7/29/2021 basketball Edit

Suns Select Sharpe For The Nets In First Round With 29th Pick

Former UNC forward Day'Ron Sharpe was drafted by the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the NBA Draft on Thursday night. (ACC Media)

Andrew Jones • TarHeelIllustrated

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Andrew Jones has covered sports for 26 years, including all major college & professional sports for daily newspapers & national sites. He's done radio and TV & is entering his seventh year at THI.

North Carolina freshman Day’Ron Sharpe was selected by the Phoenix Suns with the 29th pick in the first round of Thursday night’s NBA draft. The suns drafted him for the Brooklyn Nets.

Sharpe played just one season for the Tar Heels averaging 9.5 points and 7.6 rebounds in 19.2 minutes per contest. He scored in double figures 12 times with a high of 25 in a win over Notre Dame. Sharpe scored 14 or more points on six occasions. He pulled down 10 or more rebounds in a game eight times with a high of 16 in a win at Miami.

He averaged 7.0 offensive rebounds per 40 minutes, the highest ever in a season by a Tar Heel.

Sharpe led UNC with six defensive player of the game awards, scored in double figures 12 times and grabbed 10 or more boards eight times. He had six double-doubles in points and rebounds, including 25 and 10 in Chapel Hill vs. the Irish, 16 and 10 in a win over NC State, 21 and 11 in beating Louisville and 14 and 10 with six assists in the ACC Tournament vs. Notre Dame.

“Day’Ron is going to be a fantastic professional player,” former UNC head coach Roy Williams said in a release by the school when Sharpe announced he was entering the draft. “I loved coaching him. He has a tremendously high motor. He’s naturally one of the greatest rebounders I’ve ever coached and a young man I truly just enjoyed.

“I think over the next few years if he gets even a little more disciplined, a little more focused, we are going to see an unbelievable player at the professional level, just like I think he had a chance to be an unbelievable player here for us. I loved coaching him and will cheer for him forever.”

Sharpe, who is from Greensville, NC, staying in the NBA draft marks the third straight season UNC had a one and done player. In 2019, Nassir Little and Coby White left after one season, and a year ago Cole Anthony did so.

With Thursday’s selection, Sharpe is the 34th Tar Heel under Roy Williams taken in the first round of the draft. He is also the 118th UNC player drafted in the first round as well.