UNC
Relive Tar Heels’ Legend James Worthy’s Incredible Moment
Teammates with Michael Jordan, James Worthy is another noteworthy figure that played underneath Dean Smith at North Carolina. And he was good in his own right.
He earned a No. 1 overall draft pick to the Los Angeles Lakers following three years of solid college basketball where he concluded averaging 14.5 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 2.5 assists. Also shooting 54.1% from the field goal range, but the only drawback of his figures would be the 65.2% from the free throw line. However,
ACC Digital Network shared a video clip on X (formerly Twitter) on Worthy dunking and drawing a foul, but the referee’s reaction made the moment a bit more interesting:That’s not something you’d see in today’s game, right? For what it’s worth, it added much more emphasis to Worthy’s dunk.
GoHeels gave details about Worthy’s recognition as a part of the ACC Basketball Legends class, a cool club to be representing the best of the best in the ACC:
The 1982 National Player of the Year and the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player, Worthy led North Carolina to its second NCAA title and the first under legendary head coach Dean Smith. His 28-point outburst and steal in the dying seconds pushed the Tar Heels past Georgetown in the national championship game.
That capped a junior year in which Worthy received All-America accolades for the second straight season and was also the MVP of both the ACC Tournament
The Los Angeles Lakers made the Gastonia, North Carolina, native the NBA’s No. 1 overall draft pick a few months later. Despite missing a large part of his freshman year at UNC with a broken ankle, Worthy totaled 1,219 points in just over 2 ½ college seasons to rank among the school’s all-time leading scorers.
He went on to stellar professional career in which he was a seven-time NBA All-Star, played on three NBA title teams and was voted the MVP of the 1988 NBA Finals. Worthy’s jersey (number 52) was retired at UNC, and he was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2003.”And for reference here’s the entire class, per GoHeels:
