Lamont Sleets (1994) - Hall of Fame - Murray State University Athletics

Lamont Sleets

Induction:
1994

Lamont Sleets – Basketball, 1979-1984

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Played for Coach Ron Greene from 1979-84.
Was recruited to Murray State from Eminence, Ky., where he scored 1,944 points in his three-year high school career.
Averaged 32.0ppg as a senior at Eminence in the 1977-78 season.
Was MSU’s first player to be honored four times on All-OVC team.
Named to OVC All-Freshman Team in 1979-80.
Was part of three OVC championship teams and three National Invitational Tournament teams.
Earned OVC tournament MVP honors in 1981 when he scored 48 points in two games as the Racers defeated MTSU (62-60) in overtime in the semifinals, before losing to Western Kentucky (71-67) in the championship game.
In 1981, was just the third player from the second-place team to be named OVC Tournament MVP. The OVC went through a period when this was the case in 4-of-5 years from 1978-82. The last of seven instances occurred in 1989 and as of 2023, there haven’t been any.
In 1980, Sleets was a freshman when the Racers reached the NIT quarterfinals after defeating Jacksonville (53-49) and Alabama (70-62) on the road before falling at Illinois (65-63).
Sleets had a tremendous first season in 1979-80 by setting the MSU single season record with 157 assists, a mark that is still 10^th all-time at MSU as of 2023.
In 1979-80, sleets was the first freshman at MSU to score 500 points in a season with 522. He remained the only one until Cameron Payne did it in 2013-14.
His 1980-81 sophomore season, led team in scoring at 16.7ppg.
1981-82 junior season was cut short because of a foot injury and he was limited to three games.
Returned better than ever in 1982-83 in leading the Racers to the NIT where they hosted their only home NIT game against Wake Forest at sold out Racer Arena where the Demon Deacons won 87-80.
1982-83 he teamed with Glen Green to lead the Racers to the OVC regular season championship.
Green’s nickname was “Ice” (he was the OVC Player of the Year) and it was often said when an opponent played the Racers they hoped it wasn’t going to be an Ice and Sleet storm!
1983-84 Sleets finished up at MSU by scoring 18.6ppg and might’ve been OVC Player of the Year, if not for the all-star Joe Jakubick of Akron.
Sleets finished well in career stats at MSU including first in steals with 185 (still 2^nd in 2023), first in assists with 458 (still 3^rd in 2023), second in scoring with 1,902 points (still 8^th in 2023),
Known for his excellent shooting range, if Sleets would’ve had the benefit of the 3-point shot (which was brought into the game in for the 1986-87 season) his career scoring numbers certainly would’ve put him over the 2,000-point mark.
At one point, it was suggested that Sleets invented the High-5! ESPN The Magazine wrote about it in 2011.