UNC basketball didn’t go too far to nab signees Dunn and Styles for Class of 2021
North Carolina signed its two early men’s basketball commitments for the Class of 2021 in forward Dontrez Styles and guard D’Marco Dunn on Wednesday.
Styles is a 6-foot-7 power forward from Kinston High School. Dunn is a 6-4 shooting guard from Fayetteville Westover High School.
Styles is the latest in what has been a successful pipeline of UNC players from Kinston to Chapel Hill, including Jerry Stackhouse and Reggie Bullock. Styles averaged a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds last season.
“Dontrez is a young man who really wanted to be a Tar Heel and continues to make us feel like this is a great day for him and our program,” UNC coach Roy Williams said in a released statement. “He’s a very athletic three man who is explosive enough to also play the four.”
Dunn relocated from Tuscon, Arizona, and was heavily recruited by the hometown Wildcats. He averaged 20.4 points last season while shooting 45 percent from 3-point range.
“D’Marco is a perimeter player who could be a one, two or three, we don’t know yet,” Williams said. “He can really shoot the basketball and has a tremendous work ethic. He’s going to pass a lot of people by who have better ‘ratings’ because of his work ethic. He’s doing that now and will continue to do that in the future.”
Carolina still has offers out to others, including small forward Patrick Baldwin Jr., from Sussex, Wisconsin, who is considered by many recruiting services as the No. 1 player in the class. Unlike past years though, many of the top-50 players have already made their commitments because of the uncertainty of COVID-19 on rosters and the NCAA waiver allowing current players another year of eligibility next season.