Tag: Pete Nance

Pete Nance listed as a potential second-round draft pick

Northwestern transfer forward Pete Nance arrived in Chapel Hill after testing his stock in the NBA Draft. Luckily for the UNC basketball program, he withdrew his name to return to college. When he committed to North Carolina, everyone expected him …

Northwestern transfer forward [autotag]Pete Nance[/autotag] arrived in Chapel Hill after testing his stock in the NBA Draft. Luckily for the UNC basketball program, he withdrew his name to return to college.

When he committed to North Carolina, everyone expected him to take over the role and hole left by Brady Manek. While Nance will slide into that position held by Manek, there will be a vastly different skillset.

Nance is a very versatile forward who can score in a variety of ways and also already comes in as a very good passer and playmaker. He also comes in as a career 35.6 percent three-point shooter.

Now, he enters the season looking to build his stock and according to 247Sports’ Adam Finkelstein, could slide into the second round.

“Nance made strides with his three-point shooting in each of his four seasons at Northwestern. He will step into the role vacated by Brady Manek at UNC and have more volume to show last year’s accuracy was no fluke. If he can simultaneously defend opposing fours, he could show a two-way game that translates given his size and ball-security.”

Nance averaged 14.6 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game for the Wildcats last season and comes into this year on the Karl Malone Watch List.

Nance had a good start to his UNC career, scoring 19 points in the Tar Heels’ exhibition win last week.

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Armando Bacot named to Kareem Adbul-Jabbar Watch List

UNC basketball forward Armando Bacot was named to the Kareem Adbul-Jabbar Watch List on Friday.

UNC basketball forward [autotag]Armando Bacot[/autotag] earned more honors ahead of the 2022-23 season on Friday as he was named to the Kareem Adbul-Jabbar Watch List.

The award is given to the top center in basketball at the end of the season.

Bacot joins Caleb Love, Leaky Black and Pete Nance on preseason award watch lists.

Bacot, a preseason All-American, returns to North Carolina after having a terrific junior year campaign. Despite being snubbed as ACC Player of the Year last year, it was clear he was the most important in the conference.

As a junior, Bacot averaged 16.3 points and 13.1 rebounds per game. He also recorded 31 double-doubles, tying an NCAA record. He also became the first player in NCAA Tournament history with six double-doubles in one NCAA Tournament.

Below is the full list of nominees.

2023 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award Candidates
Charles Bediako – Alabama
Oumar Ballo – Arizona
PJ Hall – Clemson
Ryan Kalkbrenner – Creighton
Dereck Lively II – Duke
Colin Castleton – Florida
Osun Osunniyi – Iowa State
Oscar Tshiebwe – Kentucky
Hunter Dickinson – Michigan
Armando Bacot – North Carolina
Moussa Cissé – Oklahoma State
Kel’el Ware – Oregon
Zach Edey – Purdue
Clifford Omoruyi – Rutgers
Fardaws Aimaq – Texas Tech
Adem Bona – UCLA
Adama Sanogo – UConn
Branden Carlson – Utah
Jamarion Sharp – Western Kentucky
Jack Nunge – Xavier

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Pete Nance named to Karl Malone Watch List

UNC basketball forward Pete Nance was named to the Karl Malone Watch List, given to the top power forward in the country.

UNC basketball forward [autotag]Pete Nance[/autotag] received some preseason honors on Thursday, being named as a candidate for the Karl Malone Award.

The award is given to the top power forward in the country at the end of the year and begins with 20 candidates. Nance is one of five ACC players on the list — Kyle Filipowski (Duke), Jayden Gardner (Virginia), Justyn Mutts (Virginia Tech) and Norchad Omier (Miami).

Nance, a transfer from Northwestern, becomes the third Tar Heel at the moment to be named to a preseason watch list, in addition to Caleb Love and Leaky Black.

The 6-foot-10 forward averaged 14.6 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game for the Wildcats. Albeit different skill sets, Nance is expected to fill the void left by Brady Manek on last year’s roster.

