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Dawson garcia didn’t give up a second chance to play for the North Carolina pass.
Almost two years after receiving a scholarship offer from former head coach Roy Williams, nearly three months after entering his name in the NBA Draft and 13 days after entering the transfer portal, Garcia has announced Thursday his commitment to the Tar Heels.
Garcia, a 6-foot-11, 225-pound forward, averaged 13.0 points and 6.6 rebounds in his lone season at Marquette, shooting 48.0 percent from the field and 35.6 percent on attempts at three points, while winning the Big East All-Freshman team honors. His three-point percentage would have placed second in last year’s UNC squad behind second-year guard – and former Garcia AAU teammate – Kerwin Walton.
UNC coaches and players are familiar with Garcia’s abilities, as he posted 24 points and 11 rebounds on Feb.24 at the Smith Center, leading the Golden Eagles past the Tar Heels, 83-70.
When Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski was sacked and replaced by Shaka Smart after the season, Garcia was seen as a candidate to explore a transfer. Instead, he announced on April 12 that he would explore the NBA draft process. He led all of the elite G League camp’s scorers, averaging 17.0 points and 4.5 rebounds in two games, but was not one of four entrants to receive an invitation to the NBA. Draft Combine. After camp, on June 25, Garcia announced he was entering the NCAA transfer portal. Last week he was in Chapel Hill on an official visit, sources confirmed. Garcia has also officially visited and considered Illinois and Arizona as potential transfer destinations.
Garcia is the third transfer that Hubert Davis has added to the schedule this offseason, joining Justin McKoy (Virginia) and Brady Manek (Oklahoma). All three fit the type of all-round great men who Davis said were essential in modernizing the offense and shaping the roster in his vision.
“I want to score around the basket. I want to post,” Davis said on the College Hoops Today podcast earlier this year. “I want to attack the offensive glass. I want other big players on the opposing team to be in trouble. But to have that space, to have that movement so that guys like Caleb Love and RJ Davis can get in and play games, you need guys to be able to stretch the floor …
“In the last nine years that I’ve been an assistant, the number one player who’s given us the most trouble has been some big all-rounders playing on the perimeter. And now we’re going to have guys like that, it’s okay. be a problem for the opposing team. “
Garcia, who was a McDonald’s All-American from Savage, Minn. Prior Lake High School, was recruited by North Carolina in the summer of 2019, receiving an offer from Roy Williams. Then-assistant coach Hubert Davis was Garcia’s main recruiter for UNC. Garcia was D1 Minnesota’s star on the adidas 3SSB Tour that summer alongside Kerwin Walton, who would sign with UNC the following spring. Garcia was mulling over an official visit to UNC in the fall of 2019, but his UNC recruiting effectively ended when now forward Auburn Walker Kessler made a commitment to the Tar Heels. Garcia signed with Marquette in November 2019.
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