Jonathan Powell had initially signed with Xavier but requested his release from his letter of intent in May and it didn’t take long for West Virginia to enter into the picture.
The 6-foot-6 guard scheduled a visit to Morgantown just a few days later and then would commit to the Mountaineers giving the program a versatile option on both ends of the floor.
The first-team all-Ohio selection averaged 19.1 points per game last season and was the second-leading scorer in the Greater Western Ohio Conference. He put some of those skills on display on the Italy trip as he averaged 16 points per game over the three contests and made a total of 11 threes.
Powell is an off-guard who has the ability to catch and shoot with efficiency or put the ball on the floor and drive to the basket. He is a confident and smooth shooter who fits into what the Mountaineers wanted to find as a guy who can hit shots at areas all over the floor.
He moves well without the ball and is effective at hitting shots in the corners as a player who can space the floor. He also can score the ball off the bounce and has the size to finish at the rim in traffic. And his size makes him an intriguing fit on the West Virginia roster.
It’s hard to tell how that will translate moving forward but so far Powell has looked the part in the pre-season practices according to head coach Darian DeVries.
“He’s done some really good things for us and like a lot of incoming freshmen he has a really good week and then he’ll have a week where he just makes some of those mistakes,” he said.
But where the true freshman has looked the part is with his overall approach to the game.
“He just wants to get better. He wants to try to be great and when you have someone that is willing to take that mindset every day those mistakes are easier to overlook because he’s just trying to do whatever he can to improve as an individual and also to help our team,” DeVries said.
And the hope is that it continues as the year proceeds.
“He’s doing some nice things. I think he’s going to have a good freshman year for us if he has that type of mindset,” DeVries said.
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