North Carolina Basketball: Theo Pinson suffers broken foot, out indefinitely

North Carolina basketball has lost a critical player to a serious practice injury.

Despite a top-10 ranking in the latest preseason USA Today coaches poll, the North Carolina Tar Heels already have a plethora of questions to answer if they are going to compete with the likes of Duke, Kansas, Villanova and Kentucky at the top of the college basketball world.

Now, another concern has propped up for Roy Williams’ club.

Junior guard/forward Theo Pinson suffered a broken foot in practice earlier this week and will be out indefinitely.

“I’m so disappointed for Theo,” Williams said in a statement. “No. 1, he’s been playing well and he does so many positive things for our team. Theo’s our energy guy, he defends, he’s our best passer, a threat on the offensive boards, he can play four different positions, and he gives our team personality, and I mean that in a good way.”

“Hopefully we can get him back before the end of the season, but we have not met with all the medical personnel yet so there is no timetable for when he can play again.”

If Pinson, a projected starter, is unable to return this season, the Tar Heels are in a massive amount of trouble. Sure, Pinson isn’t a dynamic scorer and has issues shooting the ball from the perimeter, but like Williams mentioned in the statement, Pinson does a number of things well. He gives the Tar Heels a versatile player who can slide in at different positions over the course of a game.

Coming out of high school in the class of 2014, Pinson was the 10th best player in ESPN’s top 100 and was a five-star talent overall. He has yet to live up to expectations at the college level, as he averaged just 4.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 18.7 minutes per game on a team that reached the National Championship.

The Greensboro, NC native is one of six key returnees who have to make up for the loss of Marcus Paige and Brice Johnson. Pinson was one of the players who was expected to make a jump, but now, he is dealing with a major setback and will have to rehab in order to play at all in 2016-17.

Pinson, who also fractured the fifth metatarsal in his right foot during his freshman campaign, helps give UNC a different dimension on both ends of the floor. He’s only 6’6″, but he can handle the ball, finish at the rim and distribute to his teammates.

For the time being, the Tar Heels will rely on shooting guard Kenny Williams to fill Pinson’s spot. Joel Berry II, Williams and Justin Jackson will start on the perimeter with Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks roaming the painted area.

The Tar Heels likely won’t have Pinson for the non-conference portion of the schedule. However, if he can somehow return during the conference schedule or the NCAA Tournament, the Tar Heels could make a late season run.