Justin Jackson confident UNC men's basketball will 'make a long run'

“I cling to you; your right hand upholds me.”

North Carolina men’s basketball player Justin Jackson struggled to find himself during the 2014-15 season. His once steady scoring ability seemingly vanished, and the first-year wing wasn’t living up to the hype fans built when he was a recruit.

“I wanted to come in and produce right away, but that’s not the way the Lord wanted it.”

So he clung to God and clung to his faith because he knew that if he was struggling to find a place where he fit, it was for a reason.

“My faith is the biggest thing to me. For me, I always knew God would bring me through,” he said. “Obviously, you can’t really see it through the hard times, but you always know he’s not going to give you more than you can handle.”

Humble beginnings

Justin’s parents introduced him to basketball at an early age. But success didn’t come easily.

If the ball came his way, he ducked. Every time he fell, he shed a tear. The fundamentals were challenging, the game a struggle.

“Honestly, I would probably just say I was scared,” he said. “I loved basketball, but I didn’t love having to be out there.”

Yet he stuck to it. By the sixth grade, his determination started paying off.

Lloyd and Sharon Jackson knew their son — who was typically taller than his classmates but skinnier than his opponents — would never develop into a brute in the paint. So they taught him a jump shot to compensate. His signature floater came on its own.

But he also excelled away from the basketball court. In the classroom, he was advanced among his peers. His assignments didn’t challenge him, leaving him free time to color. In the fourth grade, his parents elected to make a change to his education, opting to homeschool him.

Homeschooling allowed Justin to study at his own pace, spend time with his family and receive Christian-based instruction.

His education strayed from the home school stereotype. But the misconceptions about his schooling followed him. His teammates — specifically senior Marcus Paige and sophomores Joel Berry and Theo Pinson — still tease him.

By ninth grade, Justin realized he could play college basketball, at one level or another. About the same time, UNC started showing interest.

He established himself as a five-star recruit and led the Homeschool Christian Youth Association Warriors to a national championship in 2012.

Then came the phone call from Roy Williams a few days after an AAU tournament in the summer of 2012. Justin sat in his room in Tomball, Texas, as Williams offered him a scholarship over the phone.

Five other schools remained on Justin’s list, but after taking an official visit to UNC the following March, he committed to the Tar Heels just two days later, becoming the first homeschooled player to sign with North Carolina.

“I wanted to see a little bit more as far as the other schools and see if maybe I fit somewhere else; maybe I fit a little bit better somewhere else,” he said. “When I came here, it just cemented that.”

But in his first year in Chapel Hill, Justin’s performance was anything but concrete.

An unexpected slump

Following UNC’s 92-90 overtime loss at Duke, Justin boarded the team bus and took a seat next to Williams.

In what he refers to as perhaps the worst game of his basketball career, Justin scored two points on 1-of-8 shooting in a season-low 17 minutes and was searching for answers more so now than ever.

The early stages of the season saw Justin lack aggressiveness at times as he struggled settling into his offensive role. He admitted to being tentative and worried about mistakes.

But the shot his parents helped him develop was also missing, and the Tar Heels’ top recruit in their three-man class felt more than just his own expectations mounting.

“(Fans) don’t see the inside, the in and outs that you have to get through, whether it’s in this program or any other program ...” he said. “All those fans that I had, they were still fans, but they were waiting for me to play like I did in high school or to produce like I was projected to produce.”

So as he sat next to Williams on the ride back to Chapel Hill, they discussed what Justin could improve on. Williams stressed having a big picture point of view. Justin’s mindset immediately changed.

“After that conversation, it really opened my eyes to the fact that coach probably has the most confidence in me out of anybody, so why do I not have that much confidence in myself?” Justin said.

And it showed. He scored in double figures in 11 of UNC’s final 12 games of the season and shot 52.1 percent from the field and 44.7 percent from 3-point distance.

He scored 22 points in the Tar Heels’ 71-67 upset of top-seeded Virginia in the ACC Tournament semifinals and averaged 15 points per game on 71 percent 3-point shooting in three NCAA Tournament games.

“His confidence has just been on an upward trajectory ever since,” Paige said.

Now, he must sustain it.

‘A vital cog’

In the offseason, Justin returned to Tomball with one goal in mind — to improve his game in order to fit the Tar Heels’ needs. He gained close to 10 pounds and worked on his mental game.

“He’s played better in practice so far 100 miles than he did last year in preseason practices as a freshman,” said Williams at UNC media day on Oct. 12. “I think he’s much more confident now.

“But still, I’ve seen some guys who are the greatest players in the world out there on the court in practice. I want to see how it is when the lights are on and you have to play against somebody else.”

Justin started 37 games a season ago, tying for the most by a first-year under Williams at UNC. And while his transition from highly-touted recruit to All-ACC first-year included its hurdles, some things come with age as Justin enters his sophomore season.

With UNC entering the season ranked No. 1 in the nation, Justin says the team has one goal in mind — the national championship in Houston.

“Anything less than that will be a disappointment to us because we know we have a lot of pieces, and we have the right pieces to be able to make a long run.”

And after finding his place and clinging to his faith, Justin knows he could be a vital cog in helping the Tar Heels’ achieve their goals.

@patjames24

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