Darryl Morsell on TBT appearance, overseas career, talking with Buzz Williams

Ahmed Ghafir
5 hours ago
5 min read

Nearly six years and five months after hitting the game-winning three to cap a double digit comeback on the road, Darryl Morsell hit another buzzer beater over the weekend. This time it wasn’t for Maryland. Morsell suited up for La Familia in the TBT opener after a dunk sealed a 72-68 win over The Ville, the first of three games against the two local rivals. Morsell joined Glenn Clark Radio on Monday to talk about how his TBT appearance materialized, the atmosphere, playing overseas and what could be next in his playing career.

On the 2026 TBT Appearance with La Familia materialized

“This year they kind of cut the teams down. It used to be like sixty, 64 teams. This year it's only 16 and they changed the pot for 1 million, the prize money for 1 million and 2 million. But Shell Shocked didn't have a team this year. Kentucky gave me a call, and yeah, the rest is history.”

On why Morsell capitalizes on the chance to play in TBT Tournament

“We spend a lot of time overseas during the year. A lot of the guys that's playing in this spend a lot of time overseas. This is just a chance to play with people that we grew up with or some friends that we've had and also get paid pretty well throughout that process. And basically, everybody that's playing in this is Hawks. I call it Hawks. Like we all just love a game of basketball. We'll play it for fun. So we’re all enjoying this opportunity. Like right now, I'm in Lexington, Kentucky. We just finished a little shootaround. We actually have our second game tonight, but we just all Hawks. That's what I call it. We Hawks, man. We start a game of basketball, and any opportunity I present, we [are] probably gonna play.”

On feeling of a game-winning dunk

“I'll say it's a lot easier… and a lot less stressful, you know. But no, I just any way it could go in for real. At the end of the day, I'm just out there trying to win. Happy that we could win. That opportunity presented itself in the last game where I could slip, make a little cut and score the game-winning bucket and presented itself. Just blessed, thankful, and just trying to continue to win these games so we can get this two million, man.”

On the atmosphere of the games

“Kind of playing in that game on Saturday, kind of brought back to college feel again, but the atmosphere down here is definitely like basketball vested. I think this – we played in the coliseum. I think it holds 6,000. I want to say they sold 5,700, 5,800 tickets. And it's the summertime for alumni games, so you feel me? That's a lot of people that just come to see some of the older players play. Yeah, it's fun.That Louisville-Kentucky rivalry is real and the fans definitely come to support down here. I got a lot of support. I'm signing autographs after the game and everything. Everybody [is] telling me welcome to BBN and all that.

On contact with Buzz Williams, new staff

“Not really this summer, but last year when he came in last summer, I got to talk to him and some of the people on the staff. But yeah, I've already had a relationship with Buzz. He recruited me out of high school when he was at Virginia Tech. At that time, he was at Virginia Tech. So him and [Mark] Turgeon used to, coach Turgeon used to go at it trying to get me to come to this school and stuff. He kind of talked about it a little bit when I talked to him last year, and it's just crazy how everything comes full circle. And now he's at Maryland and stuff like that.”

On his confidence in the program, what he knows about Buzz Williams

“Very high. He's a definitely competitive individual and I know how he carries himself and I know how – like what kind of players he recruits. I know they're gonna put the work in to be ready. He's definitely not gonna – I'll tell you one thing, I'm almost 100% positive this year [will] be a lot better than last year…I can assure that. But I just know how he is, and I know he's a really hard worker, so I'm confident [in] what he has and I'm excited to see what they bring to the table.”

On post-TBT Tournament plans

“Back overseas. Right now…basically now I'm deciding between two countries. I'll probably decide probably like next week but I'll either be in Romania or Germany next year.”

On the overseas pro experience

“It's crazy. I think I have a lot of moments where it's like, ‘wow, this is what I'm really doing’ or you know, ‘wow, I'm 15, 16 hours away from home.’ And it's a blessing.. I get to see a lot of new things every day. It's surreal, like you said, like I kind of just go with the flow of life, catch my flights, go where I have to go. But sometimes, I sit back and reflect.

Like I was in Israel two years ago, I don't know if this too much, but I'm coming out of like a bar, lounge club type thing. It's 2 o'clock, 3 o'clock in the morning. They got a whole beach. It's a party inside and a party outside on the beach. I'm like, man, this is crazy. It's a lot of people inside. It's a lot of people outside. Like what the world? I've never seen nothing like this in United States. And it's 3 o'clock in the morning. So like sometimes, I have like moments like that. Like wow, I'm really doing something different. Just experiencing new cultures and stuff. And I enjoy it. Like I said, it's a blessing…the best part is all my money [is] tax free over there.”

On his experience in Iceland

“No, no, no, no. It is glamorous. I will tell you, it's beautiful. It gets cold there. It gets cold in the winter, but just like the landscapes… like, they have active volcanoes. The northern lights are out often. Everything. Like the waterfalls, the mountains. They have black sand beaches with big ice things on there that look like diamonds. Like I'm not gonna lie, I've been in four, probably like four or five countries, Iceland is definitely probably the most beautiful naturally.”

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