The North Carolina Tar Heels will have a slight change to their starting lineup against Alabama tonight, as freshman Drake Powell will be starting in the place of Jae’Lyn Withers.
Powell has played phenomenal basketball through seven games in his freshman season, including a solid run through the Maui Invitational. He scored a career-high 18 points against Michigan State on 7-of-9 shooting, including a 4-of-6 mark from deep.
Powell has averages of 6.3 points, 3.7 points and 0.7 assists per game, but even when he’s not contributing on the stat sheet, Powell is finding ways to impact the game. He’s a phenomenal defender who hustles after every ball, can deliver some soul-snatching blocks (watch American highlights) and has the ability to make shots from anywhere, whether a highlight-reel dunk or a clutch 3-pointer.
UNC went just 1-2 in the Maui Invitational: coming back to beat Dayton in its opener, before getting blown out by Auburn and losing in overtime to Michigan State. North Carolina is still trying to discover its best lineups – and it got a glimpse of how special Powell can be in the MSU loss.
The Tar Heels brought Powell off the bench in their first six games, when they rolled with a starting lineup of Withers, RJ Davis, Elliot Cadeau, Seth Trimble and Jalen Washington. Withers has played solid basketball in his first year as a starter, averaging 7.3 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, but Powell has played better.
What a big moment for Powell, who gets his first start just 20 minutes up the road from where he played high school ball.
Follow us @TarHeelsWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.