2023 Karl Malone Award Candidates*

Enrique Freeman Akron Kris Murray Iowa
Ąžuolas Tubelis Arizona KJ Williams LSU
Johni Broome Auburn Donta Scott Maryland
Arthur Kaluma Creighton DeAndre Williams Memphis
DaRon Holmes Dayton Norchad Omier Miami (Fl.)
Kyle Filipowski Duke Pete Nance North Carolina
Jalen Slawson Furman GG Jackson South Carolina
Drew Timme Gonzaga Jayden Gardner Virginia
Jarace Walker Houston Justyn Mutts Virginia Tech
Trayce Jackson-Davis Indiana Graham Ike Wyoming

*Players can play their way onto and off of the list at any point in the 2022-2023 season*

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UNC debuts inside top-10 in initial KenPom rankings

The UNC basketball program debuts inside top-10 in initial KenPom rankings at No. 9, despite being atop the AP Top 25 preseason poll.

The college basketball season is less than four weeks away and for the UNC basketball program, the expectations are quite high.

After coming off of an National Championship Game appearance last season, the main core for UNC returns — Caleb Love, Armando Bacot, RJ Davis and Leaky Black.

In addition, the Tar Heels also added Northwestern transfer Pete Nance to the mix.

All of that is good enough to have the Tar Heels sitting at No. 1 overall in the preseason AP Top 25 that came out this week. But, for another metric, North Carolina barely comes in the top 10.

According to KenPom’s initial rankings, UNC sits at No. 9. The Tar Heels are the second ranked ACC team behind Virginia. Kentucky sits atop the rankings.

How does the KenPom rankings work? This is how Ken Pomery describes his rankings and equations.

“The purpose of this system is to show how strong a team would be if it played tonight, independent of injuries or emotional factors. Since nobody can see every team play all (or even most) of their games, this system is designed to give you a snapshot of a team’s current level of play… I would describe the philosophy of the system as this: it looks at who a team has beaten and how they have beaten them. Same thing on the losses, also. Yes, it values a 20 point win more than a 5 point win. It likes a team that loses a lot of close games against strong opposition more than one that wins a lot of close games against weak opposition.”

Obviously with no games played to date this season, this is more on expectation of the schedule as it sits today.

Certainly North Carolina expects to be a better team than the No. 9 ranked team in the country. These rankings tend to be a decent indicator of how teams stack up as the season gets deeper into non-conference and then into conference play.

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Pete Nance named top-2 transfer ahead of this season

UNC basketball forward Pete Nance was named a top-2 transfer with the season just a few weeks away.

As the college basketball season gets closer to its start, UNC basketball fans are another day closer to seeing transfer [autotag]Pete Nance[/autotag] in a Carolina jersey for his first regular season game and the first time on the court since the Blue-White scrimmage earlier this fall.

The Northwestern transfer came to UNC as the player to slide into the role left open by the graduation of Brady Manek.

Nance averaged 14.6 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game for the Wildcats last year. He also shot 45.2 percent from three.

Because of his play the previous four seasons in the Big Ten, Nance was named among the top incoming transfers in college basketball — ranked No. 2 by college basketball analyst Andy Katz.

Katz is not the only person to give this recognition to the 6-foot-10 forward. Along with numerous national analysts, UNC head coach Hubert Davis went out of his way to mention Nance and the expectation for him to have an ‘unbelievable year’ earlier this fall on a podcast.

Nance will be a tremendous asset for the Tar Heels and has the versatility to play multiple different roles for Hubert Davis and UNC.

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Hubert Davis, UNC ready for highly anticipated season: ‘I’m starving. I’m ready to go.’

Hubert Davis and the UNC basketball program are ready for a very highly anticipated season in 2022-23.

UNC takes top spot in Andy Katz power 36 preseason rankings

The UNC basketball program is ranked No. 1 in Andy Katz updated power 36 rankings for the 2022-23 season.

The road back to the Final Four for the UNC basketball program started on Monday as Hubert Davis’ team opened up practice in Chapel Hill. Fresh off an appearance in last season’s NCAA title game, the Tar Heels are the trendy pick to win it all this season.

And a big reason why is due to the fact that the team will return four of the five starters from a year ago plus bring in transfer Pete Nance. The bench will be deep for UNC as well, giving them some much-needed depth.

