Lionel "LJ" Cryer Jr. (born October 9, 2001) is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

player for the Houston Cougars of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

High school career

Cryer played basketball for

Morton Ranch High School Morton Ranch High School is a secondary school in the Katy Independent School District. It opened in 2004, and is located in unincorporated Harris County, Texas, United States. It is part of a multi-school complex, including Morton Ranch Elem ...

Katy, Texas Katy is a city in the U.S. state of Texas within the Greater Katy area, itself forming the western part of the Greater Houston metropolitan area. Homes and businesses may have Katy postal addresses without being in the City of Katy. The city o ...

. As a junior, he averaged 27.5 points, 5.8 assists, and 2.9 rebounds per game, earning District 19-6A MVP honors. In the regular season finale of his senior season, Cryer had a 50-point, 10-assist game against Mayde Creek High School. In his senior season, Cryer averaged 34.2 points, 5.3 assists, 2.6 rebounds and 2.4 steals per game. He finished with 3,488 career points, the most in

Houston 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 i ...

area public school history. Cryer was selected as All-

Greater Houston Greater Houston, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land, is the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States, encompassing nine counties along the Gulf Co ...

Player of the Year by the ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...

'', and repeated as District 19-6A MVP. A four-star recruit, he committed to playing college basketball for Baylor over offers from

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

, Purdue and

Stephen F. Austin Stephen Fuller Austin (November 3, 1793 – December 27, 1836) was an American-born empresario. Known as the "Father of Texas" and the founder of Anglo Texas,Hatch (1999), p. 43. he led the second and, ultimately, the successful colonization ...

, among others.

College career

Cryer received limited playing time as a freshman at Baylor, averaging 3.4 points per game as his team won the

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

. On November 20, 2021, he scored 21 points in an 86–48 victory against Stanford. On January 29, 2022, Cryer was ruled out after aggravating a right foot injury. He averaged 13.5 points, 1.7 assists and 1.5 rebounds per game. As a junior, Cryer was named to the Third Team All-Big 12.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2020–21 , style="text-align:left;", Baylor , 20 , , 0 , , 10.0 , , .382 , , .364 , , .643 , , .6 , , .8 , , .5 , , .0 , , 3.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;", Baylor , 19 , , 3 , , 25.9 , , .476 , , .468 , , .778 , , 1.5 , , 1.7 , , .8 , , .1 , , 13.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2022–23 , style="text-align:left;", Baylor , 31 , , 31 , , 32.3 , , .453 , , .415 , , .894 , , 2.1 , , 2.1 , , .5 , , .0 , , 15.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , style="text-align:left;",

, 37 , , 37 , , 32.1 , , .411 , , .388 , , .871 , , 2.4 , , 1.9 , , 1.1 , , .1 , , 15.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 107 , , 71 , , 26.9 , , .434 , , .408 , , .844 , , 1.8 , , 1.7 , , .7 , , .1 , , 12.7

Personal life

Cryer's father, Lionel Sr., played college football as a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

for Grambling State. His younger brother, Justin, played the same position at Royal High School in

Brookshire, Texas Brookshire is a city in Waller County, with a population of 5,066 people. It is in rural Texas. Location Brookshire is located at (29.783737, –95.954325)., 34 miles west of downtown Houston along Interstate 10, 7 miles west of Katy. It is p ...

, where his father served as defensive coordinator.

References

External links

Baylor Bears bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cryer, LJ 2001 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Harris County, Texas Baylor Bears men's basketball players Houston Cougars men's basketball players Point guards Sportspeople from Katy, Texas