Mark "Rocket" Watts Jr. (born June 1, 2000) 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

Oakland Golden Grizzlies The Oakland University Golden Grizzlies are the athletic teams that represent Oakland University (OU) in the Horizon League and Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The school fields 16 teams: baseball, men's and ...

of the

Horizon League The Horizon League is an 11-school collegiate athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, whose members are located in and near the Great Lakes region. The Horizon League founded in 1979 as the Midw ...

. He previously played for the

Michigan State Spartans The Michigan State Spartans are the athletic teams that represent Michigan State University. The school's athletic program includes 23 varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan warrior named Sparty, and the school colors are green and wh ...

and

Mississippi State Bulldogs Mississippi State Bulldogs is the name given to the athletic teams of Mississippi State University, in Mississippi State, Mississippi. The university is a founding member of the Southeastern Conference and competes in NCAA Division I. Sports sp ...

High school career

Watts spent his first year of high school with Allen Academy in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

. As a freshman, he averaged 14.1 points and led his team to a 19–3 record. After Allen Academy closed, Watts transferred to Old Redford Academy in Detroit for his next two years. While at the school, he also played with The Family Detroit on the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

(AAU) circuit. In his sophomore season, Watts averaged 25.6 points, 6.2 assists, and 2.8 steals per game and earned ''

Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival ''Detroit Free Press'' building. ''The News'' absorbed the ''Detroit Tribune'' on Februar ...

'' second-team All-Area honors. As a junior, Watts averaged 26.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and 3.1 steals per game, helping Old Redford Academy to a 19–6 record. He was a ''Detroit News'' first-team All-Area pick. Watts was named first-team All-State in each of his first three seasons. For his senior season, Watts transferred with

LaMelo Ball LaMelo LaFrance Ball (born August 22, 2001) is an American professional basketball player for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected by the Hornets with the third overall pick of the 2020 NBA draft. ...

to SPIRE Institute and Academy, a boarding prep school in

Geneva, Ohio Geneva is a city in Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. The area which would become Geneva was originally settled in 1805, and was incorporated as a city in 1958. It is named after Geneva, New York. The population was 6,215 at the 2010 cens ...

. On January 26, 2019, he scored a career-high 64 points, with 15 three-pointers, in a win over St. Edward High School. Watts, on April 29, played in the

Jordan Brand Classic The Jordan Brand Classic is a high school All-Star basketball game played annually in April. The game's rosters feature the best and most highly recruited high school boys in the senior class including alumns like Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, Bl ...

all-star game.

Recruiting

By the end of his high school career, Watts was a consensus four-star

recruit __NOTOC__ Recruit can refer to: Military * Military recruitment * Recruit training, in the military * '' Rekrut'' (English: Recruit), a military recruit or low rank in German-speaking countries * Seaman recruit Books *''Le Réquisitionnaire'' (E ...

and top-40 player in the 2019 class. On September 22, 2018, he verbally committed to play college basketball for

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

. Watts had been recruited by Michigan State head coach

Tom Izzo Tom Izzo (, ); born January 30, 1955) is an American college basketball coach who has been the head coach at Michigan State University since 1995. On April 4, 2016, Izzo was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Izzo has led the Spart ...

since eighth grade.

College career

2019–2020 season

Watts started his first career game on November 5, 2019, in place of the injured Joshua Langford against the Kentucky Wildcats. He was held scoreless, going 0-of-4 from the field while picking up 2 assists in 22 minutes played in the 62–69 loss. Five days later, against Binghamton, Watts collected his first career points, finishing with 5 in 23 minutes as the Spartans defeated Binghamton 100–46. On November 18, 2019, Watts recorded a then career-high 11 points to go with another career-high 7 total rebounds as the Spartans routed Charleston Southern 94–46. Watts suffered a leg injury in December 2019 and was forced to miss some time. At the time, he was averaging 6.5 points per game. On February 11, 2020, Watts scored a season-high 21 points in a 70–69 win against

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

. He tied that mark of 21 points the next game, leading the team in scoring on February 25, 2020 as the Spartans won against the (then) higher ranked Iowa Hawkeyes, 78–70. Watts played a crucial role in the Spartan's game against Penn State on March 3, as they came back from a 15 point deficit at half to win by 8. He put up 18 points, second on the team that night. On March 8, Watts finished second on the team with 19 points in a 80–69 win over the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tre ...

