Marcus Garrett

Classroom

Marcus Garrett is a liberal arts and sciences major who is on track to graduate from the University of Kansas in May of 2021.

He is a three-time member of the Athletic Director’s and Big 12 Honor Rolls, earning the accolades in the Spring of 2019, Spring of 2020, and Fall of 2020. In this past fall semester, Garrett recorded a 3.74 GPA.

Character

During his years at the University of Kansas, Marcus Garrett has earned the adoration and respect of his coaches, teammates, and fans. Often the representative when Kansas is in the student-athlete spotlight, he is not only committed to becoming a better basketball player, but also a better person.

Garrett is a man of few words, but words aren’t necessary when your actions do the talking. His humble and selfless attitude is an endearing example of what success with integrity looks like. Although Garrett has an extensive list of honors and awards attached to his name, he will be the first to admit he is still learning and growing.

Community

Garrett takes great pride in his community, both in his hometown of Dallas or Lawrence. On the court, he is well respected and that leadership resonates to his community contributions. Besides working camps and clinics, Garrett and his teammates will make trips to visit with patients at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. Additionally, they have assisted with feeding the homeless in Lawrence and holiday shopped for local needy families. Garrett participates in the annual Wilt Chamberlain Special Olympics Clinic at KU and is also known to have gone to local elementary schools to read to classes.

With the rise of social injustice in the United States, the Kansas men’s basketball program has taken some initiatives to educate and act toward these issues, with Garrett at the forefront.  Kansas participated in Zoom meetings with Maria Taylor of ESPN, Zoom meetings with Dr. Shawn Alexander on the discussion of the Black Lives Matter Organization vs the message, financial fitness with former KU student-athlete Pat Brown, a Brown vs Board of Education presentation with Dexter Armstrong, watched the movie “13” as a team, read the letter from a Birmingham jail by Martin Luther King, participapted in law enforcement education with KU and Lawrence police officers, met with sports and mental health counselor Angela Charlton, had 100% voter registration and participation, and came up with a patch for their jerseys that read “UNITED WE STAND” with the state of Kansas as its backdrop.

Competition

Last season, Garrett was the 2020 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year, the 2020 ESPN Defensive Player of the Year, the 2020 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, USBWA All-District VI, All-Big 12 Second Team and a unanimous Big 12 All-Defensive Team selection.

As a junior in 2019-20, he led the Big 12 in assists (4.6) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.7), and also ranked among the league leaders in steals (fifth at 1.8). Garrett averaged 4.5 deflections per game and produced 9.2 points and 4.5 rebounds per contest.

As the point guard his senior campaign, Garrett is truly the leader of the Kansas team in 2020-21 that has been ranked No. 7 or higher since the start of the season. On most every national player of the year watch lists, through 10 games, he leads the Big 12 in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.00 and ranks sixth in steals (1.7) and 13th in assists (3.6). He averages 9.1 points and 4.6 rebounds per contest. Historically, Garrett is on pace to end his KU career ranked in the top 10 in all-time steals and in the top 15 in career assists.