Matt Able hasn’t taken a regular-season snap in a UNC uniform yet, but the buzz around him is already real.
The sophomore guard landed on the preseason watch list for the 2027 Jerry West Award, given each year to the top shooting guard in Division I men’s basketball. He is one of just 20 players selected nationwide.
That kind of early recognition says plenty about how North Carolina views Able entering his first season in Chapel Hill. It also puts him in a spot Tar Heel fans know well: former UNC star RJ Davis won the Jerry West Award after his standout 2023-24 season and became the first Tar Heel to do it. Able now has a chance to become the second.
Able’s path to UNC made him one of the more notable additions on Michael Malone’s reworked roster. He tested the NBA Draft waters over the offseason, then decided to return to college and transfer to North Carolina. That move gave Malone another backcourt piece with real upside.
UNC has already gotten a brief look at what Able can offer. His best preseason performance came against Indiana, when he scored 11 points and made three of five shots from three-point range. The preseason wasn’t spotless, but his shooting gives the Tar Heels a perimeter threat they can use once the games start counting.
Able also enters a crowded field. The Jerry West Award watch list includes several of the game’s more intriguing guards, among them PJ Haggerty, Caleb Holt, Alijah Arenas, Braylon Mullins and John Blackwell.
And the watch list is only the first step. Players can be added to or removed from the group during the season, with the field eventually cut from 20 to 10 and then to five finalists before the award is handed out.
Before he even plays his first official game for North Carolina, Able is already being talked about as one of the nation’s best shooting guards.
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For the Tar Heels, the miss adds another layer to a rivalry that tends to show up in the recruiting lanes long before it ever reaches the court. Dukes class keeps building around top-end talent, while UNC now has to keep pressing ahead with other targets and make up ground elsewhere in a cycle where every high-end decision matters. [Read more 🡒]