Tar Heels Name Kendall Marshall Director Of Recruiting

CHAPEL HILL – Former Bob Cousy Award winner and NBA point guard Kendall Marshall is Carolina Basketball's Director of Recruiting, head coach Roy Williams announced today.

Marshall played two seasons as a Tar Heel from 2010-12 and four seasons in the NBA. He was second in the NBA in assists in 2014, when he averaged 8.0 points and 8.8 assists for the Los Angeles Lakers. He earned his undergraduate degree from UNC in 2018.

"We have two of the five most intelligent players I've been lucky enough to coach on my staff right now and that's Kendall and (Director of Operations) Sean (May)," says Williams. "From the first day Kendall stepped foot here he was just extremely intelligent. Kendall was the best I've ever had at pitching the ball ahead, the best I've ever had at knowing time and score, the best I've ever had at realizing how many fouls are on the big guys on the other team. He was a true quarterback and he was a true coach on the floor. I think he's going to eventually be a fantastic coach and I think he eventually will be a fantastic recruiter but he's not able to do that yet."

The Dumfries, Va., native was one of the best passers in college basketball history. He moved into the starting lineup in January of his freshman season and led UNC to consecutive appearances in the ACC Tournament finals and NCAA Elite Eight, piling up assists in record time. As a sophomore, he earned first-team All-America honors (CBSSports.com) and ran a Tar Heel attack that earned a No. 1 seed in the Midwest Regional. Marshall suffered a broken wrist in Carolina's NCAA second-round win over Creighton and was unable to play in UNC's next two Tournament games.

He won the Bob Cousy Award in 2012 as the nation's top point guard, became Carolina's all-time leader in assist average with 7.96 per game and the ACC's career leader in assist-error ratio at 3.01 (581 assists and 193 turnovers). He is second in ACC history in assists per game, was the second-fastest in ACC history to reach 500 assists and concluded his career eighth in UNC history in assists, despite playing just two seasons. He handed out 15 or more assists five times – no other Tar Heel did that more than once. Marshall recorded 10 or more assists 23 times, including a career-high 16 three different times, and scored 523 points, reaching double figures 16 times with a high of 22 at NC State on Feb. 21, 2012.

As a sophomore he also earned third-team All-America honors from the Associated Press and was a second-team All-ACC selection. He set the ACC single-season record for assists with 351, the fourth-most in NCAA history. He led the nation in assist-error ratio (3.5) and was second in assists per game (9.8). His assist average was the eighth-highest in NCAA history and an NCAA record by a sophomore. He established the ACC single-season record for highest assist average and had second-best assist-error ratio in ACC single-season history.

In 2011, he was named first-team Freshman All-America by The Sporting News and was a third-team All-ACC and ACC All-Freshman team selection after leading the ACC in assists with 6.2 per game. He led all freshmen nationally in assists and was ninth among all players. UNC went 17-3 in his 20 starts, including five ACC road wins and five postseason wins. He won ACC Rookie of the Week honors three times, twice after games against Duke. He set UNC's NCAA Tournament record with 14 assists against Washington in the second round. That tied the eighth-most assists by any player in NCAA Tournament history and the most ever by an ACC player. He became the first Tar Heel to have 10 or more assists in each of his first two NCAA Tournament games.

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