UNC Basketball: Pete Nance announces he’s coming to Chapel Hill

On Saturday, UNC’s 2022-23 basketball roster was completed with the announcement from Pete Nance that he will move from Northwestern to Chapel Hill.

The 6’10” fifth year player is coming off personal highs for points (14.6) and three-point percentage (45.2%) for Northwestern, all while playing a majority of the time in the five role. Once the season was done, he had opted to go through the NBA Draft process, taking all the way to the last minute to pull his name back out and play one more season in college. It was likely that he took the feedback he got from the process and realized he needed a different stage to showcase his skills on.

The recruitment of Nance happened fast, once he pulled his name out he quickly visited Chapel Hill this week, and despite other schools being listed as possibilities it looked like he didn’t made it out of North Carolina before deciding this was the place for him. The timing of the announcement also seems to pair with this cheeky tweet by known superstar recruiter Armando Bacot earlier in the week

Folks seemed to think that this was about Nance, considering the date of the tweet is when Nance reportedly visited, and Bacot seemed to confirm this a little later in the day Saturday with this follow up after the announcement.

Fans expecting a copy of Brady Manek should keep their hopes in check, if only because Nance didn’t shoot nearly the same volume of 3’s that Manek did prior to his arrival. That said, there’s no doubt that the one hole remaining was the spot that Nance will fill nicely. Unlike last season with a new coach and a ton of transfers, everyone coming in should now their role and there should be less friction in trying to slot someone in.

Nance had just the one year remaining, which means Davis can continue to recruit for 2023, and the competition on the court will be fierce for everyone coming back.

If the name Nance sounds familiar, it’s because his older brother, Larry Nance, Jr, is a current NBA player, last with the New Orleans Pelicans, and his father, Larry Sr, also played in the NBA.

With the roster now set and the second summer session beginning, the Tar Heels will enter 2022-23 as one of, if not the top, teams in the country with an eye towards Houston and the national title.