During the past two seasons for Idaho State’s men’s basketball team, there hasn’t been much of anything that fans could rely on outside of senior point guard Melvin Morgan.
For fans that have only been following Bengal basketball for two seasons, they’ve watched three different coaches, fast-paced basketball, slow-paced basketball, multiple game winning and losing streaks, a conference tournament berth followed by a last place finish in the Big Sky Conference and they’ve watched Melvin Morgan consistently bring it every single night.
“That’s probably been the toughest part of playing college basketball,” said Morgan. “I’ve had to adapt to three coaches in two years. It’s been a challenge. I’m a pretty tough guy mentally. The easy part for me was that each coach looked at me as a key part of the team. So all I had to learn was a different system. It takes a while but you get used to it,” said Morgan.
Morgan has been that one consistent component of two up-and-down seasons at ISU. He started 56 of the 60 games over two years. This year he scored in double figures in 23 out of the 30 games he has played. Despite playing with four different starters from his junior year his scoring averaged only fluctuated .2 points per game.
Morgan was placed into the leadership role – a role that he said he’s relished in undertaking. He learned from former teammates such as Chase Grabau and Kenny McGowen how to be a good leader.
“Coach Evans [ISU’s men’s basketball coach] looked at me to be the team leader,” said Morgan. “I’m the kind of leader who has to do it by example. Whatever the coach needed me to do I did. If they needed somebody to score, I’d try to get the ball in the basket and if they needed me to pass, I’d look to set up my teammates.
“I take the responsibility of helping my other teammates. On the court I try to execute the offense and keep the guys aggressive,” said Morgan.
The Bengals finished as possibly the best 6-21 team in Big Sky Conference history, in large part because Morgan kept his teammates aggressive.
For a player to be that consistent despite playing in three different systems speaks volume about Morgan’s versatility and adaptability.
Morgan has been one of my favorite players to watch this year for the Bengals. He is undersized even at the college level. He’s listed as 5’11” but that must be wearing three-inch thick soles attached to his shoes.
Morgan was the typical modern-day hybrid scoring point guard that NBA fans are accustomed to seeing. He looked for his shot first but genuinely tried to make the right play every single time.
Morgan was recruited by former Bengal coach Joe O’Brien from Memphis, Tenn. to come play for ISU and was immediately given the reins of the team. Morgan is the sixth player to be recruited from that area.
He immediately fell in love with his teammates and this community and knew ISU was where he belonged.
Morgan will graduate this year with a degree in Political Science. While he is proud of what he accomplished on the basketball court, it pales in comparison to his degree.
“I was the first one to graduate in my family,” said Morgan. “I’ve always wanted to play college ball but the degree turned out to be the best I’ve done.”