Kennedy Meeks Illness: Latest Updates on North Carolina Star's Status and Return

The North Carolina Tar Heels are set to begin the ACC tournament on Wednesday, but they will have to do so without star center Kennedy Meeks for at least one game due to an illness.

Meeks has been medically cleared for the team's game vs. Louisville.

Continue for updates.

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Meeks Medically Cleared for Louisville Game, Will Play

Thursday, March 12

InsideCarolina reported that Meeks has been medically cleared to play in North Carolina's ACC tournament matchup vs. Louisville. Nate Wimberly of WBTV confirmed that Meeks will take part in the contest.

Meeks missed Wednesday's game vs. Boston College, and coach Roy Williams indicated that Meeks wasn't expected to play vs. the Cardinals, via InsideCarolina.

On March 10, Williams said that Meeks had a fever and was tested for various ailments with no definitive results, via C.L. Brown of ESPN.com.

"Running a temperature, they got it down last night, but it was back up this morning," Williams said. "They tested him for [mononucleosis], strep [throat], everything comes up negative. ... He won't play tomorrow; we'll have to wait and see after that."

Even though North Carolina doesn't have to worry about the bubble before Selection Sunday rolls around, Meeks' absence would be a huge blow for the Tar Heels. 

Meeks is third on the team in scoring (12.0 points per game) and field-goal percentage (56.8) while ranking second with 7.6 rebounds per game.