Education
Thornwell attended Lancaster in Lancaster, South Carolina for his first 3 years of high school. He then transferred to Oak Hill Academy for his senior year where he averaged 26.8 points per game and averaged 8.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists as well. He led them to a 33-5 record.
He was ranked as the 39th best player by Entertainment and Sports Programming Network.com and a 4 star recruit by RIVALS.com.
He was the 11th ranked shooting guard in his class according to RIVALS.com as well. He also competed in the 2012 Nike Global Challenge playing in 4 games.
Career
After committing to University of Southern California on October 2, 2012, Thornwell was second on the University of Southern California basketball team in scoring with 13.4 ppg and 4.0 rebounds per game. He also averaged 3.0 assists per game. During conference play, he was averaging 15.0 ppg as well.
On January 22, 2014, Thornwell had a career high 26 points against the University of Georgia.
His sophomore year in the 2014-2015 season was not as productive as his freshman season, partly because he did not have a very good supporting cast of players, as well as injuries and a dip in his shooting percentages.
