The North Carolina Tar Heels will wrap up their non-conference schedule over the next five days. They head to Atlanta to face off against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the CBS Sports Classic, then host East Carolina on Monday in the Dean Dome.
At 10-1 going into these two games, the Tar Heels are learning more and more about their roster. But one big question remains. Who should be the primary backup center? With Henri Veesaar having a fantastic start to the year, UNC will eventually need to find someone behind him who can contribute in key moments as well.
One player in the mix is sophomore center James Brown. After a freshman season in which Brown played sparingly, the departures of Ven-Allen Lubin and Jalen Washington have now created a chance for him to earn key playing time. And so far, it’s his energy standing out for Hubert Davis. “As I said before, I don’t want to play Henri for 40 minutes,” Davis said after Tuesday’s game. “And (Brown) coming off the bench and giving us good minutes at that position is really huge for us.
“I like the energy. One of the things that I highlighted from the last game (against USC Upstate) was him diving on the floor. He’s active, he’s getting after it. We can talk about the fouls, but the energy that he brings off the bench is something that I’ve liked over the last couple of games.”
Brown is averaging 5.4 minutes per game early which is up from 2.9 a year ago. He’s battling with Zayden High for key minutes to back up Veesaar. While the stats aren’t great, they don’t need to be right now. The development of Brown will go on over the course of the year and he still has the chance to take that backup role.
