Former Virginia player Justin McKoy to be wearing Tar Heel blue next season?

Posted on Thursday, Apr. 8, 2021, 5:23 pm

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By Jerry Ratcliffe

UVA’s Justin McKoy tries to find a way around Marek Dolezaj of Syracuse.

Hubert Davis’ first scholarship offer as North Carolina’s head coach has been to former Virginia player Justin McKoy.

McKoy was recently the third UVA basketball player to enter the transfer portal, and could be the Tar Heels’ first commitment since Roy Williams stepped down as coach last week.

After being in Tony Bennett’s program for two years, most fans were surprised that McKoy moved on because it appeared his playing time for next season would be increased, if not a starting role was in the offing. His floor time at UVA picked up toward the latter end of the season and he could have made a difference with his size against Ohio in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, had he been available. It was speculated that McKoy was the Cavalier that tested positive for Covid, that caused Virginia to withdraw from the ACC Tournament semifinals.

The North Carolina native played in 19 games and started four as a sophomore last season. He averaged 3.5 points and 3.3 rebounds per game, and was a good offensive rebounder.

He averaged 11 minutes a game and shot 48 percent from the field. Sportswriters noticed after UVA home games, McKoy would come back out after the game and practice shooting for a significant amount of time.

The highlights of his season was an 11-point effort against San Francisco and eight points in a win over Miami.