Former University of Maryland guard Darryl Morsell announced Monday that he is transferring to Marquette. He made the announcement on his Twitter account.
“When I went into the transfer portal, immediately Coach Smart reached out to me,” Morsell told Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Marquette reporter Ben Steele. “”I just know his track record as a coach. He’s my type of coach; he values defense and playing hard. He’s a win-first-mindset coach.”
The 6-foot-5 guard will be a graduate student at MU, using his extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA to all athletes due to COVID-19.
“We are extremely excited about Darryl joining our program,” Marquette head coach Shaka Smart said in a statement. “He comes from an outstanding family, possesses tremendous character, and impacts winning in a variety of ways. Darryl’s leadership will have a powerful affect on our team.”
In 30 games last season for Maryland, Morsell averaged 29.4 minutes played, nine points, 2.8 assists and four rebounds. He shot 48.6% from the field and 60.9% from the free-throw line.
Additionally, he earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year honors after finishing the season with 17 blocks and 26 steals. Maryland finished as the third-best scoring defense in the Big Ten last season, giving up just 65.6 points per game.
Morsell reunites with new Golden Eagles assistant coach DeAndre Hayes, who came over Maryland to join Smart’s coaching staff.
Additionally, he reunites with Marquette sophomore forward Justin Lewis. Both Morsell and Lewis are from Baltimore, Maryland and played Amateur Athletic Union, commonly known as AAU, Basketball together in Maryland.
“That’s little bro,” Morsell told Steele. “We played in the same AAU program and I watched him grow up from when he was young-young, when he first started playing basketball. We real close.”
Morsell is the ninth roster addition for Marquette this offseason with the roster turnover following the hiring of Smart back in March. He is the fourth player to transfer this offseason to the Golden Eagles as well, joining Tyler Kolek, Kur Kuath and Oliver-Maxence Prosper.
If Dawson Garcia chooses to return to Marquette, all 13 scholarship availabilities will be taken.
This story was written by Matt Yeazel. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @MJYeazel.
