COLUMBUS, Ohio — When you’re the Most Valuable Player in the McDonald’s All-American Game and co-MVP of the Jordan Brand Classic, expectations are for instant stardom on the college level.
Those expectations followed Nassir Little to North Carolina, where he has been more of a role player than a phenom. But if there were times Little was underwhelming during the regular season, he appears to be coming into his own at the right time. His contribution off the bench this weekend was a key factor as the top-seeded Tar Heels (29-6) advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, where they’ll play fifth-seeded Auburn (26-9) on Friday in Kansas City.
The 6-6 freshman swingman from Orange Park, Fla., averaged a modest 9.4 points a game coming off the bench during the season. His only 20-point games came when he had 21 at Elon and 23 in Chapel Hill against Virginia Tech.
But he was a source of much-needed energy in the Tar Heels’ second-half comeback against Iona on Friday night, when he scored 19 points. He followed that with a stellar outing against Washington, totaling 20 points to share the team lead with Luke Maye. It’s the first time Little had scored more than 12 points in consecutive games.
In a basketball world ruled by 3-point shooting, the chiseled Little brought a physical force to the proceedings, hammering the Gaels and Huskies with his inside muscle. Little, a 46 percent shooter during the regular season, was 9-of-13 from the field against Iona and 8-of-11 against the Huskies. He drained the lone 3-pointer he attempted. It came with 11:34 remaining against the Huskies, giving the Tar Heels a 59-42 lead in their eventual 81-59 victory.
“I was very happy when he went to shoot that 3 right in front of our bench because it was a shot that everybody wanted him to take,” said UNC coach Roy Williams. “We’ve seen him take those and he works extremely hard on that shot.”
That’s not his role though. Little is at his best breaking down an offense and getting inside.
“I just look at what the team needs,” he said. “[Against Iona] I felt like early on we were taking too many outside shots. The coaches were telling me to be aggressive and get easy buckets on the inside and play inside-out. By doing that, it opened up a lot of things in the second half.”
He was a terror in the second half against the Huskies. Little ruined their zone defense, shooting 6-of-6, including his 3-pointer and two free throws, for 15 points. He also had four rebounds in just over 10 minutes of playing time.
“He has an ability to get around that basket, and with the jumping ability and the quickness he has and the power that he has, he can hurt a lot of people inside,” Williams said. “It’s also him getting healthy again. He had about a four or five-game stretch that he wasn’t as effective. But the last two games he’s been something else for us.”
Little is a true student-athlete earning a spot on the Academic All-ACC Team, just the fifth Tar Heel freshman to earn that honor. An injured ankle and a poke in the eye stalled his progress on the court during the regular season, but he seems to have found a rhythm just at the right time.
“A little bit of it is maturing,” Williams said. “He was really coming along really well and then he got his ankle hurt and then he got hit in the eye. And those things kind of set him back quite a bit. But he’s such a gifted guy around that basket. He’s so quick and jumps so high. I think he’s realizing it more now than he did earlier.”