UNC has one of the highest-scoring teams in college basketball. The Tar Fort Hays State Tigers shirt Heels have averaged 78.1 points per game, good for the 19th-most in the NCAA, during the 2021-22 season and that's part of why they have made it to the Final Four.
A majority of UNC's scoring comes from their starters. Four of their starters average at least 13.4 points per game, with Armando Bacot's 16.2 pacing the field ahead of Caleb Love (15.7), Brady Manek (15.2) and R.J. Davis (13.4).
While those four players draw a lot of attention, UNC's fifth starter is just as important to the team's success. Leaky Black averages under five points per game, but the senior has emerged as a key defender and glue guy for the Tar Heels in his 30-minutes-per-game role.
Black may not get as much hype as his teammates, but he certainly is an important part of the Tar Heels' run to the F Kentucky vs. Louisville Rivalry Gear inal Four. Who is Leaky Black? And how did he get his unique nickname? Here's what to know about UNC's senior starter.
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Who is Leaky Black?
Rechon "Leaky" Black is a 6-8 senior guard who has spent all five years of his college career at UNC. He was the 51st-ranked player i Bucknell Bison shirt n the 2018 recruiting class per the ESPN 100 and has been a do-it-all player for the Tar Heels during the 2021-22 season.
Black has served as a facilitator on offense while also es Texas vs. Oklahoma Rivalry Jerseys tablishing himself as the team's best lockdown defender. He has been efficient, as he has shot a career-best 47.4 percent from the field and 86.8 percent from the free-throw line. He has averaged 4.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 0.9 steals in 29.4 minutes per game.
Black is the ultimate glue guy as the fifth member of a UNC starting lineup that features four double-digit scorers. Coach Hubert Davis has been impressed with his effort in 2022 and spoke well of his leadership ahead of the Final Four.
"At the beginning of the year, t Alabama vs. Auburn Rivalry Gear here wasn’t a definitive one-person leader, but what has grown has been a team full of leaders,” Davis said Tuesday, per the Burlington Times-News. "And one of the things that I feel like the guys have learned is that leadership comes in many different forms. Some people ar College Cold Weather Jerseys en’t comfortable being a vocal leader, but you can be a leader in many different ways.
"And that’s what Leaky is. Leaky is one of our leaders on this team. He’s not somebody that feels comfortable being vocal, but the way that he practices, his selfless play, the way that he encourages all of our guys, his personality, his experience, he’s leading us."
That leadership particularly shines on defense, as Black is a finalist for the Lefty Driesell Award, which is given to college basketball's Defensive Player of the Year.
But if Black's defense is so strong, then why is he called Leaky? Well, that nickname belonged to him long before his UNC days.
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How did Leaky Black get his nickname?
Born Rechon Malik Black, “Leaky” was started by his grandmother, due to h Chapman Panthers clothes is middle name, Malik.
"It's been my nickname ever since I can remember," Black said in an interview with the Tar Heel Times in 2018.
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Black said in an interview with UNC that "all of my cousins had a nickname," so tha Franklin & Marshall Diplomats Jerseys t's why his family members began calling him Leaky. Eventually, it spilled over onto the basketball court, so he became known as Leaky to his teammates instead of Rechon.
