Ja Morant The undeniable face of Murray State basketball Story & photos by Gage Johnson It doesn’t matter where you are, if you tell someone about Murray State you know what the next thing to come out of the person’s mouth will be—“Oh, that’s where Ja Morant went, right?” Yes, that’s where Morant led the Murray State men’s basketball to a 54-11 overall record and a 32-4 record in OVC play, won two OVC Championships and played in three NCAA Tournament games, beating Marquette in one of the three. It’s where the young phenom point guard averaged 24.5 ppg, 5.7 rpg and 10 apg in his sophomore season, became the first player to average 20 points and 10 assists since the NCAA made assists an official stat in 1983, won a Lute Olson award, a Bob Cousy award and an OVC
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Player of the Year award and a First Team All-American. The Racers are the team that helped propel Morant to be referred to as the Patrick Mahomes of college basketball by Seth Greenberg and eventually be taken with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft by the Memphis Grizzlies. To Morant, Murray State is a lot more than all of these incredible accomplishments—it’s a second home. “No question,” Morant said. “This is my home. South Carolina, Murray and now Memphis. Murray is just so special. It’s always going to be home for me. People [here] will always be my family. You all will see my face a lot and just show where I came from and show some support.”
