Kevin Granger (born December 30, 1973) is a retired American professional basketball player who is best known for leading NCAA Division I in scoring with a 27.0 points per game average in 1995–96. Granger grew up in

Scooba, Mississippi ("Reed brake") , leader_title = , leader_name = , leader_title1 = , leader_name1 = , established_title = , established_date = , unit_pref = Imperial , area_footno ...

and attended Kemper County High School (KCHS). He earned First Team All-District, First Team All-State and All-America honors after leading KCHS to the 3-A State Championship. Granger then attended

Texas Southern University Texas Southern University (Texas Southern or TSU) is a public historically black university in Houston, Texas. The university is one of the largest and most comprehensive historically black college or universities in the USA with nearly 10,000 ...

and became a four-year starter on the varsity basketball team while playing the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

position. By the time he graduated in 1996 he had established himself as one of the school's all-time leaders in points, assists (467) and steals (146). Granger was named the

Southwestern Athletic Conference The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a collegiate athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which is made up of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southern United States. It participates in t ...

Freshman of the Year, 1994 SWAC Tournament MVP, and was a two-time First Team All-SWAC and Black College All-American selection. He did not get selected in the

1996 NBA draft The 1996 NBA draft was the 50th draft in the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was held on June 26, 1996 at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. In this draft, NBA teams took turns selecting college basketball play ...

so Granger took his game overseas. In three professional seasons, he played in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

(

Regatas Corrientes Club de Regatas Corrientes, usually just Regatas Corrientes, is a sports club of Corrientes, Argentina, located on the river side of the Paraná river. Although Regatas was born as a rowing institution, the club is mostly recognized due to its ba ...

) and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

( Floor Padova). Upon returning to the United States, Granger became a high school basketball coach and special education teacher at Worthing High School in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. He left the school to become an assistant coach at his ''alma mater'' with the promise of becoming the new head coach once interim coach Robert Moreland resigned. Granger and TSU had entered a

gentleman's agreement A gentlemen's agreement, or gentleman's agreement, is an informal and legally non-binding agreement between two or more parties. It is typically oral, but it may be written or simply understood as part of an unspoken agreement by convention or th ...

, but once TSU's old athletic director was fired by the school president, he was never given the opportunity to become the head coach and filed a lawsuit in response. Granger married his college sweetheart, Tracy, who was also a Texas Southern cheerleader, and they have four children together.

References

* * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Granger, Kevin 1973 births Living people American men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Argentina American expatriate basketball people in Cyprus American expatriate basketball people in Italy Basketball coaches from Mississippi Basketball players from Mississippi High school basketball coaches in the United States People from Kemper County, Mississippi Point guards Regatas Corrientes basketball players Texas Southern Tigers athletic directors Texas Southern Tigers men's basketball coaches Texas Southern Tigers men's basketball players

See also

References