UNC's Stilman White back from mission, playing status unclear

Buy Photos UNC guard Stilman White makes a pass.

When point guard Stilman White last put on a North Carolina jersey, he was a freshman starting in place of an injured Kendall Marshall at the 2012 NCAA tournament.

Now, after spending last season on a Mormon mission, White has returned to Chapel Hill, but it is uncertain whether he’ll be able to play.

“It’s really all up in the air right now because he just got in from his mission,” said UNC coach Roy Williams after his team’s 84-51 win against UNC-Wilmington on Tuesday. “I think he has some kind of injury to his foot. We don’t have a scholarship right now. So we’re trying to go through the motions ourselves to try to find out.”

Williams said White has had conversations with Eric Hoots, assistant to the athletic director for men’s basketball and director of player development, but Williams has not yet spoken to the guard himself about the possibility of playing.

“I haven’t had any conversations. Eric has had conversations,” Williams said. “We’re trying to find out and make sure that we’re right in saying that we don’t have a scholarship for him because we don’t. But we do look into it and see what’s best for our program and best for Stilman.”

White played in 34 games for the Tar Heels during the 2011-12 season, starting the final two. He averaged 5.8 minutes per game. In the team’s season-ending loss to Kansas in the Elite Eight, White tallied seven assists and no turnovers while playing the point.

“I love Stilman to death and feel that eventually he’ll be back as part of our basketball team,” Williams said. “Whether it’s this year or not, I don’t know yet.”