The 6-foot-10, 210-pound spectacle in their midst had each and every Tar Heel on the edge of their seat.
The high school junior from Wesleyan Christian Academy in High Point even drew the attention of ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale, who stood on the baseline to take a picture as the top prospect shot a free throw behind him.
Harry Giles — the No. 3 recruit in the 2016 class — is used to such attention. And in Wesleyan’s 92-74 drubbing of the JV men’s basketball team, he demonstrated why UNC hopes Saturday will be the first of many times he takes the floor at the Smith Center.
“It was a big arena, big atmosphere, big event,” said Giles about playing in the Smith Center. “It was a lot of fun to go out here and play in a potential place where I could possibly end up at.”
Giles, who as a freshman was the first to ever receive a scholarship offer from Coach Roy Williams at that age, took the floor during pre-game warmu-ups and effortlessly tossed in 3-pointers.
Giles was held scoreless for the first couple of minutes. But when he finally tallied his first points, he did so in a substantial way.
As one of his teammates went up for a layup, Giles charged down the middle of the lane, snagged the ball out of the air on the miss and slammed in the put-back dunk.
As Giles came down to the floor, UNC swingman Theo Pinson — who attended Wesleyan and is close friends with Giles — turned his head toward Joel Berry and laughed in amazement.
