North Carolina senior striker Garrison Brooks is out of the starting lineup and is not expected to play in the second round of the ACC tournament on Wednesday night against the 11th seed Notre Dame. Before the game, Brooks was dressed, but he didn’t go through warm-up.
Brooks fell to an opponent’s foot when hitting a jumper and injured his ankle in the first minutes of last Saturday’s victory over Duke. He returned to the court in that game, scoring 14 points (including two of three points) and 5 rebounds in 25 minutes on Senior Night, but has not practiced since.
This is the second game that Brooks lost in 132 career games at UNC.
During the regular season of 2020-21, Brooks averaged 10.6 points and 6.9 rebounds, while shooting 47.9 percent of the field. The Alabama native has played 22 games and played in all 25 UNC games.
“I just saw confidence in him and him playing freely and knowing what he can do and what he is capable of,” said Caleb Love after the victory over Duke. “I saw Garrison knock down many three in training and I saw him knock some down in the game, and then I saw him knock some down last year. So just him having that confidence in himself and shooting with confidence and he hit them. “
With Brooks out of the lineup, freshman Day’Ron Sharpe is starting with UNC. Sharpe is Carolina’s sixth man and made three matches and plays in all 25 games,
A freshman from Greenville, NC, Sharpe averaged 9.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game, the team’s record, while shooting 51.3 percent of the field. The great UNC man made three games and played in all 25 games, averaging 19.2 minutes per game. Sharpe added a total of 22 team blocks. He is ranked No. 1 in the country in percentage of offensive rebound by kenpom.com.
North Carolina freshman Walker Kessler will also have more time with Brooks out. Kessler averages 4.1 points per game and an average of 8.0 minutes per competition. Kessler’s score and production increased at the end of the ACC game. He scored 9, 10, 10, 10 and 20 points in consecutive games.
The number 6 Tar Heels seeds is expected to appear with Notre Dame at 21:10 on the ACC Network.