Butler grad Ethan Morton on that Maryland buzzer-beater, what’s next in his basketball career and more
When Maryland’s Derik Queen elevated over Colorado State’s Ethan Morton as the clock ticked down to zero seconds, Morton thought instantly, “We won.”
He didn’t turn around to follow the arc of Queen’s shot. The former Butler Golden Tornado star thought his Rams were going to the Sweet 16.
“I’ve felt that contest a million times, I’m like, ‘This dude will not make this shot,’” Morton said during an interview on Eye on Sports. “I didn’t even look. And all of a sudden everybody reacted and I’m just like, ‘Ho-ly crap.’ I was just shocked that it went in. Unbelievable play by an unbelievable player.”
Morton joined the Butler Eagle sports podcast this week — the episode dropped this morning — to talk about that game in which Maryland won 72-71 on Queen’s buzzer-beater over Morton’s tight defense, his final collegiate season, memories from his days playing at Butler and more.
“For us to have made a Sweet 16 under those circumstances would’ve been pretty remarkable,” said Morton, who also offered kudos to the Terrapins and Queen. “It’s what March is all about, at the end of the day.”
Morton was a top-100 recruit out of Butler in 2020 and the Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year. He spent four years at Purdue, playing 132 games and appearing in four NCAA Tournaments, including making the national championship game in 2024.
He transferred to CSU for a graduate season and averaged 23.5 minutes, 3.6 points and 3.5 rebounds per game, scoring a career-high 11 points in the Mountain West Conference Tournament championship game to hand the Rams their first title in 2022 years.
Morton still has a few more weeks of grad school before he hopes to play overseas. The 6-foot-7 guard sees himself becoming a coach one day, too, although at what level he’s not sure yet.
“It’s set in a little bit (my college career is over), it’ll probably set in more towards the end of the spring or in the summer ‘cause you’re in that routine of going back and forth to school,” Morton said. “When that time rolls around where I don’t have somewhere to be from June to August, it’ll definitely be weird.”
The Eye on Sports podcast is hosted by Eagle sports reporters Derek Pyda and Brendan Howe and sports editor Jake Merda Adams. Tune in each week for the latest analysis, reaction, stories and more. Episodes drops every Thursday morning on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
