Bad Sign: UNC Basketball Freshman Looks to Depart Program

Over the past two weeks, UNC basketball anxiously awaited the decisions of star freshmen Drake Powell and Ian Jackson. Coming into the year, many assumed both could be one-and-done prospects for the Tar Heels but, at the same time, hoped for their returns.

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Much of the discussion around the future of both players had been pushed to the backburner as head coach Hubert Davis and staff made contacts with players in the portal, assuming both Powell and Jackson were weighing their professional future, not their college of choice. That ended up being a wrong assumption, at least for one of them.

On Monday afternoon, On3’s Pete Nakos reported that Ian Jackson has indeed entered the transfer portal, not the NBA Draft.

This decision may come as a huge surprise to UNC basketball faithful and general fans of college hoops, as there was no prior indication that Jackson would want to continue his career elsewhere if he did to college return for a sophomore season.

But the 6-foot-4, 190-pound bucket-getter is now looking elsewhere, as he almost certainly becomes one of the most coveted players on the market. He averaged 11.9 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 0.9 assists in his lone season in Chapel Hill, also connecting on 39.5 percent of his 3-point attempts.

Davis and the UNC basketball recruiters will now have an even bigger hole to fill in the backcourt, as the Tar Heels must also replace Elliot Cadeau and RJ Davis. With the inclusion of Jackson in that group, time will be ticking for the Tar Heels to snag some guard reinforcements from the transfer portal.

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