King Henry

King Henry

October 19, 2015

The FanDuel Legends Classic will showcase two of the top freshmen in the country as Ben Simmons of LSU will square off with Marquette’s Henry Ellenson in the first semifinal round game on Nov. 23 at Barclays Center.

We chronicled Simmons last week but Ellenson is no slouch in the hype department either.

Just last week, Ellenson was named to the All-Big East second-team, becoming the first freshman to earn first- or second-team honors since the conference’s preseason All-Rookie Team was discontinued in 1992-93. He was also named to the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year watch list. He even won the team’s dunk contest at Marquette Madness earlier this month.

Coming out of Rice Lake (Wis.) High School, Ellenson was a consensus five-star player. He set Rice Lake’s career scoring record by pouring in 2,275 points and was the first Marquette recruit to be selected to the McDonald’s All-America Game since Kerry Trotter in 1982. He also earned a spot in the Jordan Brand Classic and Nike Hoops Summit. He missed those events due to injury.

On the international stage, he was a member of the gold medal-winning FIBA Under-17 World Championship team that went 7-0 in 2014.

“He is everything we are looking for, and will continue to look for, in a basketball player at Marquette,” said head coach Steve Wojciechowski. “His experience at the international level representing our country and competing against the best players in the world is something we look forward to him continuing while at Marquette.”

Ellenson had many suitors as a high school star, including the likes of Kentucky and Michigan State. However, he decided to stay close to home and by doing so will get to play with his older brother, Wally, a transfer from Minnesota. Henry Ellenson is the highest-rated recruit to commit to the Golden Eagles since Doc Rivers in 1980.

“I didn’t go on my Kentucky visit but I was close to (head coach John) Calipari, Ellenson told Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com. “And I had enjoyed myself at Michigan State, (head coach Tom) Izzo is a great guy and so obviously that was another tough one. But in my gut it just felt right to be with Coach Wojo and Marquette.”

Ellenson vs. Simmons. Nov. 23. Barclays Center. Be there!

Marquette, LSU, NC State, and Arizona State compete in the Championship Rounds of the FanDuel Legends Classic, Nov. 23-24 at Barclays Center. Tickets are available at: http://bit.ly/1Uyw6l2

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