The best NBA prospect you've never heard of? Murray State's Ja Morant

MURRAY, Ky. – His journey from under-recruited high schooler to top NBA prospect is largely thanks to the search for a snack.

Back in the summer of 2016, then-Murray State assistant coach James Kane was at a basketball camp in South Carolina checking on the Racers' top target, Tevin Brown.

As the story goes, Kane went in search of a concession stand and stumbled upon a side court where he saw a lanky guard dominating a game of 3-on-3.

Kane inquired with camp organizers.

Temetrius Jamel "Ja" Morant.

His passing and decision-making ability were well beyond his high school years. Kane was so impressed, he called Racers head coach Matt McMahon, and told him, "This guy is a pro."

More hoops: Kentucky and Louisville basketball climb in top 25 rankings

McMahon hit the road to Spartanburg, South Carolina, the next day, watched Morant and offered him a scholarship.

"At that point, we were just hoping we could find a way to get him to Murray State," said McMahon, who had just finished his first year as the Racers head coach.

Two-and-a-half years later, the biggest concern for McMahon is how much longer he gets to keep him. NBAdraft.net has Morant going first in its latest mock draft. SB Nation and ESPN project him as the fourth overall pick. Nearly everyone agrees he'll be among the best in the next class.

The Racers are 16-3 and a conference tournament championship away from a second-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Morant, a sophomore, is the team's high-flying point guard whose propensity for highlight plays has made him a mainstay on SportsCenter's Top 10 plays. He's averaging 24.1 points, 10.5 assists and 5.6 rebounds a game.

Once a small-town high school basketball player with no stars next to his recruiting ranking, he's now a potential top-five NBA draft pick. He has drawn comparisons to Oklahoma City Thunder guard and NBA MVP Russell Westbrook.

"He’s explosive like Westbrook was," ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said. "I watched Westbrook when he was a college player his first couple years at UCLA. ... Morant is a little bit ahead skill-wise and shooting-wise than Westbrook was at the time."

Bilas added: "I don’t see anybody out there, outside of (Duke freshmen R.J. Barrett and Zion Williamson) that I would take over Morant."

Westbrook is Morant's favorite player, and he models his game after him. But he shrugged off the compliment — his parents told him never to be satisfied.

"I'm trying to stay where my feet are at," Morant said, "here at Murray State."

Small-town South Carolina to small-town Kentucky

In reality, the story of Ja Morant began long before the gym encounter in Spartanburg. It started about 140 miles southeast in Dalzell, South Carolina, a town of just over 3,000.

Ja (pronounced "Jah" and short for his middle name) grew up around basketball. His father, Tee, played college basketball after playing in high school with Dalzell's other basketball superstar, Ray Allen. By the time he was 6, Ja was already breaking down offenses and defenses.

Tee and Ja started training in the backyard. At that point Ja was undersized, so his dad ran him through separation drills, taught him step-back jump shots and increased his strength and agility with resistance training and parachute drills. He also bought tractor tires and had Ja practice jumping with a soft landing. After a few months, he had to buy wooden planks to make them higher.

Ja finally hit his growth spurt in high school. The first time he dunked in a game was his senior year at Crestwood High — a rim grazer. "I just kept jumping and later on in my season I started getting higher and still going," he said.

But as he piled up stats and played on summer teams featuring current Williamson, the Duke sensation, Devontae Shuler, who is now at Ole Miss, and Nicolas Claxton, who is at Georgia, the focus remained on his teammates. Ja only had two scholarship offers before his senior season.

Read this: 3 areas where Kentucky basketball still has room for improvement

That's when Kane came into the picture.

From what he remembers, Tee Morant was sitting on the bench at Spartanburg Day School filming his son with a Go Pro — somebody had to get footage of him. Kane asked why he was in the side gym, and Tee responded that he was a late addition to the camp. Kane successfully lobbied for Ja Morant to move over to the main court, where he played against Brown, who later committed to Murray State.

After that meeting, Murray State "went above and beyond" in recruiting his son, Tee Morant said. They followed him to camps across the state. Kane and McMahon would take turns calling him and his son, so often that Ja would sometimes not pick up the phone.

"It got to the point where Coach Kane called me and was like, 'Can you have your son answer the phone?' I guess it was a bit overwhelming to Ja," Tee said.

The Morants decided to visit Murray once the coaches told him they had one scholarship remaining. As Tee puts it, "the rest was history."

Off to the Racers

Morant overheated on his official recruiting visit. At least that's what he told McMahon while eating dinner at his house in September 2016.

He said he wasn't feeling well and needed to go the bathroom. McMahon frantically adjusted the thermostat as Ja's mom, Jamie, helped him in the bathroom.

"You could see panic in Coach Mack's face," Tee said.

Minutes later, Ja Morant emerged decked out in Racers gear. Jamie was holding a Murray State cup. McMahon asked Tee if he knew anything about it. He said, "Of course not" and then pulled a Murray State hat out of his back waistband.

"It was definitely a fun weekend of recruiting," McMahon said.

