WRAL Sports Fan

North Carolina

UNC's Zeller no longer worried about re-injuring wrist

By Sam Rosenthal

Mar 4, 2009

Chapel Hill, N.C. — North Carolina freshman center Tyler Zeller hit the deck hard against Kentucky on November 19, 2008, with barely more than a minute remaining in a Tar Heel blowout.

“I knew something was wrong because, as soon as I went to push up, my left wrist just gave out,” Zeller said Tuesday. “And then I got up, and my right hand was shaking because my left hand hurt so bad. It’s the most excruciating pain I’ve ever been in.”

Zeller broke his left wrist, and his season appeared over. He entered the world of a prospective medical redshirt: Warm-up outfits only during games (on the bench), hours in the trainer’s room, and lots and lots of weightlifting juxtaposed with absolutely no basketball.

For the better part of three months, Zeller labored to prepare for the 2009-2010 season, although he held the possibility of returning this year in mind to motivate him during the monotonous weight training and rehab.

“I never actually thought it would happen,” Zeller said. “Then Coach (Roy Williams) took me in his office one day and was like, ‘You could come back. It’s kind of one of those iffy things.’”

So Zeller consulted his family about whether he should preserve his redshirt status, or if he should risk a possible re-injury and return to pursue the 2009 NCAA National Championship.

He chose option “B” and returned to the court 13 weeks after breaking his wrist and having a metal plate and 12 pins inserted inside his arm (he bears a four-inch-long, semi-lightning-bolt scar, reminiscent of Harry Potter’s forehead).

And during his first practice back, he promptly fell on that fragile left wrist again. Hard. Needless to say, nervousness filled the air.

“The coaches, they’re all just staring at me, like, ‘You alright?’” Zeller said. “I’m like, ‘I’m good.’ Coach Williams asked me like three times. But it wasn’t too bad.”

Zeller landed on the wrist once more about a week ago. He said the most recent crash-landing, when he went for a jump ball and landed directly on the wrist, “gave me all my confidence back.”

So how sturdy is that wrist?

“It’s good,” said the 7-foot Zeller. “It’s definitely a lot better than it was three weeks ago. I’m a lot more confident with it. I never really had a lot of worries about it, but, you know, it’s always in the back of your mind. Like, ‘I’m going to fall on it, break it again.’ But now I feel I’m back to where I was as far as I can fall on it and not be worried about it.”

On Feb. 18, Zeller returned to play against N.C. State in Chapel Hill, received a standing ovation from the hometown crowd, and hit his first shot of the game.

In the three games since returning from his injury, Zeller has played a total of 22 minutes. In his most recent game, against Georgia Tech, he played 10 minutes and scored eight points, going three-of-four from the field, two-of-two from the line, and contributing three rebounds and an assist.

If his minutes and production increase, the Tar Heels might regain some of the depth they initially lost – not only with Zeller’s injury, but also Marcus Ginyard’s season-ending foot injury and Will Graves’ rest-of-the-year suspension.

But adjusting will prove difficult. “Not playing basketball for 13 weeks, you get behind on a lot of things. … When you’re coming back, trying to play at this high of a level, it’s very tough because it’s ACC games. It’s not small teams, scrimmages and stuff where you’re supposed to kill them,” Zeller said. “(ACC opponents) are very good. You can’t make big mistakes.”

Zeller said he feels more comfortable now than when he first resumed play, and that he’s becoming readjusted to the speed of play and the flow of the game.

“I don’t know how close I am (to 100 percent), but I definitely feel like I’m coming along,” he said.

Zeller said he’s glad that he returned this season and that it should prepare him better for next year, now that he gets to play against ACC competition.

And as for the rest of this season, and the Tar Heels’ title hopes: “This team’s a great team. They could’ve done everything without me, but I feel like, over the course of the tournament I’m going to be able to help them out. Just a couple extra minutes here,” Zeller said.

“That’s basically my main goal, because this is a great team. We have a great chance at the national championship, and I felt like I could be a better part of that than sitting on the bench.”