Marcus Garrett puts pro ball, NBA Draft on hold, returns to Kansas for senior season
Kansas junior guard Marcus Garrett has decided to return to school for his senior year instead of entering the 2020 NBA Draft, he announced Wednesday on Twitter.
Garrett, a 6-5 native of Dallas, averaged 9.2 points and 4.5 rebounds a game last season for 28-3 KU. He led the Big 12 in assists at 4.6 per game.
“We have achieved a lot in my three seasons at Kansas and I am looking forward to adding to that entering my senior year,” Garrett said. “I completely intend to play in the NBA and know I have to continue to improve my game to reach that life-long goal. There is no better place to do that than my senior year at KU. We have great coaches and staff and I have great teammates to reach our goals. But most importantly, I’ll graduate from KU.”
Garrett was the 2020 Naismith defensive player of the year, Big 12 defensive player of the year and ESPN.com defensive player of the year.
“Marcus should have so many goals in front of him heading into his senior season,” KU coach Bill Self said. “One of them being a two-time national defensive player of the year. Another is being a point guard, having the ball in his hands, and basically taking ownership of our team. It’s time for him to take claim that it is his team as much as anybody else. I think Marcus will be the catalyst in what our team is next year from a toughness standpoint and leadership position.”
Garrett has started 51 of 100 games at KU. He enters his senior season with 664 points, 245 assists and 134 steals. He is 21 steals and 97 assists from reaching the KU career top 20 in both stats.
Self recently called Garrett “the best on-ball defender in the country and best off-ball defender in the country.”
He described Garrett as “just a ballplaying dude. Whatever we need done, he’s always Johnny-on-the-spot to do it. After you watch us play a while, making shots and all that stuff is important, but there is usually one thing will key something positive for us. It’s usually Marcus Garrett defensively. It seems to me his plays defensively automatically lead to momentum changes.”
Sophomore Ochai Agbaji who also has decided to return to KU, called Garrett “our defensive coordinator.”
“The way he talks to us is different on the defensive end,” Agbaji said. “The way we call switches and communicate is up to him. Him leading the way, even for our bigs and guards, is big. He keeps us positive, has us keeping that right attitude at all times.”
This story was originally published April 15, 2020 at 1:08 PM with the headline "Marcus Garrett puts pro ball, NBA Draft on hold, returns to Kansas for senior season."
