When it comes to North Carolina Basketball, it is busy times in Chapel Hill. Over the last two weeks, UNC has landed 5-star guard Cole Anthony, 4-star combo guard Anthony Harris, Charleston Southern grad transfer Christian Keeling and now William & Mary grad transfer Justin Pierce.
Pierce, one of the top transfer on the market, committed to North Carolina on Thursday. The 6-foot-7 forward was another priority for Roy Williams and the Tar Heels.
Officially a Tar Heel! 🐏🐏🐏 pic.twitter.com/0YAxILAaOe
— Justin Pierce (@JustinPierce23) May 2, 2019
North Carolina has rarely gone the grad transfer route under Williams, but this is twice now in seven days: Keeling and Pierce. Similarly to Keeling, Pierce comes with a lot of experience — over 2,200 minutes of action to his name.
As a sophomore and junior, over the course of two seasons, Pierce averaged 14.8 points (36.5 3P%, 55.2 eFG%), 8.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. In the 2018-19 season, Pierce posted an assist rate of 23.8 percent and a defensive rebound rate of 24.3 percent, per Sports Reference. Those are both strong numbers.
According to Synergy Sports, Pierce — playing as a hybrid 4 — also shot 60.7 percent on half-court non-post-up attempts around the basket.
While at UNC, Pierce plan to work on obtaining his NBA. After college he hopes to work for an NBA organization. (Hello, Charlotte Hornets!)
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