Morton: ‘I can still play’

Ethan Morton is 23, has a degree in finance from Purdue University — and feels like he has a new lease on his college basketball career, even if it is only a one-year lease.

“People can say what they want about me, even back home. My confidence might be shaken, but the thing is I’ll work hard, and I know I can still play. I know that in my heart. That’s what this next year is going to be all about.”

Those were comments from Morton on Monday afternoon, not long after he had announced on social media that he will transfer from Purdue to Colorado State. Morton, former star player at Butler High School and one of the top players in the WPIAL during the past couple decades, spent the past four seasons playing at Purdue. He has one year of eligibility remaining at Colorado State and feels this certain sense of excitement that he hasn’t felt in a while.

Morton used the word “amazing” when talking about Purdue, his teammates and some coaches. But he entered the transfer portal last month, admitting that he had no idea if anyone would be interested in him.

“What’s amazing about this place [Purdue] is everything ended on great terms,” Morton said in a telephone interview with the Post-Gazette. “I was just up in the coaches’ office and they were very happy for me. I’m super appreciative of everybody here. … My career at Purdue didn’t work out how I wanted. At the end of the day, I don’t agree with everything that happened, but that’s life. Everything is not going to be perfect in life or what you want, but part of life is picking yourself back up.

“All I wanted was just another chance, to be able to play like myself again and have someone believe in me. Colorado State checked those boxes and then some. I think I can go out there and have a good year on both sides of the ball.”

But when Morton left for Purdue in the summer of 2020, who could’ve ever predicted he would end his career in Fort Collins, Colo., in the Mountain West Conference? How he got there is a story in itself.

Morton had a storied career at Butler. In 2020, a Post-Gazette panel voted him the No. 8 player in the WPIAL-City League during the previous 40 seasons. He was a rarity in Western Pennsylvania, a 6-foot-6 point guard. He was a four-year starter and finished his career with 2,198 points, 912 rebounds, 682 assists and 138 blocks. He was ranked among the top 100 players in the country as a senior and he was one of the WPIAL’s most-heavily recruited players in the past couple decades, choosing Purdue over Pitt, Ohio State, Michigan, Indiana and Marquette, among others.

Morton missed most of the preseason as a Purdue freshman because of mononucleosis and he only played eight minutes a game that season. As a sophomore, he wasn’t a starter, but played in all 37 games, averaged 14.8 minutes and 2.4 points.

But along the way in his first two years, he wasn’t a point guard any longer, the position he had always played. As a junior, he was a starting guard for 29 of 35 games, but he was a changed player. He became known as Purdue’s defensive stopper. He rarely looked to shoot and Purdue had a terrific freshman point guard in Braden Smith. The team was centered around 7-foot-4 Zach Edey, who became Morton’s good friend and roommate.

Morton played 25.2 minutes a game as a junior, but his playing time decreased late in the season. He averaged only 3.8 points and 2.9 rebounds for the year and shot less than four times a game, making only 32%. He lost his starting job this season. He played in 37 games for a team that played for the national championship, but rarely saw the floor late in the season. He averaged only 0.6 points.

“This season, we just had a ton of talented guys and I understood they wanted to go in more of an offensive direction,” Morton said. “Anybody who watched me play knows I wasn’t recruited to stand around and shoot 3-pointers from the perimeter. I want to be better at that part of the game, but that was never my game. I’m going to have to continue to build confidence with my shot and I think with more volume of shots and more opportunities, that can work itself out.”

For the past two years, Morton admits he lacked confidence offensively — and it showed.

“I can be honest. Confidence is the biggest thing I have to regain,” Morton said. “This was probably the first time in my life that I’ve really been shaken. I’m not afraid to admit I’m a little bit broken. I’m a little bit damaged goods. But it’s not the end of my story. I can come back.”

After the season, Morton wasted little time in entering the transfer portal. Duquesne and Robert Morris contacted him, although he said connections with those two schools didn’t go far. A few schools in the Atlantic 10, MAC and Horizon League also contacted him. But he decided that he liked Colorado State, Massachusetts and Wright State the best and made visits to all three schools.

“Colorado State just hit me out of the blue,” Morton said. “I talked to them and sort of felt a connection to one of their assistants. When I talked to their head coach [Niko Medved], I felt more of the connection. I did a zoom call with them. Then when I visited, it was just unbelievable. Fort Collins is awesome. When I finished my three visits, I took a little time to reflect. It came down to kind of the same in high school for me and that was being able to trust the head coach a lot and them having belief in me. I’m super, super excited.”

Medved has guided Colorado State to the NCAA tournament two of the past three seasons and this year’s Rams (25-11) defeated Virginia in an NCAA play-in game before losing to Texas in the first round. Four of Colorado State’s five starters were graduate students, including point guard Isaiah Stevens, the school’s all-time leading scorer.

“Purdue recruited me to be a point guard in the half court,” Morton said. “I realized it’s hard for a guy my size to bring up the ball the whole game. I’m a point guard stuck in a big wing’s body. The situation next year [at Colorado State] is maybe the ballhandling will be shared. They’re looking at me being more of a point forward. At the end of the day, I just have to be a playmaker at different positions.”

Morton said he knows many fans in Butler and around Western Pennsylvania wonder what happened to him at Purdue? What happened to his game? Can he bounce back with one season left in his career?

“This [Purdue] community, the fan base, the connections I made with the coaches and all the players, I’ll have for the rest of my life and will never forget,” Morton said. “This is a special place. Everybody’s path is different. People used to tell me that in high school, but as a high schooler you just say, ‘Yeah, whatever.’ You don’t understand until you go through something like this.

“At the end of the day all I can ask for is a chance. For people who have forgotten about me and don’t think I can play any more, I’m still here. There will be an adjustment period [at Colorado State] and it’s going to take a lot to regain where I was, but I’m ready for it.”

Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com and @mwhiteburgh on X