Michigan basketball interested in Morehead State point guard transfer Drew Thelwell
Michigan Wolverines basketball has shown interest in Morehead State point guard transfer Drew Thelwell, he told The Portal Report. Other schools who have also done so are Miami, Iowa, UCF, Virginia Tech, SMU, South Carolina, West Virginia, TCU, Wake Forest and others.
The 6-foot-3, 195-pounder played four seasons at Morehead State and has one year of eligibility remaining. He entered the NCAA transfer portal March 25.
The Orlando, Fla., native is the winningest player in Morehead State program history with 94 victories.
“He’s the outlier in today’s college basketball world,” head coach Preston Spradlin said in an interview with the Herald-Leader in March. “… It comes down to his character, his humility, those things have allowed him to gradually improve and have an imprint on our program.”
Thelwell averaged 10 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3 rebounds in 34.4 minutes per game while starting all 34 contests in which he appeared. He shot 51.6 percent on twos (64-of-124) and 33.8 percent on threes (46-of-136), adding a 66.2-percent clip at the foul line.
A pass-first point guard with the third-highest usage rate on the team, Thelwell had a 29.3-percent assist rate that ranked 76th in the country. That figure was up to 34.9 percent during Ohio Valley Conference play, leading the league. He registered 7 or more assists in 15 of 34 outings, including breaking the program record with 19 helpers in a blowout win over NAIA school Alice Lloyd in December.
He generated 0.967 points per possession on ball screens (including passes), ranking in the 74th percentile in the nation.
Thelwell struggled with his off-the-dribble jumper, converting on 20.5 percent of his tries, but did have a 58.3 effective field goal percentage on catch-and-shoot jump shots, which slotted in the 81st percentile in the sport.
Morehead State finished the season with a 26-9 record, earning a No. 14 seed in the NCAA Tournament before falling to Illinois, 85-69. Against the Fighting Illini, Thelwell posted 8 points on 3-of-8 shooting from the field with 3 assists and 2 rebounds.
The Michigan transfer target was also a starter for the Eagles in 2022-23, opening all 34 outings on a 22-12 squad that made the NIT, beating Clemson in the first round and losing to UAB in the second.
Thelwell averaged a career-best 11.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game, shooting 51.2 percent on twos and 37.4 percent on 131 three-point tries. He started one of 30 games in 2021-22, his sophomore campaign, totaling 79 points. He played 68 minutes off the bench as a freshman in 2020-21.
An unranked recruit in the 2020 class, Thelwell attended The Master’s Academy in Oviedo, Fla. for a year in 2019-20.