. At the close of the regular season, Watts was named to the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

All-Freshman Team.

2020–2021 season

Watts tipped off his sophomore campaign by coming off the bench for 23 minutes, recording two points and three assists for Michigan State in a 83–67 win against Eastern Michigan. In his next game, an 80–70 win against Notre Dame, Rocket scored 13 points in his 20 minutes off the bench, good enough for second on the team that night. In addition, he tied his career high of 6 assists. In the Spartans 75–69 upset of Duke, Watts received his first start of the season. He responded by leading the team in scoring with 20 points, including 3 crucial late free throws to help stave off a Duke comeback. The next game, a 83–76 Spartan victory over Detroit Mercy, Watts once again received the start and led the team with a career high 23 points. He followed that up with 10 points and 6 assists in his third start on the season, a 79–61 win over Western Michigan. In the next game against Oakland, Watts ran into foul trouble early and wound up with 9 points in 22 minutes as the Spartans won 109–91 to improve to 6–0 on the season. In the Spartans first loss of the year, a 79–65 loss to Northwestern, Watts was ice cold, only scoring 5 points, all of which were in the final 4 minutes. Watts continued to struggle against Wisconsin, only scoring 5 points in 26 minutes as the Spartans dropped to 0–2 in conference, losing 85–76. He did set a new career high with 7 assists, however. In the next game, an 81–56 loss against Minnesota, Watts only scored 2 points. On December 31, 2020, Spartans coach Tom Izzo stated that Watts would be moving back to his ‘natural’ position at shooting guard instead of point guard. In MSU’s first conference win of the year, an 84–77 triumph over Nebraska, Watts scored 9 points coming off the bench, with two late free throws helping finish off the Cornhuskers. On March 29, 2021, Watts entered the NCAA transfer portal thereby ending his career with the Spartans, ultimately transferring to

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univer ...

2021–2022 season

Watts was limited to 19 games as a junior due to injuries to his hip and elbow. He averaged 4.4 points per game while shooting 40.2 percent from the floor and 26.7 percent from beyond the arc. After the season, coach

Ben Howland Benjamin Clark Howland (born May 28, 1957) is an American college basketball coach who most recently served as the men's head coach at Mississippi State University from to 2015 to 2022. He served as the head men's basketball coach at Northern ...

was fired and Watts opted to transfer to Oakland.

National team career

Watts played for the United States under-18 basketball team at the 2018 FIBA Under-18 Americas Championship. He helped his team win the gold medal, averaging 6.8 points and 2.5 assists per game.

Career statistics

College

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, 27 , , 16 , , 22.3 , , .389 , , .281 , , .800 , , 2.3 , , 1.7 , , .5 , , .0 , , 9.0 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

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, 28 , , 15 , , 22.6 , , .336 , , .253 , , .780 , , 1.7 , , 2.7 , , .1 , , .0 , , 7.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 55 , , 31 , , 22.5 , , .363 , , .269 , , .789 , , 2.0 , , 2.2 , , .3 , , .0 , , 8.4

Personal life

Watts was given the nickname "Rocket" while playing football at age five. His father Mark Sr. originally owned the nickname for the speed he displayed while playing high school football.

References

External links

Mississippi State Bulldogs bioMichigan State Spartans bioUSA Basketball bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watts, Rocket 2000 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Detroit Michigan State Spartans men's basketball players Mississippi State Bulldogs men's basketball players Oakland Golden Grizzlies men's basketball players Point guards Shooting guards