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The Daily Tar Heel

Theo Pinson out indefinitely with broken bone in foot

The freshman wing has a fractured fifth metatarsal

Freshman Theo Pinson (1) is out indefinitely with a broken bone in his left foot.

Freshman Theo Pinson (1) is out indefinitely with a broken bone in his left foot.

Theo Pinson, a freshman wing on the North Carolina men's basketball team, is sidelined indefinitely with a fractured fifth metatarsal in his left foot, Coach Roy Williams announced in a press conference Friday. He will not play Saturday against Florida State.

"We're still evaluating what all of his options can be," Williams said.

The injury came in the first half of No. 15 UNC's 87-71 win over Wake Forest on Wednesday. Pinson collided with forward Joel James in the paint, and when James stepped on Pinson's right foot, the freshman's left foot turned and fractured. 

This isn't the first time Pinson has dealt with a broken foot — in fact, he suffered the same injury his junior year of high school.

Losing Pinson couldn't have come at a worse time for Williams, whose team is already ravaged by the injury bug. Joel Berry II: groin. Luke Davis: foot. Stilman White: foot. With Nate Britt's status against the Seminoles also up in the air — he lacerated his lip against Wake Forest and got 15 stitches — and Marcus Paige still dealing with plantar fasciitis, Pinson's absence will leave UNC's backcourt thinner than it has been all season.

 "It's not a very comfortable feeling for us because we feel like we're down quite a few personnel wise, anyway," Williams said.

One-third of UNC's heralded freshman trio, Pinson arrived in Chapel Hill as a five-star recruit and the No. 10 overall player in the 2014 ESPN Top 100. The Greensboro native, although averaging just 3.3 points and 14.6 minutes per game this season, had come on strong of late. In the Tar Heels' Jan. 5 loss to Notre Dame, his seven points and eight rebounds off the bench sparked a furious UNC comeback attempt.

Pinson also has a team-best assist-error ratio with 36 assists to just 16 turnovers.

 "I think he was starting to come (around)," Williams said.

If Britt is unable to play Saturday, it would leave UNC with just three guards on the 16-man roster: Paige, freshman Justin Jackson and walk-on Justin Coleman. Because of Pinson's injury, Spenser Dalton, who plays on the junior varsity team, was called up for practice Friday.

"We're hoping we'll have Nate, but Nate's not gonna practice today," Williams said. "I mean, there's not gonna be any physical contact for Nate today, and we're hoping we'll have him, but we don't know."

The Tar Heels will host Florida State in Chapel Hill on Saturday at 2 p.m.

sports@dailytarheel.com

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