Out of tall shadows
Tyler Morris hails from Basketballstate USA, where he learned what it is to have character, and how to make yourself noticed next to a seven-foot star.
Couper Moorhead
Issue date: 11/8/07 Section: Men's Basketball
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It's senior year and Lawrence North, Ind. is playing Terre Haute South Vigo. Terre Haute's All-Indiana star, Armon Bassett, is averaging 22.5 points per game. Thirty-year Lawrence North coach Jack Keefer, the "Dean" of Marion County, knows that all roads go through Bassett: They stop him, they win. So, Keefer picks Tyler Morris and sends him to the Bassett island and tells all of his Lawrence North teammates to just "latch onto their man."
"At halftime Bassett had 19 points and Tyler was about ready to cry," Keefer said. "But the score was 36-19 [LN]. 'Why are you so upset?'" he asked Morris.
"I don't like him scoring on me," Morris replied.
Bassett scored just three points the second half.
"He wore him out," Keefer said. "Bassett was one of the best players in state that year and he just shut down."
Three years later, Morris is at Boston University, seven months removed from winning the America East Rookie of the Year award, and the Terriers have just entered Case Gym for Midnight Madness. He's wearing his game uniform, No. 24, but he looks strangely uncomfortable without the sheen of warm-up sweat in his hair.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Morris is competing in a 3-point contest with the women's basketball team, and he's paired with junior Kristi Dini. His first shot bounces off left, the second taps back iron and the third hits the rim three times before leaving the cylinder. Dini has only made one of her 3's and the clock is winding down.
From the stands you can see his motions become more deliberate, but he is unflappable. Morris's next shot barely skims nylon as it drops through. The next, perfect. The rim might as well be a peach basket. As the buzzer sounds, the third shot falls true. In Morris's mind, he didn't make three out of six, he made three. Not good enough.
"Every time I go into the gym to shoot I only count the number of shots I make," Morris says. "You put up 15, 20 shots a game you are going to get points by default. We're D-1 players; we're good enough to get points by default. If I'm taking 20 shots and I'm only hitting seven or eight of them that's taking shots away from other people, and I think that could potentially hurt the team."
"At halftime Bassett had 19 points and Tyler was about ready to cry," Keefer said. "But the score was 36-19 [LN]. 'Why are you so upset?'" he asked Morris.
"I don't like him scoring on me," Morris replied.
Bassett scored just three points the second half.
"He wore him out," Keefer said. "Bassett was one of the best players in state that year and he just shut down."
Three years later, Morris is at Boston University, seven months removed from winning the America East Rookie of the Year award, and the Terriers have just entered Case Gym for Midnight Madness. He's wearing his game uniform, No. 24, but he looks strangely uncomfortable without the sheen of warm-up sweat in his hair.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Morris is competing in a 3-point contest with the women's basketball team, and he's paired with junior Kristi Dini. His first shot bounces off left, the second taps back iron and the third hits the rim three times before leaving the cylinder. Dini has only made one of her 3's and the clock is winding down.
From the stands you can see his motions become more deliberate, but he is unflappable. Morris's next shot barely skims nylon as it drops through. The next, perfect. The rim might as well be a peach basket. As the buzzer sounds, the third shot falls true. In Morris's mind, he didn't make three out of six, he made three. Not good enough.
"Every time I go into the gym to shoot I only count the number of shots I make," Morris says. "You put up 15, 20 shots a game you are going to get points by default. We're D-1 players; we're good enough to get points by default. If I'm taking 20 shots and I'm only hitting seven or eight of them that's taking shots away from other people, and I think that could potentially hurt the team."
