Almond selected 25th by Utah Jazz

Almond selected 25th by Utah Jazz

BY JAY JAMESON
Special to the Rice News

As if being a Rice graduate isn’t rarified enough, Morris Almond ’07 just joined an even more exclusive club — Rice graduates who’ve gone on to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

ALMOND

He becomes the first Rice Owl to be selected in the first round since Ricky Pierce went to the Detroit Pistons as an 18th overall pick in the 1982 NBA draft. Almond is also the first Owl to be selected in the NBA draft since Kenny Austin was a fifth-round pick, also by the Detroit Pistons, in 1983.

Almond, a 6′ 6″ guard and native of Powder Springs, Ga. was drafted June 28 as the 25th pick by the Utah Jazz.

COURTESY PHOTO

“I kinda had a hunch that I would go to Utah,” said Almond. “The Jazz fit my style and I just think it’s a perfect fit. It feels good to have the speculation over and now it’s time to move forward. All of the years of practice and hard work since I left high school and entered Rice have led me to this point.”

The last time Almond was in Salt Lake City he scored 42 points by sinking 13 of his 16 field goal attempts, 12 of 14 at the free throw line, and four of six three-point bombs against the University of Utah.

During his senior season, Almond, despite playing with a “bull’s-eye” on his back and facing double- and even triple-team defenses, was third in the nation in scoring by averaging a C-USA record 26.4 points per game. For his efforts, he was named the 2007 Conference USA Player of the Year and earned AP All-America honorable mention accolades.

Almond appeared on the national radar as a junior when he set what was then a C-USA record by averaging 21.9 points a game in earning first-team all-league honors.

He entered himself for the 2006 NBA draft and wowed NBA personnel by performing well at the NBA pre-draft camp in Orlando and in individual NBA team workouts. He gained further attention when he became the first Rice Owl to be chosen for Playboy magazine’s All-America team and appeared on the cover of Basketball Times.

After scoring just 369 points in his first two collegiate seasons, Almond poured in 1,456 points in his last two campaigns (612 and 844). The 844 points tallied this past season is a school and C-USA record and he also set a single-game C-USA record by racking up 44 points against Vanderbilt. He leaves Rice as the school’s fourth all-time leading scorer with 1,825 points.
 
Morris is the son of Willie and Patricia Almond. He earned his Bachelor’s of Arts degree in kinesiology from Rice in May. Almond joins his former McEachern High School teammate, Josh Smith of the Atlanta Hawks, in the NBA.

Learn more about Almond and read his coach and teammates reactions to his NBA draft by reading the full press release from Rice Sports Information.