Leaky Black has made his mark guarding ACC’s top scorers. As he thrives, so does UNC

North Carolina senior forward Leaky Black may be the only full-time starter in the ACC who has played multiple games without attempting a shot.

And he may be the only one who is fine with that.

Black’s role for the Tar Heels (12-4, 4-1) has evolved to the point of having a specific focus that doesn’t include scoring — or even shooting for that matter. He’s their defensive stopper. His 6-foot-8 frame allows him to defend multiple positions, even playing the 4 if needed.

“Obviously, we have a lot of guys that can shoot the ball and score it many different ways,” Black said. “...I don’t have to do much on that end. I just have to do my job to get them open. On the other end, that’s where I kind of pick up my role and I take pride in that and trying to be a leader and make sure everyone’s on their P’s and Q’s on that end.”

Black will have another big challenge as the Heels travel to Miami (13-4, 5-1) to face its high-scoring backcourt led by Kameron McGusty. Black will likely spend most of his time during Tuesday’s game guarding McGusty, who is the ACC’s fifth leading scorer at 18.0 points per game.

Defending the opponent’s best scorer is the assignment Black readily accepts.

“The team highly appreciates Leaky,” sophomore guard R.J. Davis said. “For him to guard the best defender every night and do a great job on them, making it tough for them to make shots, making them frustrated, that’s something that goes around the locker room and something that we notice. Other people may not notice, but Leaky does a great job.”

UNC thrives when Black thrives

Carolina is 3-0 in the three games this season that Black hasn’t attempted a shot. Two of those games were in conference play, against Boston College and Virginia. Against the Cavaliers, Black defended Armaan Franklin, who averaged 14.3 points in the three prior games. Black kept him from being a factor in their offense. Franklin’s first basket didn’t come until three minutes remained in the first half.

Black is Carolina’s best perimeter defender and Saturday’s win over Georgia Tech was arguably his best effort this season. He took Yellow Jackets’ leading scorer Michael DeVoe completely out of the game, limiting him to a season-low two points on a season-low five shot attempts from the floor. DeVoe entered the game second in the ACC, averaging 20.5 points per game, and has only one other game this season where he didn’t reach double figures.

“He’s not shooting 3s and really a scoring threat for them, but he does a great job defensively and he did a great job on Michael DeVoe both games,” Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner said. “He’s tall, he’s long, he guards and when you have the scoring power that North Carolina has — which is good enough to go to Final Four — and you have that defender, you’re really good.”

Black said he accepted his role “a long time ago” based on playing on grassroots teams when he’d play point guard and, similar to Carolina’s currently lineup, he was surrounded by talented scorers. His main concern back then was finding a way to make sure he stayed on the court.

Black can impact games in other ways. He puts those former point guard skills to use, leading the Heels in transition and initiating their offense with no hesitation.

It’s not a coincidence that in two of the games that Black didn’t take a shot, he led UNC in assists including a season-high five against Boston College.

“From an offensive standpoint, he doesn’t shoot the ball very much,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said. “But in terms of assists, he takes care of the basketball and he has the best assist to turnover ratio on the team.”

‘Whatever the team needs’

Boston College coach Earl Grant said every team needs a player or two like Black, because five players on the floor who only want to score is bound to cause some “dysfunction.”

“He’s one of those type guys, just a utility guy, who’ll do whatever the team needs,” Grant said. “He’s more concerned with winning than scoring and I think every team needs at least two on the floor at all times like that.”

It’s not that Black can’t score. Last season at Miami he scored a game-high 16 points including 4-for-4 from 3-point range in the Heels’ win. He also made the game-winning runner with 9.1 seconds to beat Notre Dame last season. He just hasn’t been consistent at it.

Black averages just 3.7 points on 3.1 shot attempts per game, despite averaging 25.5 minutes per game. He hasn’t scored in double figures since Feb. 6, 2021 when he had 12 points in Carolina’s 91-87 win at Duke, a string of 26 consecutive games.

“I don’t want to say I’m not doing much on the offensive end, but at the end of the day, that’s what it is,” Black said. “It’s like I get my rest on that end (offense) in a way and on the defensive end, it gives me a second breath to lock in and do my job that way.”

It’s a job that Carolina believes should be acknowledged by the league when it comes time to hand out awards.

“One of the things that I’ve said before, and I’m gonna continue to say, there’s nobody in this conference that is a better individual defender than Leaky Black,” Hubert Davis said. “He should be the Defensive Player of the Year.”