Northwood junior boys basketball player Drake Powell commits to UNC

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PITTSBORO — Just a few weeks after receiving a scholarship offer from UNC-Chapel Hill, Northwood junior Drake Powell celebrated his birthday by becoming the Tar Heels’ first basketball commit of the Class of 2024.

On Thursday, Powell took to social media to announce his commitment to North Carolina. The 6-foot-6 wing had a reported 13 Division-I offers before making his decision. Among the other teams to offer Powell a scholarship were N.C. State, Wake Forest, Florida State, LSU and Miami.

During the 2021-22 season, Powell led the Chargers to a 24-4 overall record and a 12-0 mark in conference play. Northwood made it to the fourth round of the 3A state playoffs before falling to West Carteret, 51-44.

Powell was the team’s top player in several statistical categories, including points (16.1) and rebounds (6.2). The wing’s top game as a sophomore came in the second round of the state playoffs against West Brunswick, when he had 27 points on 9-of-13 shooting to go with five rebounds and six steals.

As a prospect, Powell is ranked as the No. 6 player in North Carolina and the No. 58 player overall in the Class of 2024, according to 247Sports’ composite rankings. Powell is North Carolina’s first 2024 commit, but he might not be the last from Chatham County to suit up for the Tar Heels.

UNC is also after Seaforth junior Jarin Stevenson, who is ranked as the No. 2 player in the state and No. 14 player nationally, according to 247Sports’ composite rankings. Stevenson has offers from UNC, N.C. State and Wake Forest, but he should pick up more as he continues his high school career.

As a player, Powell’s biggest strength is his defense. He is a lock-down perimeter defender who takes pride in guarding a team’s best player. On top of staying in front of his man, Powell excels at getting his hands in passing lanes, forcing turnovers and turning them into easy baskets on the other end.

Powell’s 6-foot-6 frame is still growing, meaning he should have the length to disrupt many shots from players at the Division-I level. He has said in the past that he takes inspiration from Jrue Holiday, a 6-foot-3 guard for the Milwaukee Bucks who helped the team win the 2021 NBA Finals. Holiday has been named all-defense four times and often challenges an opposing team’s best offensive player by playing them in a full-court press for the entire game.

Offensively, Powell is a strong finisher at the rim and has shown solid touch on mid-range jumpers. Where he’ll need to improve most on that end of the floor is from behind the 3-point line.

During the 2021-22 high school season, Powell made just 31-of-126 (24.6 percent) shots from 3-point range, and he never made more than two in a game. That said, Powell has reportedly shot 35% from behind the line over the offseason with his AAU team, Team CP3, which competed in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL), according to Inside Carolina’s Sean Moran.

Powell shares similar qualities with a current UNC player — redshirt senior Leaky Black, a 6-foot-8, 200-pound wing who also excels on the defensive end but has struggled shooting the ball. During last season, when the Tar Heels made a run to the national final, Black averaged 4.9 points, 4.3 points and 2.7 assists and shined when matched up with Duke’s Paolo Banchero, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.

While they share a similar defensive profile, Powell is projected to be a stronger shooter than Black, and he’s also capable of handling the ball and finding open teammates when driving to the rim.

If Powell ends up improving on the offensive end, he could show shades of a recent former UNC player — Theo Pinson. Pinson, a second-round pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, was known for his defensive versatility and play-making on offense, but he could also shoot the rock when he needed to. As a senior in 2017-18, Pinson averaged 10.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game, though he had an eight-game stretch during the season where he upped those averages to 16.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and 5.9 assists while shooting 63.6% from 3-point range.

Sports Editor Jeremy Vernon can be reached at jeremy@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @jbo_vernon. 

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