That closed the door on his recruitment. And it was just in time, as bigger programs came calling. He was scheduled to visit South Carolina after it offered a scholarship. Georgia Tech, Georgia and Clemson reached out.

Around the state: Taveion Hollingsworth a star at WKU, one that got away for UK

Ja said he liked Murray State because McMahon and his staff "made it a need for me to come here." He also liked the up-tempo playing style that put an emphasis on defense transitioning to offense, as well as the small, 19,000-person community of Murray.

"I really didn't worry about the name of the school. Just what feels like home," Morant said.

Tee, who was also born and raised in Dalzell, agreed. Both places have family-oriented communities, and while they don't have many entertainment options, they make up for it because they're tight-knit.

"That’s what Ja is used to." Tee said. "That’s why the transition to Murray was so easy because that’s what he used to do."

Ahead of schedule

Morant spent his freshman year as a distributor.

He averaged 12.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and 6.3 assists for a Murray State team that made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012. He was one of only two NCAA Division I players with 400 points, 200 rebounds and 200 assists. He recorded only the second triple-double in school history.

But to McMahon, it wasn't only the on-court success that stood out. Morant spent hours with assistant coach Shane Nichols watching film — of himself, of opponents, of NBA players he was trying to emulate. He put on 20 pounds in the offseason, and was helped by growing another inch after stretching 2 inches during his senior high school season. He's Now 6-foot-3.

And he stepped into a leadership role.

He and guard Shaq Buchanan became known as the "bounce brothers," competing last year to see who could record more in-game dunks. Buchanan won by two — and Morant is quick to give him credit. Add in Brown's 3-point shooting and an improved defensive effort, and the Racers have become threats.

Preps: Who's in the running for Kentucky's Mr. and Miss Basketball awards?

"He’s a winner. He’s about the right thing. He’s a great teammate," McMahon said. "Players love playing with him. It’s been really fun to watch him continue to just develop and get better every day."

The school knew the hype was coming, but it came a little faster than expected. It was after his freshman season that scouts and national media started to take notice. The process was sped up by a big performance at the off-season CP3 Elite Guard Camp, an invite-only event for the best college and high school point guards in the country, sponsored by Houston Rockets All-Star Chris Paul.

But when he returned to school, it was all about Murray State.

"He hasn't changed one bit," McMahon said. "If anything, it’s made him hungrier."

'You think you've seen it all'

Save for Vince Carter in the 2000 Olympics, McMahon had never seen anything like what Morant did in a game against Tennessee-Martin this month.

He took a pass just outside the paint and launched toward the rim despite a 6-foot-8 Skyhawks defender standing in his way. Morant cleared him for a one-handed slam dunk.

“With Ja, you think you’ve seen it all and then he does something like that in-game,” McMahon said.

That was just one of a number of highlights Morant has had this season. There was the dunk against Alabama. The dunk and reverse layup against Eastern Illinois. And the time he cleared four teammates during a Murray State dunk contest.

But none of those is Morant's favorite. His was a defensive play, when he grabbed an opponent's layup before it hit the backboard during a game against Eastern Kentucky.

"The thing about Ja is I think a lot of people are wowed by his athleticism and his explosiveness and rightfully so, but his basketball IQ and his feel for the game, his court vision, are just off the charts," McMahon said. "It’s something you don’t see very often. The best thing about him is he makes everyone around him better."

Morant disagrees. There's a lot he can work on. He says it starts with limiting his turnovers — he averages 4.8 a game, a product of trying to force passes.

Bilas said Morant needs to get bigger and work on his shooting — he's 33 percent from 3-point range.

"He makes shots now," Bilas said. "He’s got a good stroke. But I think he can refine it and become a much more consistent perimeter shooter.”

Hoosiers: Morning Coffee: What has happened to Indiana basketball lately?

Morant will be the third Murray State point guard drafted in the last seven years — Cameron Payne was taken in the first round in 2014, and Isaiah Canaan was taken in the second round in 2012.

McMahon, who was an assistant at Murray State from 2011-2015, doesn't like comparing the three because they were all different. But as far as Morant goes, he expects "to be watching him play for decades to come."

'Beneath no one'

Morant says he's still upset that he was overlooked as a prospect. But his parents have encouraged him to avoid asking why and to "just keep working."

“It all played out well in the end, I guess,” Morant said. “I always knew I had game. That’s why I put on all my social media handles, ‘I got game.’ "

His Instagram handle is @igotgame12_ while it's @igotgame_12 on Twitter.

"I just felt like I could play with the best of the best," he said.

To be fair, Tee said he still is upset too. He chalks it up to tunnel vision by scouts that came to see his teammates and didn't notice his son passing his fellow superstars the ball.

But in an ironic way, he doesn't think his son would be who he is without the extra push.

“The selfish part of me kind of enjoyed it a little bit because it kept that chip on his shoulder so I didn’t have to motivate him," said Tee, who hasn't missed a home game this year. "That motivated him. Of course I felt like it was wrong. But at the same time I felt like it would work itself out in the end.”

Ja's parents tell him he should be "beneath no one."

On the court, Morant is soaring.

Justin Sayers: 502-582-4252; jsayers@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @_JustinSayers. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/justins.