CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- North Carolina assistant coach Steve Robinson approached head coach Roy Williams with a sheepish grin. During the Tar Heels’ one-on-one drills, Robinson told Williams he saw Justin Jackson do something he has never done since arriving in Chapel Hill.
Jackson dunked on a teammate.
Freshman Shea Rush, a 6-foot-6 preferred walk-on, was the victim.
“We’d never seen him do that before,” said Williams, who was on the opposite end of the court monitoring the post players when it happened. “I said, 'Dang, why didn’t you stop practice?' I’d do some cartwheels over something like that.”
Jackson knows a perception exists that he tends to play soft. The 6-foot-8 junior forward is out to smash that perception this season.
“Not having Brice [Johnson] and Marcus [Paige], it definitely leaves a hole, so I’m going to try to be as aggressive as possible,” Jackson said. “I’ve always done better when there is more pressure on myself. Knowing that they’re not here, knowing that I need to do more, I think that I’m looking forward to stepping into that role.”
Some stereotypes contributed to his reputation. Jackson was homeschooled while growing up in Tomball, Texas, a small city on the outskirts of Houston. He’s an introvert who doesn’t draw much attention to himself, the type of kid his parents once had to force to attend a school dance when he became reluctant on the drive there.
But Jackson’s play is also responsible for the dubious label. Jackson has shown enough flashes to reveal his upside, but lacked the consistency to convert people into true believers.
The conclusion of the national championship’s first half was a prime example. On Carolina’s final two possessions, he looked comfortable when converting a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer to put the Heels ahead by seven. But when a steal led to a run-out and Jackson had a step on Villanova’s Josh Hart, he attempted -- and missed -- a reverse layup, avoiding contact.
“We’ve talked about being more aggressive with his play,” Williams said. “He does have his own personality that’s not going to change a lot. ... He’s who he is personalitywise, but he is being more vocal, more aggressive on the court -- looking to score, taking the ball to the basket, getting to the backboard.”
Jackson, who was rated the eighth-best prospect in the ESPN 100 in the Class of 2014, is the highest-ranked recruit on the Tar Heels’ roster. Many believed he had one-and-done potential when he arrived.
He hasn’t quite lived up to those expectations despite averaging 11.5 points per game his first two seasons. That’s why it wasn’t a big surprise when Jackson returned to school instead of turning pro after last season.
“Obviously you have hype coming out being a McDonald’s All-American, one-and-done whatever,” Jackson said. “I just wanted to come here and try to be as successful as possible and whenever I felt like I was ready enough, to leave.”
Several NBA scouts interviewed by ESPN.com referred to Jackson as a “nice guy,” which wasn’t meant entirely as a compliment.
It’s one thing to point out Jackson’s need to shoot better from deep; he has averaged 29 percent from 3-point range his first two seasons. But scouts pointed to his inability to get to the free throw line -- he has averaged 2.4 attempts per game -- as a sign of reluctance to draw contact. They pointed to his 3.8 rebounding average in two seasons as an indictment of his willingness to be physical.
It’s led many scouts to wonder, does he have enough dog in him necessary to excel on the court?
Junior guard Joel Berry II believes the answer is yes, especially in a season when North Carolina sorely needs Jackson to produce to his potential. Johnson and Paige accounted for 35 percent of the Tar Heels’ scoring last season. Jackson is arguably the most gifted scorer among the Heels’ returnees.
“He gets it,” Berry said. “Sometimes you have to [prod him], but the majority of time, as the competition gets going, he ends up getting aggressive and that’s what we need.”
Jackson torched Tulane for a career-high 27 points in the season opener. When Carolina returned home to face Chattanooga, he was scoreless in the first half. Last season, that might have meant he’d go into a shell. But he hunted his shot in the second half and finished with 10 points and five assists. Through four games, he's the Tar Heels' second-leading scorer (15.5 points per game).
The second-half version of Jackson is the one that Berry said he’s used to seeing in practice. And like Robinson, he also remarked that during a practice scrimmage last month he saw Jackson dunk on a teammate. The victim this time was 6-foot-9 Isaiah Hicks.
“His patented move is to do that floater baseline,” Berry said. But when Jackson threw it down, Berry added, “I was like, wow, that’s the first time I’d seen that.”
If Jackson can keep it up for the Heels, we might see something else for the first time: Roy Williams doing cartwheels.