UNC Basketball Guard Encounters Brutal Freshman Wall

UNC basketball sure could use a big-time bounceback performance from Ian Jackson.

UNC basketball guard Ian Jackson versus Duke / Zachary Taft-Imagn Images

All in all, UNC basketball bucket-getter Ian Jackson has delivered a productive rookie campaign in Chapel Hill, albeit not so much in the win column.

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After all, through 24 appearances as a Tar Heel, Jackson is averaging 13.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.0 assists in 26.6 minutes per game while shooting 46.1 percent from the field, 36.2 percent from deep, and 75.3 percent at the line.

However, between the past three outings, beginning with the 87-70 loss at Duke on Feb. 1 and most recently the 85-65 road defeat at the hands of Clemson on Monday night, Jackson has averaged only 3.6 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 22.6 minutes per game.

Across that stretch, in which Hubert Davis' Tar Heels (14-11, 7-6 ACC) are 1-2 and 0-2 on the road, the 20-year-old New Yorker and former McDonald's All American is shooting just 11.8 percent from the field and 11.1 percent beyond the arc. He hasn't made a field goal since the loss at Duke.

Jackson, who fell out of the starting five at Clemson for the first time since earning that nod in late December, looks to crash through what appears to be his "freshman wall" when the reeling Tar Heels face the Syracuse Orange (11-14, 5-9 ACC) in the JMA Wireless Dome at 6 p.m. ET Saturday (ESPN).

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