Get To Know Marcus Keene, 5-Foot-9 Scoring Wizard

The leading scorer in college basketball this season isn’t Lonzo Ball, Josh Jackson, or Ivan Rabb. He isn’t even 6-foot. Marcus Keene plays point guard for the Central Michigan Chippewas of the Mid-American Conference, and he has a legitimate chance to become the first 30-point-per-game scorer in college basketball in 20 years.

He’s also just 5-foot-9, according to a short feature ESPN wrote about him today. The junior is currently averaging 30.8 points through 11 games for the Chippewas on 42.9 percent three-point shooting and leading the NCAA in offensive win shares. Keene didn’t completely come out of nowhere, but he transferred from Youngstown State after the 2014-15 season and he never averaged more than 16 points per game in his time there. He’s playing essentially the same amount this year as he did as a sophomore, but his scoring has nearly doubled and his usage percentage has climbed to one of the highest in the nation.

He apparently spent his season off getting swole and preparing tear the MAC up, which is exactly what he’s done. Soon after he transferred to CMU he began lighting them up in practice:

Davis said it didn’t take long for him to realize that Keene would be his go-to guy — and a prolific scorer. In an intrasquad scrimmage last season, while he was sitting out as a transfer and playing on a team full of walk-ons, Keene was nearly unguardable and led his team to a win over a team expected to win the MAC.

Like fellow tiny point guard stars Kay Felder, Isaiah Thomas, Tyler Ulis, and Jerome Randle before him, Keene does not have a conscience from beyond the arc. He takes nearly nine threes per game, but can get into the lane as well. He’s built more like Felder or Thomas than Randle or Ulis, and he’s no shy about going straight at a center’s chest. Check out highlights from his recent 40-point, 11-assist game against Green Bay.

As you’ll surely note, he’s not exactly playing the Golden State Warriors here. CMU were picked to finish last in the MAC, and Keene still has plenty of in-conference games to get through to finish the season averaging 30. He doesn’t have the polish of some of his predecessors, but I hope he gets to 30, because tiny point guards are the shit, and one deserves to set a record.