By R.L. Bynum
Dontrez Styles, who decided to leave Carolina after playing sparingly as a sophomore, is transferring to Georgetown, hoping to get more chances to show what he can do.
Styles, who also was considering N.C. State, East Carolina and South Carolina, will play for Ed Cooley, who takes over as head coach at Georgetown after Patrick Ewing, who was 75–109 in six seasons as head coach, left the program. Cooley was 242–153 in 12 seasons as the coach at Providence.
“The connection between me and coach Cooley has been great, and I trust him,” Styles told on3.com. “The opportunity is there, and I’m ready to go take it and run with it.”
Styles is the fourth of the six players transferring from UNC to pick a team after Tyler Nickel (Virginia Tech), Justin McKoy (Hawaii) and Caleb Love (Michigan). Puff Johnson and Will Shaver haven’t announced their plans.
His decision completes a painful transition for a player who grew up in Kinston as a Carolina fan. Styles decorated his room with Carolina items. When he committed to UNC, he said it was something he had been dreaming of since childhood.
Styles’ finest moment as a Tar Heel was a huge corner 3-pointer when No. 1 seed and reigning NCAA champion Baylor had all of the momentum heading into overtime of the second round of the 2022 NCAA tournament victory over the Bears. Carolina went on to advance, on its way to the NCAA championship game, with a 93–86 victory as Styles scored a career-high nine points (which he matched last season against The Citadel) in a career-high 25 minutes.
Styles averaged 30.3 points and 10.3 rebounds his last three seasons at Kinston High School, then followed the paths of Stackhouse and Reggie Bullock from Kinston to Chapel Hill.
Unlike those two, Styles’ dreams weren’t realized at Carolina. After he played 30 games as a freshman and played double-digit minutes in six, he got into only 15 games this past season, with double-digit minutes in three games.
He played a season-high 16 minutes against The Citadel.
UNC roster
No. | Class | Player | Pos. | Hgt | Wgt |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Returnees | | | |
4 | Sr. | RJ Davis | PG | 6–0 | 180 |
7 | Soph. | Seth Trimble | PG | 6–3 | 195 |
13 | Soph. | Jalen Washington | 4 | 6–10 | 230 |
5 | 5th year | Armando Bacot | 5 | 6–11 | 240 |
Transfer newcomers | |||||
3 | 5th year | Cormac Ryan (Notre Dame) | 3 | 6–5 | 195 |
8 | 5th year | Paxson Wojcik (Brown) | 3 | 6–5 | 195 |
55 | Junior | Harrison Ingram (Stanford) | 3 | 6–7 | 235 |
32 | Junior | James Okonkwo (West Virginia) | 4 | 6–8 | 240 |
24 | Senior | Jae’Lyn Withers (Louisville) | 4 | 6–9 | 215 |
ESPN rank | Freshmen | ||||
2 | 10 (Class of 2024) | Elliot Cadeau (5 star) | PG | 6–1 | 180 |
1 | 64 (Class of 2023 | Zayden High (4 star) | 4 | 6–9 | 225 |
Walk-ons | |||||
14 | Creighton Lebo | PG | 6–1 | 180 | |
22 | Rob Landry | 2 | 6–4 | 190 | |
34 | Dewe Farris | 4 | 6–7 | 210 | |
| | Eligibility over | | | |
| Leaky Black | 3 | 6–9 | 205 | |
| Pete Nance | 4 | 6–11 | 230 | |
Players who transferred out | |||||
Caleb Love (Arizona) | 2 | 6–4 | 200 | ||
D’Marco Dunn (Penn State) | 3 | 6–5 | 190 | ||
Dontrez Styles (Georgetown) | 4 | 6–6 | 210 | ||
Tyler Nickel (Va. Tech) | 3 | 6–7 | 220 | ||
Justin McKoy (Hawaii) | 4 | 6–8 | 220 | ||
Puff Johnson (Penn State) | 3 | 6–8 | 200 | ||
Will Shaver (UAB) | 5 | 6–10 | 260 | ||
ESPN rank | 2024–25 freshman class | ||||
12 | Drake Powell (5 star) | 2 | 6–5 | 185 | |
17 | Ian Jackson (5 star) | 2 | 6–4 | 180 | |
68 | James Brown (4 star) | 5 | 6–8 | 225 |
Photo via @UNC_Basketball