If North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams uses a five-guard lineup in Saturday’s game at Boston College, it will be out of choice not necessity. That’s because freshman Tony Bradley has been cleared to play again. The 6-foot-10 freshman, who missed the past two games because of a concussion, returned to practice on Wednesday and according to Williams, will be back in the Tar Heels’ rotation for their ACC game against the Eagles. “The first (practice) back he was a little slow, just trying to get back in the swing of things,” fellow big man Kennedy Meeks said at a press conference Friday. “You get a little out of shape when you miss a couple of days, but he’s definitely back. (Thursday) was a shooting day for us which helped a lot because he got to see the ball go in the rim. He’s definitely going to be prepared for (Saturday).” Bradley averages 8.1 points and 5.7 rebounds in 15.1 minutes per game and was just beginning to play well again after going through a slump in late December and early this month when he hit his head on the floor after a collision with Wake Forest’s Dinos Mitoglou on Jan. 11. His return will strengthen a UNC frontcourt that was left short during his absence, to the point that Williams was forced to play a lineup using 6-foot-6 guard Theo Pinson at center and 6-8 wing Justin Jackson at power forward because of foul trouble during last Saturday’s win against Florida State. “He’s been an effective player, so getting that back, not having to go small and not having to worry about every single foul (is good),” Williams said. “I played Theo and Justin at four and five in the game Saturday, the first time I’ve done anything like that in 29 years of coaching and it was not pleasant. “I was not happy doing it, not comfortable doing it. I like to do things over there where I’m happy and content doing it, but we did not have another big guy and we had to stay out of foul trouble.” Other than Bradley, Meeks, Isaiah Hicks and Luke Maye are the only other low post players on the UNC roster.
