Bio Blast: Washington State guard Jerone Morton

With Zoom Diallo and Alex Wilkins in the fold, Mark Pope has his likely starting backcourt for the 2026-27 season. But depth at the guard position will be needed. A new name to monitor as a potential backup option has emerged.

Washington State transfer Jerone Morton is scheduled to visit Kentucky this Friday, Jacob Polacheck of KSR+ confirms. A central Kentucky native, Morton started his college career at Morehead State for two seasons before heading out west to play for the Cougars in the West Coast Conference in 2025-26. The likes of DePaul, George Mason, and Texas A&M are among the other schools reaching out to the 6-foot-4 guard in the portal.

Morton is ranked No. 508 overall and the 138th-best shooting guard to enter this name into the transfer portal this offseason by On3. He’ll have one year of eligibility remaining at his next stop. Let’s get to know him a little bit better through another edition of KSR’s Bio Blast.

A star at GRC turned productive college player

Morton graduated high school from Winchester’s George Rogers Clark (KY). He was among the state’s top recruits as a senior after leading GRC to a Sweet 16 championship in 2022 (where he was named tournament MVP) and a runner-up finish in 2023 under head coach Josh Cook. As a senior in 2022-23, Morton averaged 19.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per outing on 52.4 percent shooting. He was lightly recruited out of high school, landing at Morehead State.

As a true freshman in 2023-24, Morton appeared in 34 games for the Eagles, starting two of them. He averaged 2.2 points and 1.3 rebounds in 12.9 minutes on just 31.1 percent overall shooting. He posted a season-high 10 points in just his second college game, and even took the floor for a couple of minutes in Morehead State’s first-round NCAA Tournament loss to Illinois.

But his role took a significant leap as a sophomore in 2024-25. Morton started 20 of his 26 contests played, boosting his per-game numbers to 10.4 points, 3.4 assists, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.3 steals in 29.5 minutes. His shooting splits also took a sizable jump in the right direction: 45.0/37.7/72.0. Morton missed some time early in the season and came off the bench once he did suit up, but quickly took over a starting spot. He had 14 double-digit scoring games, including a couple of 20-point outings. In a 70-69 overtime win over UT Martin, he went for 18 points (7-11 FG), seven assists, and four rebounds in 30 minutes.

All of that production led him to search for a bigger opportunity. He was the first portal addition of last offseason for new Washington State head coach David Riley. Morton chose the Cougars over the likes of Marshall, Western Kentucky, Indiana State, and others. He ended up starting 29 of his 32 games played in 2025-26, averaging 7.8 points, 2.6 assists, and 1.9 rebounds in 24.9 minutes per outing on shooting splits of 43.8/38.8/82.0. He scored 16 points and 15 points in two matchups with Gonzaga, along with a nine-point, nine-assist game against St. Mary’s.

What the advanced stats say about his game

The first couple of things that jump off the page with Morton are his three-point shooting and high assist/turnover ratio while at Washington State. He graded out in the 85th percentile among all guards with his three-point shooting and in the 88th percentile with his assist/turnover ratio of 2.22, per CBB Analytics. He is a low usage player (just 16.6 percent), but found ways to generate points when the ball was in his hands.

As far as his shot chart, Morton ranked well above average with his mid-range jumpers and above-the-break threes. He shot over 50 percent on his threes from the right side of the floor. Of his 61 triples that came from NBA range, he knocked them down at a 37 percent clip. He has proven value as a deep shooting threat. Only 45.2 percent of his threes came off an assist from a teammate last season.

Morton graded out as average in terms of defensive havoc. He’s a solid steals/blocks guy for a guard. But the overall defensive metrics were not fans of his impact on that end of the floor last season. His DRAPM of -3.4 and Defensive Win Shares of 0.03 ranked in the 2nd and 20th percentile, respectively. He made a bigger impact on the offensive glass than he did on the defensive glass.

It’s Transfer Portal SZN on KSR+

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