University of North Carolina Athletics
Photo by: AINSLEY E. FAUTH
Lucas: Gifted
January 8, 2025 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Drake Powell's hard work is expanding his game beyond his natural gifts.
By Adam Lucas
It hasn't been easy. No one gets to the Atlantic Coast Conference level without endless repetitions, lots of early mornings in the gym, and plenty of solitary afternoons bouncing a ball alone while friends are out doing more fun activities.
But the game of basketball has always come easily for Drake Powell. He has always understood it, from the moment he first picked up a ball. The game made sense to him, and he had the athletic ability to apply that knowledge at a higher level than anyone else at Northwood High School in Pittsboro.
Double teams? That was just a normal night. Sometimes there were triple teams.
At the college level, though, there are four other incredible talents on the court with him at all times. And so SMU couldn't very well triple-team Powell on Tuesday night, not while RJ Davis was pouring in 26 points and Ian Jackson was dropping in another 18.
Which left Powell as the third option. These have been the first 16 games of his basketball career when you could say that, and at the rate he's progressing, you may not be able to say it much longer.
"He's so gifted," Hubert Davis said after the 82-67 win. "For Ian and Drake, they've been able to do whatever they want in high school. For 18 years, they've done whatever they want to. That's not enough at this level."
And so Davis has pushed him. Powell has learned multiple iterations of Carolina's offensive sets, because he's flexible enough to play multiple positions. It's not unusual for him to get into the perimeter passing lanes during practices and create steals that turn into easy dunks, but he's also capable of guarding someone like SMU's Matt Cross, who tried to be physical with Powell but didn't have much success.
The freshman hit three early three-pointers on Tuesday and finished with four of them, which made up the majority of his 17 points. He's shooting over 44 percent from three in the last five games. Carolina's ceiling this year involves a Powell who is a threat to hit consistently from the corner—but who is also a threat to score driving to the rim from that corner.
He did it a couple of times against the Mustangs, but was also a little indecisive on a couple of those moves, which contributed to his 2-for-7 effort from two-point range. That comfort level will only increase over the next three months, and you'll see even bigger scoring nights. It's already happening—Powell has scored in double figures in three of the last four games after doing it just once in the first dozen outings.
"Early in the season I was struggling getting comfortable in the corner," he said on the Tar Heel Sports Network after the game. "Coach (Sean) May told me to stay aggressive, especially when I'm cutting to the basket. I don't need to just run through, it's a scoring cut. I have to be ready to receive the ball since we have great guards. I'm going to keep taking them to the basket. As I concentrate more, those baskets will come."
There are times when you watch Powell on the court that you get the distinct impression that one day we're going to marvel that we once watched a Carolina team where he was—at best—the third option offensively. And that's what he should be…right now.
But as he's learning how to be an efficient scorer, he's still impacting the game in so many other ways, and Davis is rewarding him by very rarely taking him off the court. He played 35 minutes against SMU, the most on the team. He was an eye-popping +19 in 19 first half minutes. He's played at least 30 minutes in three of the last four games after doing it only once (in an overtime game) in the first 12 games of his college career.
He's coming. It's happening right now. That's partially because he's not just affecting the game by scoring. He had the highlight reel pass of Tuesday night, a bounce pass to Elliot Cadeau that threaded the needle on a fast break. He had yet another soaring blocked shot, a category in which he is third on the team. He's fourth in steals. He could probably rebound a little more and could become more of a threat on the offensive glass, where his instincts and athleticism could make him a weapon.
But he is also only 16 games into his college career. Last year on a Tuesday night you could have found him taking on Southeast Alamance or Chatham Central. Now he's putting up 17 against SMU.
"What he's learned is that the little things matter," Davis said. "You have to box out. You have to talk on defense. You have to stay down on a shot fake. You have to pass the ball with two hands. Every day he is starting to understand more how important it is to do that consistently all the time at this level."
And in a refreshing change for college sports in 2025, Powell isn't too cool to realize that playing at this level—and especially at this place—can be pretty fun.
