Former Greenville High School star basketball player Danny Washington is moving up to the top level of college basketball.
Washington, who spent the last three seasons at East Mississippi Community College, has received a scholarship to play basketball at Mississippi Valley State University in Itta Bena.
“This feels really rewarding to be moving up to play at Mississippi Valley State,” Washington said. “I hope the people who came out and watched me play at Greenville High School will come out and watch me play at Mississippi Valley State. It is going to be just like high school, and they already know what we are going to do. We are going to put on a show.”
Washington said his relationship with new MVSU head basketball coach George Ivory is what led to his decision to join the Delta Devils. In March, the school announced that Ivory had been named the 12th men’s head basketball coach in the school’s history. Ivory previously served as head coach at Arkansas-Pine Bluff (UAPB), where he led the Golden Lions for 13 seasons.
“Coach Ivory and I have been staying close since I was in high school and he was at UAPB. He told me that I have the chance to come in right away and play,” Washington said.
Under head coach Lindsey Hunter, MVSU finished just 2-26 last season. The Delta Devils won just three seven games in Hunter’s three-year tenure, and they have not had a winning record since 2011-2012.
“I know that the program has been down, but under Coach Ivory we are going to be a long, athletic and fast team. I have played with and against a lot of my teammates, and we are going to get the job done.”
Washington graduated from Greenville High School in 2019. During his junior year with the Hornets, he led Greenville all the way to the Big House in Jackson to play in the state semifinals. That year he was also named the Delta Democrat-Times’ basketball player of the year.
After graduating from high school, Washington spent three seasons at East Mississippi Community College (EMCC). Because of covid, he was granted an extra year at EMCC and still has two years of college eligibility left to play with the Delta Devils.
“I became a better player at East Mississippi, and I learned a lot about the game,” Washington said. “I learned how to be a point guard, and I learned how to be more consistent with my jump shot and my 3-ball.”
