Kansas junior Marcus Garrett’s reputation as a lockdown defender dates back to elementary school

By Matt Tait     Apr 2, 2020

Associated Press
West Virginia forward Gabe Osabuohien (3) looks to pass the ball as Kansas guard Marcus Garrett (0) defends during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020, in Morgantown, W.Va. (AP Photo/Kathleen Batten)

The first time Matt Watts realized his nephew Marcus Garrett could really play defense came when Garrett was 8 years old.

Playing with kids his own age, for his uncle Nakia Gibbs’ parks and rec squad in Dallas, Garrett, now a junior at Kansas, wanted to make the jump to Watts’ team.

One problem: Watts’ team featured players a lot older than Garrett, who on Wednesday was named college basketball’s Naismith Defensive Player of the Year.

The three- and four-year age gap hardly mattered to Garrett, who believed he could hang with anybody. But Watts had to see it before he would entertain the idea of letting Garrett join his team.

So one day, after one of his practices, Watts set up a one-on-one game between Garrett and a seventh grader who was averaging around 20 points per game.

Nick Krug
Kansas guard Marcus Garrett is pictured during Media Day on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019 at Allen Fieldhouse.

“I just remember telling Marcus, ‘If you can take my best player and stop him from scoring, I’ll let you play on this team,'” Watts recalled during a Wednesday evening phone conversation with the Journal-World.

The stakes were set. The showdown was arranged. One-on-one. First one to five wins. No whining. No questions asked.

“They checked the ball up and Marcus took his ball and went down and laid it in,” Watts recalled with a laugh.

1-0, Garrett.

It only got worse from there.

Associated Press
Kansas State forward Xavier Sneed, right, turns the ball over while covered by Kansas guard Marcus Garrett (0) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Manhattan, Kan., Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020. Kansas defeated Kansas State 62-58. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

“After the first one, the other kid was like, ‘OK, that was luck,'” Watts recalled. “But Marcus beat him 5-0 and he had four steals.”

True to his word, Watts allowed Garrett play up and helped shape him into a player good enough to average a triple-double his senior season at Skyline High in Dallas and tough enough to become a defensive stopper for Bill Self at Kansas.

The kid he beat went on to win a state title at DeSoto High and earned a scholarship to Wake Forest.

From then on, Watts put his nephew at the top of his press and Garrett collected “10 or 12 steals a game,” the way Watts remembered it.

“And that was when he was an 8-year-old playing against 12-and-under teams,” Watts said. “He’s always been that type of kid that took pride in playing defense. He didn’t want to get scored on. He wanted those bragging rights and to be able to say, ‘My man didn’t score on me.'”

Nick Krug
Kansas guard Marcus Garrett (0) defends against a pass from Texas guard Andrew Jones (1) during the first half on Monday, Feb. 3, 2020 at Allen Fieldhouse.

According to Gibbs, that mentality was a part of Garrett’s game as far back as 4 years old.

“Back then, at 4, 5 and 6, you couldn’t go across half court to pressure on defense,” Gibbs told the Journal-World in a Thursday morning phone interview. “So Marcus set up right at half court and waited for them. He wasn’t going to wait back at the 3-point line.”

Another aspect of Garrett’s lockdown defense that emerged at an early age was his ability to guard taller, bigger players. And his first test was a talented Dallas native named Elijah Thomas.

“Big Elijah was the biggest thing in the league,” recalled Gibbs of the power forward who went on to play at Clemson. “And we didn’t have any size on our team, so guess who had to guard him? Marcus. At 4 years old.”

Despite being more than two years younger and standing a full head and shoulders below him, Garrett held his own and never backed down from Thomas.

“The size of the other guy has never mattered to him,” Gibbs said. “It’s always been can he play? Marcus has always been a dog. And he never really had a choice but to be a dog because I don’t do poodles.”

Because of that, Wednesday’s award came as no surprise to Gibbs and Watts.

Watts said he received dozens of text messages shortly after the Wednesday morning announcement. And just hearing the words “defensive player of the year” took him back to his own thrill of being named the junior college defensive player of the year prior to his Division I career at San Diego State.

“I told him, ‘This is sweet,'” Watts said. “To win defensive player of the year, that’s something that takes a lot of effort, just to want to go and lock up everyone and do whatever your team needs to win.”

Garrett knew that, of course. He also was not in the mood to break character and start bragging about himself.

“He just text me back and said, ‘Thanks, unc,'” Watts said. “So I told him, ‘If you’re not going to show any emotion, I’m going to show you some.’ And I sent him a bunch of emojis and things like that.”

With just one year remaining in his career at KU, Watts said he expected Garrett’s focus for the 2020-21 season to be sharper than ever.

Watts said Garrett considered testing his stock with the NBA but has decided to skip that step to focus on delivering his best season at Kansas

He still plans to be the team-first, whatever-it-takes-to-win type of player KU fans know. But, as a senior, he also plans to be more assertive when the time calls for it.

“Every time he’s come home, he’s played basketball nonstop,” Watts said. “And I told him maybe this is the time to switch it up and be a little selfish. Maybe it should be, ‘I’m just focused on strictly shooting, focused on my body, focused on eating right and staying healthy.’

“He wants to go back for his senior season and really enjoy playing for coach Self, but also to improve in every way he can. I think his senior year is going to be very special because he has a lot to prove.”

PREV POST

Self Madness 2020: Semifinals

NEXT POST

54656Kansas junior Marcus Garrett’s reputation as a lockdown defender dates back to elementary school

Author Photo

Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.