"I want to stay consistent," Powell said. "And I'm going to continue to have fun, because I get to play for North Carolina."
It hasn't been easy. No one gets to the Atlantic Coast Conference level without endless repetitions, lots of early mornings in the gym, and plenty of solitary afternoons bouncing a ball alone while friends are out doing more fun activities.
But the game of basketball has always come easily for Drake Powell. He has always understood it, from the moment he first picked up a ball. The game made sense to him, and he had the athletic ability to apply that knowledge at a higher level than anyone else at Northwood High School in Pittsboro.
Double teams? That was just a normal night. Sometimes there were triple teams.
At the college level, though, there are four other incredible talents on the court with him at all times. And so SMU couldn't very well triple-team Powell on Tuesday night, not while RJ Davis was pouring in 26 points and Ian Jackson was dropping in another 18.
Which left Powell as the third option. These have been the first 16 games of his basketball career when you could say that, and at the rate he's progressing, you may not be able to say it much longer.
"He's so gifted," Hubert Davis said after the 82-67 win. "For Ian and Drake, they've been able to do whatever they want in high school. For 18 years, they've done whatever they want to. That's not enough at this level."
And so Davis has pushed him. Powell has learned multiple iterations of Carolina's offensive sets, because he's flexible enough to play multiple positions. It's not unusual for him to get into the perimeter passing lanes during practices and create steals that turn into easy dunks, but he's also capable of guarding someone like SMU's Matt Cross, who tried to be physical with Powell but didn't have much success.
The freshman hit three early three-pointers on Tuesday and finished with four of them, which made up the majority of his 17 points. He's shooting over 44 percent from three in the last five games. Carolina's ceiling this year involves a Powell who is a threat to hit consistently from the corner—but who is also a threat to score driving to the rim from that corner.
He did it a couple of times against the Mustangs, but was also a little indecisive on a couple of those moves, which contributed to his 2-for-7 effort from two-point range. That comfort level will only increase over the next three months, and you'll see even bigger scoring nights. It's already happening—Powell has scored in double figures in three of the last four games after doing it just once in the first dozen outings.
"Early in the season I was struggling getting comfortable in the corner," he said on the Tar Heel Sports Network after the game. "Coach (Sean) May told me to stay aggressive, especially when I'm cutting to the basket. I don't need to just run through, it's a scoring cut. I have to be ready to receive the ball since we have great guards. I'm going to keep taking them to the basket. As I concentrate more, those baskets will come."
There are times when you watch Powell on the court that you get the distinct impression that one day we're going to marvel that we once watched a Carolina team where he was—at best—the third option offensively. And that's what he should be…right now.
But as he's learning how to be an efficient scorer, he's still impacting the game in so many other ways, and Davis is rewarding him by very rarely taking him off the court. He played 35 minutes against SMU, the most on the team. He was an eye-popping +19 in 19 first half minutes. He's played at least 30 minutes in three of the last four games after doing it only once (in an overtime game) in the first 12 games of his college career.
He's coming. It's happening right now. That's partially because he's not just affecting the game by scoring. He had the highlight reel pass of Tuesday night, a bounce pass to Elliot Cadeau that threaded the needle on a fast break. He had yet another soaring blocked shot, a category in which he is third on the team. He's fourth in steals. He could probably rebound a little more and could become more of a threat on the offensive glass, where his instincts and athleticism could make him a weapon.
But he is also only 16 games into his college career. Last year on a Tuesday night you could have found him taking on Southeast Alamance or Chatham Central. Now he's putting up 17 against SMU.
"What he's learned is that the little things matter," Davis said. "You have to box out. You have to talk on defense. You have to stay down on a shot fake. You have to pass the ball with two hands. Every day he is starting to understand more how important it is to do that consistently all the time at this level."
And in a refreshing change for college sports in 2025, Powell isn't too cool to realize that playing at this level—and especially at this place—can be pretty fun.
"I want to stay consistent," Powell said. "And I'm going to continue to have fun, because I get to play for North Carolina."
Players Mentioned
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