UNC Basketball Head Coach Proposes One New Practice Plan for Forward

Second-year UNC basketball player Jae'Lyn Withers fought off an eye issue to help power the Tar Heels' much-needed victory at Syracuse.

UNC basketball forward Jae'Lyn Withers | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

UNC basketball forward Jae'Lyn Withers, averaging 5.2 points for the 2024-25 Tar Heels (15-11, 8-6 ACC), got poked in the eye during practice on Friday and attempted the goggle look in shootaround ahead of Saturday's 88-82 road win over the Syracuse Orange (11-15, 5-10 ACC). He almost didn't play.

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The 24-year-old Withers, who spent three seasons at Louisville before making the move to Chapel Hill last season with two years of eligibility, ultimately decided against the goggles en route to delivering a season-high 19 points before fouling out late.

In overcoming the injury and responding to his second straight start, Withers added six rebounds, one assist, three blocks, and only one turnover across his 24 minutes against the Orange. He shot 7-for-10 from the field, 3-for-4 beyond the arc, and 2-for-2 at the charity stripe.

So, speaking to the media, fourth-year UNC basketball head coach Hubert Davis sung Withers' praises by joking that inadvertent eye-poking is now somehow to be part of the 6-foot-9, 220-pound Charlotte native's weekly routine on the practice court:

"I'm gonna poke him in the eye on Monday...That's on the practice plan. That's the first thing that I'm gonna do is throw a ball at his other eye...

"He got poked in the eye pretty significantly. And there was some doubt that he was gonna play...Didn't like the glasses. But he felt like the swelling, his vision, was good. There was just no hesitation he wanted to be out there.

"J-Wit is our biggest four. And his ability to be able to guard one-on-one [against Syracuse's bigs] was huge."

Hubert Davis and his Tar Heels are now looking to compete a sweep over the visiting rival NC State Wolfpack (10-15, 3-11 ACC) at 7 p.m. ET Wednesday (ESPN).

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