for a pass that never came. Dunn didn’t take a bad shot but one more pass would have been a better one.

What do we do with Tyler Nickel at this point?

We hope he doesn’t transfer.

We hope he works on his defense.

We hope he gets a chance to be the four-star player they recruited.

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