North Carolina will potentially be without freshman star Nassir Little when it takes on No. 5 seed Auburn on Friday night in the Sweet 16. Little is dealing with flu-like symptoms, and the program listed his status as of Thursday afternoon as "questionable."
He did not practice Thursday.
Carolina freshman forward Nassir Little will not practice today due to illness (flulike symptoms). He did not practice yesterday in Chapel Hill and his status for Friday’s game vs. Auburn is questionable. He will not be available today for interviews. pic.twitter.com/ikMWc5lQN9
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) March 28, 2019
"Didn't feel good last night. Was running a little bit of a temperature this morning," Tar Heels coach Roy Williams said of Little and what he's been dealing with. "Didn't feel like eating. I can say it's hard to make a 180-turn because there's no way in the world he could play if we're playing today. He's sitting there and he has a plate in front of him. He felt -- looked to me like it was hard to pick up the fork. And the last time I looked, it wasn't that heavy."
Little is coming off one of his best two-game stretches all season for No. 1 seed UNC. In the first round he scored 19 points grabbed four rebounds, and against Washington in the second round he scored 20 points and added seven boards.
Little is a projected top-10 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft despite an up and down freshman season overall. Fortunately for North Carolina, veterans Cameron Johnson and Kenny Williams are capable of picking up the slack in his absence if he is unable to rally and recover by the 7:29 p.m. ET on Friday night.
