UNC Basketball: Dontrez Styles offers versatility to Tar Heels

The UNC basketball program will benefit from the versatility of Dontrez Styles.

The North Carolina Tar Heels have one of the nation’s most dynamic incoming freshman classes for the 2020 college basketball season. That’s a good thing for more reasons than one, not the least of which is the pressure that it takes off of Roy Williams and his coaching staff to bring in another six top-100 prospects like they did this year.

Still, though, they’ll need to make sure to have an insurance policy in place in the event that players leave school early or unexpectedly. That policy is pretty thin right now, with just one player committed to the Tar Heels’ 2021 class. That player is Dontrez Styles, a 4-star power forward from Kinston, North Carolina.

Styles may not be the blue chip recruit that UNC fans would like to see the team building around — he’s ranked No. 1 in the state of North Carolina, but just 52nd overall in the class of 2021 — but his versatility is a terrific asset that could come in handy for the Tar Heels in the seasons ahead. Rivals recruiting analyst Eric Bossi said as much in his latest piece, noting what a good fit he is for North Carolina moving forward.

"“Take a look at the Heels’ roster and they don’t really have anybody like Styles,” Bossi writes. “Yes, they have plenty of size and they do have some wing talent. But, Roy Williams can’t look down his bench and find a lengthy, high-energy, athletic, open-court slasher in the mold of Styles. That he’s homegrown doesn’t hurt, but what helps the most is the versatility he will add.”"

Styles may not be an instant-impact player for the Tar Heels, particularly if everyone on the current roster sticks around campus beyond this season, but he’s a terrific multiple-year player that should be able to play a myriad of roles while improving each year.

The 6-foot-7, 205-pound Styles can hit shots out to the three-point line, play tenacious defense and use his athleticism to impact the game in a variety of ways. He plays with a tremendous amount of energy and effort, which should fit nicely into the Tar Heels’ fast-paced, up-and-down style of play. He’s a terrific rebounder, and uses his size well in the paint. His ball handing skills and ability to shoot beyond the arc are facets of his game that need some improvement.

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