CHAPEL HILL – Jae’Lyn Withers needed a change. Plain and simple.

He spent four years at Louisville, seeing the program from the inside go through a series of changes and embarrassment, and in the end, it was time for him to seek greener, or at least different, pasture.

“It was tough leaving Louisville,” he recently said. “With the season we had last year, I felt like I needed to give it one more shot. But I think I gave Louisville a lot of my mental as well as my physical, and I think it was time for a change.”

The Cardinals went 4-28, a shocking record for a proud program that had fallen on hard times, having three full-time head coaches and an interim once since Rick Pitino left in 2017. Withers was recruited by Chris Mack, also had Mike Pegues as an interim head coach, and last year was under Kenny Payne.

Now, he’s at North Carolina with two years of eligibility remaining. A Charlotte native, he’s back in his home state, and partly ended up at UNC with the guidance of former Tar Heel Leaky Black.

Fully embedded as a Tar Heel, Withers is comfortable in his surroundings, even though he has battled an off-and-on injury over the last month.

“The environment is more welcoming,” he said.

So, what kind of player is North Carolina getting in Louisville transfer Jae’Lyn Withers?

“Not only showtime dunks, but big-time threes, a little bit of everything, honestly,” Withers said. “That’s what brought me here, to be versatile.”

Louisville had its worst season in school history last year. Withers, however, combined to score 27 points and grab 21 rebounds in its two ACC wins, which were at home over Georgia Tech and Clemson.

On the season, Withers, who served as a captain for the Cardinals, started 29 of 32 games averaging 8.9 points and 5.3 rebounds. He shot 43.3 percent from the floor, including 41.7 percent from 3-point range. Withers was 40-for-96 from the perimeter.

His best game may have come in the 68-58 win over the Yellow Jackets on February 1. It was also Payne’s first ACC victory. Withers scored 19 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, and was 4-for-8 from the floor, including 4-for-6 from the perimeter. He also made 7-for-9 from the free throw line.

“He didn’t play without mistakes, but he played hard, he played desperate and did a lot of great things out there on the court that helped us win,” Payne said in the postgame press conference. “He was a major part of us winning that game.”

Withers’ best stretch of the season started with that game. Ending with a narrow loss at Miami, a night he had 18 points and five rebounds. Withers scored 60 points, 23 rebounds, four assists, a blocked shot, and four steals. He was 17-for-32 (53.1 percent) from the floor, including 13-for-20 (65 percent) from 3-point range.

Those four games, and really a longer period in which Withers produced more than what were his season averages, prompted Payne to discuss a battle Withers faced within while at Louisville. The Louisville Courier-Journal did a story about how Withers tends to over-think things, and can hamper his performance at times.

Payne said Withers has “instincts and athleticism that’s a little different,” but that’s “when you take thinking and confidence and all those things out the equation.”

So, perhaps the struggles of Louisville’s historically bad season, and how Withers processed the losing and his own inconsistency manifested itself into even greater inconsistency. Therefore, a new start for Withers could be exactly what his game needs.

As just noted closing out this piece, a reason for optimism with Withers is there could be an upside of consistency that matches his higher-end performances. Maybe UNC is where he will reach that level. He knows big nights are in him, drawing them out more consistently, and being more productive in the other games will be a key for him having success at UNC.

If so, Carolina has itself a really nice player, someone who gives it that coveted stretch four, and even a big three. He can finish at the rim, is a good cutter, and will be invigorated played in Chapel Hill.

At the very least, Withers will give Carolina athletic ability and juice, a guy who can defend, and finish around the basket. But there is more to his game.

He can defend, bounce some, and has spunk in his game, and those are things that will enhance the Heels in a much-needed manner.