Ex-Henry Clay star Marques Warrick eager to show the home folks what he’s become

When Northern Kentucky visits Transylvania on Tuesday night in a men’s college basketball exhibition, Norse Coach Darrin Horn has one player he will not have to motivate.

For NKU junior standout Marques Warrick, the former Henry Clay High School star, Tuesday’s 7:30 p.m. preseason contest at Transy’s Clive M. Beck Center is a “homecoming game.”

“I am very excited. It’s my first chance to be in ‘Lex’ as a college player,” Warrick said last week. “Just (play) in front of some family, a lot of friends, coaches, just people like that.”

The last time Warrick played in an actual game in his hometown, it was in one of the epic high school hoops contests ever held in Lexington. Warrick poured in 48 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, but Henry Clay fell to Frederick Douglass 108-104 in a double-overtime classic in the 2020 42nd District Tournament semifinals.

“My career high and probably the most crazy game I’ve ever been a part of,” Warrick said. “It was a loss, so I try not to dwell on it anymore. It ended my (high school) career. It’s just going to be good to be back (playing in Lexington).”

Warrick will return to Lexington looking a bit different than he did as the willowy-thin, 6-foot-2, 165-pound guard who set the Henry Clay all-time scoring mark with 1,909 career points.

Through work in the weight room, “I’ve gained in between 10 and 15 pounds,” Warrick said. “I’m around 185 right now. Last year, I was 170.”

The additional muscle, Warrick believes, will boost his ability to finish through contact at the rim offensively and enhance his capacity to keep opponents in front of him as a defender.

After earning Horizon League Freshman of the Year honors for 2020-21 after averaging 15.8 points, Warrick had a testing but ultimately reaffirming sophomore season.

Warrick began 2021-22 mired in a profound slump. Over NKU’s first seven games, Warrick made only 23 of 87 shots. For a guy who has always been able to score, an extended stretch in which he shot 26.4 percent was confounding.

“That was definitely the first time in my basketball career I’ve been through that,” Warrick said. “Obviously, in high school, I maybe had a couple of games where I didn’t play as good, but nothing to compare to how I started (last season). Emotionally, it was pretty tough on me.”

One thing that eventually helped Warrick pull out of his slump was advice from his high school coach, Henry Clay’s Daniel Brown.

“I remember getting a text from Coach Brown in December,” Warrick said. “He saw me having bad games, bad shooting games, and he said, ‘Get to the free-throw line. You will definitely get your (shooting) stroke back and get your confidence back.’ That’s what I did, and it definitely helped me.”

Even while Warrick struggled, Horn and the NKU brain trust stuck with him. “I’ll give the kid credit, he worked his way out of (the slump),” Horn said. “Had a relentless work ethic, spent a ton of time in the gym and played through it. … He was not good early, but really grew. I think the biggest thing with ‘Ques, he is an unbelievably-high-character kid.”

Warrick’s finish to his sophomore season was as scalding as his start had been frigid. In NKU’s last six games — the final three in the Horizon League Tournament — Warrick made 55 of 98 shots (56.1 percent) and averaged 25.2 points a game.

In what became an excruciating 72-71 loss to archrival Wright State in the Horizon League Tournament Finals, Warrick carried NKU offensively, hitting 12 of 17 shots and scoring 28 points.

Horn noted that Warrick also came up big late in that game defensively. On the final three Norse defensive possessions, Warrick ended one by taking a charge and a second with a blocked shot.

“Those are things he was not doing at all through December of his sophomore year,” Horn said. “I think he is going to continue to do that. And I think he is going to be a guy who takes a step (up) as a leader.”

Warrick (16.8 points a game in 2021-22) will again join with former Mercer County star Trevon Faulkner (11.8 points, 4.9 rebounds) and ex-Highlands star Sam Vinson (11.2 points, 3.4 assists) to give NKU a stellar home-grown backcourt.

That trio is a big reason the Norse (20-12 in 2021-22) were tabbed as Horizon League co-favorites in 2022-23 with Purdue Fort Wayne in voting by the conference’s head coaches, basketball publicists and select media members.

Yet before a season of high expectations officially tips off, the Norse are coming to Lexington to play Transylvania in an exhibition from which proceeds will be donated to the Appalachian Regional Healthcare Foundation Flood Relief Fund to benefit those impacted by this year’s debilitating Eastern Kentucky floods.

In addition to Henry Clay alum Warrick, the exhibition will be a homecoming as well for Horn, the star of Tates Creek’s 1991 Boys’ Sweet Sixteen runner-up team.

As to who is likely to have more hometown support, Warrick jokingly noted that Horn — who will turn 50 on Christmas Eve — has had more time to build connections in Lexington.

“I think Coach Horn knows a lot of people,” Warrick said. “He’s probably going to bring more people than me.”