BATON ROUGE – Jarell Martin of Baton Rouge, who helped LSU to two post-season tournaments in his two years as a member of the LSU Basketball team, returned here on Friday to have his number retired at his alma mater, Madison Prep.
Martin, who went on to become a first-round NBA selection in the 2015 NBA Draft, is playing for the Memphis Grizzlies and returned to Baton Rouge during the NBA All-Star Weekend festivities in New Orleans.
Martin, who played at LSU from 2013-15, averaged 16.9 points his sophomore season to lead the team (third in the SEC) with 9.2 rebounds a game (second on the team, third in the league). He was named first-team All-SEC and led the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament in 2015. He shot 50.9 percent from the floor (202-of-397, third in the SEC) and made a team best 140 free throws. He had 15 double doubles.
As a freshman, he earned league freshman honors averaging 10.3 points and 4.6 rebounds.
At Madison Prep, Martin was named the winner of the 2013 Farm Bureau/Mr. Basketball award given annually by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association to the top player in the state of Louisiana. He averaged 26.3 points, 14.8 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 4.1 blocked shots in his final season of 2012-13.
He led the school to the state semifinals in 2012 and to the school’s first state title then in Class B in 2013 under high school coach Jeffery Jones. Martin was also named the Class B player of the year by the Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches on two occasions. He had 10 points in the McDonald’s All-Star game and a dunk from that game was rated the third best “play of the day” on ESPN SportsCenter.
Two more of his dunks, including a between the legs breakaway dunk against Florida in 2013, also made the SportsCenter list.
His rookie season in the NBA was slowed by injury, but this season he has appeared this season in 40 games for the Grizzlies, averaging 13.5 minutes a game. He is shooting 37.5 percent from the field, 79.2 percent from the free throw line and averaged 3.9 points and 3.9 rebounds a game.
Coach Johnny Jones and former Madison Prep teammate Brandon Sampson, now a sophomore on the LSU team, were among those taking part in the ceremonies.
“Jarell is a true testament of someone who is dedicated, passionate about the things he put his mind to and great things can happen for you. When we had the opportunity to sign Jarell, Coach (Jeffrey) Jones said, ‘Coach you are getting someone special, a special young man over at LSU. Please make sure you guys push him to be everything he can be.’
“He would get to practice early. He stayed late,” said LSU’s coach. “I asked why do you put so much time and energy into this basketball stuff. He said, ‘Well, my mom works about two or three jobs and I hope one day … that there is something I can do to prevent her from having to work like that.”
“Everything I did was her,” said Jarell of his mom in accepting the honor. “When I came here to Madison Prep, they accepted me as family. I promised the coach and everybody on the staff that I would work hard and become a better man. That’s what I did. My whole mindset changed. My whole demeanor changed.”