LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas junior Marcus Garrett has been known as a winner during his three-year career at KU. As a Jayhawk, his teams have won two Big 12 regular-season titles, one Big 12 Tournament, advanced to a Final Four, has finished first in the national polls and he has been named the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year. The Dallas guard will be looking to add to those many accomplishments as he announced Wednesday he will return to KU for his senior season.
“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.”
A communication studies major, in 2019-20 Garrett led the Big 12 in assists (4.6) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.7) his junior season. He also ranked among the Big 12 leaders in steals (fifth at 1.8). Garrett averaged 4.5 deflections per game, including 6.9 in his last nine outings. For the season, Garrett averaged 9.2 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. He was also the 2020 national ESPN.com Defensive Player of the Year, the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, along with being a USBWA All-District VI, All-Big 12 Second/Third Team and a unanimous Big 12 All-Defensive Team selection. It marked the second-straight year he was on the Big 12 All-Defensive squad.
“Marcus should have so many goals in front of him heading into his senior season,” KU head 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.”
In Garrett’s three seasons at Kansas the Jayhawks have won an average of 28.3 games per year, including a 28-3 record in 2019-20 where KU won the Big 12 regular-season title with a conference record 17 wins in going 17-1 and winning its final 16 games of the season. The Jayhawks ended 2019-20 No. 1 in the Associated Press and USA TODAY Coaches’ polls before the pandemic shortened season. It marked the second time in Garrett’s career KU has finished fourth or higher in the national rankings as the Jayhawks finished fourth in the AP and third in the coaches’ polls in 2018.
Garrett has started 51 of 100 games while at Kansas and enters his senior season with 664 points, 245 assists and 134 steals. He is 21 steals and 97 assists from cracking the KU career top 20 in both stats.
