An ‘old school’ sensibility put Marques Warrick on verge of making NKU hoops history

The first time Daniel Brown heard about Marques Warrick, it came via an email. In his inbox, Henry Clay High School’s boys basketball coach received a message alerting him that “a kid who has a chance to be a good basketball player” was at Lexington’s Edythe J. Hayes Middle School and was in the Henry Clay attendance district.

That email had been sent by Therese Wright — Warrick’s mom.

“She said (Warrick) was going to be really good,” Brown recalls, laughing. “You get those from (a) parent, you are kind of like, ‘OK, every parent thinks that.’”

In this case, the maternal scouting report would ultimately prove spot on.

Once Warrick first got to Henry Clay as a willowy-thin freshman, however, Brown recalls watching the guard try to play against the more physically mature Henry Clay upperclassmen. “He was so thin and skinny, he just got knocked around,” Brown says. “But I can tell you this: Even then, he just had a natural ability to shoot and score.”

This weekend, Warrick’s “natural ability to shoot and score” was about to carry him to a historically significant college basketball achievement. Now a star senior guard for Northern Kentucky (12-12, 7-6 Horizon League), Warrick was to enter Saturday’s 4 p.m. game with Detroit (0-25, 0-14 Horizon League) needing 20 points to supplant Drew McDonald (2,066 career points) as the all-time leading scorer in NKU men’s basketball history.

If Warrick were to not set the Norse career scoring mark Saturday, he will, assuming good health, have six more regular-season contests and at least one game in the Horizon League Tournament to etch his name atop the Northern Kentucky scoring list.

Asked Tuesday how he thinks it will feel to become the NKU men’s hoops scoring king, Warrick said, “It’s hard to tell right now. I know for sure it will probably be a lot of emotions built up — just thinking back to all the work and sacrifice (that led) up to that moment.”

An ‘old school’ player

In an era when the best players at elite college hoops programs turn pro early and many of the top players at the mid-major level “transfer up” to power-conference teams, seeing all-time scoring marks change hands in men’s college basketball may become a rarity.

The reason is because players won’t be at schools long enough to do it. As a star-caliber college performer who has played four seasons for the same team, Warrick is a “throwback player.”

“Could he have left? No question,” says NKU coach Darrin Horn. “Why did he stay? I think he is a really unique young man in today’s college athletics. There’s two things, really. His mom really values education and the opportunity that he got here.

“And then I think the idea of leaving a legacy as a winner and a champion and guy that is the all-time leading scorer and someone who imprinted the (NKU) program and helped elevate it, I think all of that wasn’t lost on him and actually meant something to him.”

Warrick says he definitely thought about transferring.

“In this era, you’ve got to think about yourself,” he says. “During the season, you are locked in on the team. After (the year), you have to think about the possible outcomes, your options and just exploring those, what is best for you. I did that, after my sophomore year and, definitely, last year. It was the right fit for me to stay here. That’s what I ultimately wanted to do.”

After a stellar career at Henry Clay, Warrick’s college recruiting was probably limited by the slight 160 pounds (give or take) he was then carrying on a 6-foot-2 frame. Horn and NKU won out for Warrick in a recruiting battle with Eastern Kentucky, Bellarmine, IUPUI, Valparaiso and the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

That Warrick had been an undervalued stock was promptly shown when he became an immediate starter at Northern Kentucky and averaged 15.8 points a game as a freshman in 2020-21.

Every year since, Warrick has raised his scoring averages, going to 16.8 as a sophomore and 18.8 last season as a junior. This year, even though Warrick’s 3-point percentage is a career-low 30.1 percent and NKU has played without junior standout Sam Vinson since he tore an ACL in a Dec. 21 game at Saint Mary’s, Warrick was nevertheless averaging a career-high 19.1 ppg entering the weekend.

As odd as it sounds to say about a player about to become his school’s all-time scoring leader, Horn says he takes his greatest pride in how Warrick, now packing 185 pounds on his frame, has developed as a defender and an all-around player.

“He actually plays defense now,” Horn says. “We joked with him early on that he was allergic to defense, not much interest or ability to do it. I think he’s really grown in that area.”

The evolution of Warrick’s all-around game was on display when the Norse most needed it in last season’s 63-61 win over Cleveland State in the Horizon League Tournament finals.

Though Warrick made only 3 of 12 shots, he found other ways to contribute. He got to the foul line 13 times and hit 11. He grabbed six rebounds and made three steals. On a night his shot wasn’t falling, the ex-Henry Clay star still wound up with a team-high 18 points.

Says Horn: “His physical and mental toughness have really developed.”

The future

If he wants to use it, Warrick has an NCAA granted “free COVID year” available to him for a fifth season of college eligibility in 2024-25.

He could use that to run up the all-time NKU scoring record to an unbreakable level. Or he could take a shot at testing himself at the highest level of men’s college hoops by, finally, “transferring up.”

“I am talking with my mom every week about what we are trying to do,” Warrick says. “I’ll explore those options, for sure. That’s all I’ll say about it right now.”

Once Warrick becomes the NKU all-time scoring leader, he will add that to his status as Henry Clay High School’s career points (1,909) leader.

When Warrick moves to No. 1 in all-time points at Northern Kentucky, it will bring to two different Kentucky Division I men’s hoops programs where Horn recruited the career points leader. In his stint (2003-2008) as Western Kentucky coach, Horn wooed Courtney Lee to Bowling Green. Lee went on to tie Jim McDaniels (2,238) as the Hilltoppers’ all-time scoring leader.

Horn notes that the current NKU scoring leader, McDonald, was a local product from Newport Central Catholic. In Warrick, his record is about to be broken by another in-state product from Lexington.

Says Horn: “I think that part of this is really cool.”

All-time scoring leaders

The career points leaders for each of Kentucky’s eight NCAA Division I men’s basketball teams:

▪ Bellarmine: Steve Mercer, 1993-97, 1,969 points

▪ Eastern Kentucky: Nick Mayo, 2015-19, 2,316

▪ Kentucky: Dan Issel, 1967-70, 2,138

▪ Louisville: Darrell Griffith, 1976-80, 2,333

▪ Morehead State: Ricky Minard, 2000-04, 2,381

▪ Murray State: Jeff Martin, 1985-89, 2,482

▪ Northern Kentucky: Drew McDonald, 2015-19, 2,066

▪ Western Kentucky: Jim McDaniels, 1968-71; Courtney Lee, 2004-08, 2,238 (tie)

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