North Carolina may have beaten Duke on the road Wednesday night, but their win was hardly what had people talking afterwards. Instead, Zion Williamson’s shoe blowout and knee injury stole all the focus.
Williamson’s shoe ripped apart in the first minute of the game and the star freshman exited with a knee injury that knocked him out for the game. There were concerns about whether he would miss the rest of the season for Duke, and there were many saying he should just sit out until the NBA Draft.
Nassir Little, a freshman who had two points and two assists in 11 minutes of UNC’s 88-72 win over Duke, was agitated by the excess coverage of Williamson rather than the Tar Heels’ win. In comments made on Saturday, he specifically called out ESPN, which televised the game.
Nassir Little on how ESPN and the rest of sports media portray UNC, Duke and Zion: pic.twitter.com/zS4ZyHe07N
— Jack Leland (@jleland_) February 24, 2019
Little doubled down on his comments a day later.
I said what I said, I meant it, and I’ll say it again if I got to.
— Nassir Little (@2ez_nassie) February 25, 2019
Little has a right to feel slighted and upset, but as someone who does this for a living, there is no doubt that the top story was Williamson’s injury. There were so many aspects to it; the severity of the injury, the failure of Nike’s equipment, and whether Williamson should shut it down. Those are all more compelling topics than UNC simply having an impressive win over their rival.
If UNC goes on to win the national championship, Little and his Tar Heels will get the respect and attention they are seeking. Until then, I have no issues with the way Zion’s injury overshadowed the Heels’ win.