As we get set for the upcoming season, national college basketball writer Andy Katz dropped his power 36 rankings here in the preseason. UNC took the top spot in the rankings, checking in at No. 1. Check out the top five here:

1. North Carolina (1): National runner-up has the personnel to return to the title game.

2. Gonzaga (2): Drew Timme will be a leading contender for national player of the year.

3. Kentucky (3): Reigning Naismith player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe returns.

4. UCLA (4): Jaime Jaquez Jr., and Tyger Campbell will be two of the best leaders in the country.

5. Kansas (5): Jalen Wilson leads another experienced Jayhawk crew.

It won’t be an easy road back to the Final Four for the Tar Heels and they will be tested several times this season, especially with a tough non-conference schedule.

But UNC does have the talent to get it done and will play with that added pressure on their back all season long.

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Hubert Davis says this player will have a ‘unbelievable’ season

UNC basketball head coach Hubert Davis had nothing but praise for transfer Pete Nance ahead of the 2022-23 season.

The UNC basketball program will return all but one starter from last year’s team that reached the Final Four and eventually lost to Kansas in the title game. The only starter not returning is former Oklahoma transfer Brady Manek.

But UNC went right back to the portal to land his replacement, [autotag]Pete Nance [/autotag]out of Northwestern. Nance is expected to fill that role for Manek and be a starter at the four spot in UNC’s offense.

While we haven’t seen Nance play in a UNC uniform just yet but his head coach Hubert Davis likes what he’s seen in Summer workouts and his time at Northwestern.

Davis appeared on Jon Rothstein’s College Hoops Today Podcast where he discussed many things about the Tar Heels. Among the topics Davis discussed with Rothstein was Nance where the head coach praised the transfer:

“He’s going to have an unbelievable season,” Davis said of the 6-10 Nance on this week’s College Hoops Today Podcast.

Nance is coming off a 2021-22 campaign in which he averaged 14.6 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game for the Wildcats. He will have an immediate role right away in UNC’s offense and if he can give anything similar to Manek, the Tar Heels will be in great shape.

Watch: Pete Nance highlights at the Blue-White scrimmage

UNC basketball fans got their first look at Northwestern transfer Pete Nance over the weekend at the Blue-White scrimmage.

The UNC basketball program took the floor for the first time in front of fans over the weekend in the Blue-White scrimmage.

The game was the first time UNC fans were able to see Northwestern transfer [autotag]Pete Nance[/autotag] in a Carolina jersey.

Nance transferred to UNC after averaging 14.6 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game for the Wildcats last year. He also shot 45.2 percent from three.

Nance will look to start alongside Armando Bacot in the front court and take over the role left open from Brady Manek.

It was reported that Nance had 11 points in Saturday’s scrimmage. Below are highlights of the afternoon.

While Nance is not the same player as Manek, he brings a good amount of versatility to the floor, especially in the mid-range.

“I’m somebody that that can do a little bit of everything,” Nance told reporters earlier this summer. “I can shoot, pass, dribble. I try to pride myself on being versatile and try not to have any flaws. I try to be a versatile defender, shoot the three, post up, push it on the break, and do a little bit everything.

“This is obviously a really good team with some really talented players. Being a versatile player, whatever the coaches need me to do, and whatever role they want me to fill. I think I’d be able to adapt to that easily because of my style of play, how I move the ball, share the ball, passing ability, and floor spacing. It was a really good fit.”

Regardless of the role that Nance plays throughout the season, his skillset is something that will immediately help UNC.

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Potential lineups options for UNC basketball this season

A look at some of the potential lineup options for UNC basketball and Hubert Davis with some added depth this season.

The UNC basketball program heads into 2022 as the No. 1 overall team in the country by numerous national projections. It is fresh off of a National Runner-up appearance and returns four starters – [autotag]RJ Davis[/autotag], [autotag]Caleb Love[/autotag], [autotag]Leaky Black[/autotag] and [autotag]Armando Bacot[/autotag] – and its two key bench members from last year – [autotag]Puff Johnson[/autotag] and [autotag]Dontrez Styles[/autotag].

The Tar Heels also add in a solid recruiting class and bring in Northwestern transfer [autotag]Pete Nance[/autotag] — looking to replace the role of Brady Manek.

Overall, North Carolina should be a deeper team this season and by all accounts Hubert Davis wants them to be. Whether it’s in the backcourt, wing or front court, there seems to be additional pieces that the roster didn’t have a season ago.

Here is a look at some of the potential lineups for UNC this season.