SAN DIEGO – Micah (MIKE-uh) Parrish, a highly regarded defender, has signed a Grant-In-Aid officially making him the newest member of the San Diego State men's basketball program, head coach Brian Dutcher announced today. The 6-6, 194-pound wing has spent the last two seasons at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich., and is immediately eligible to compete for the Aztecs in the 2022-23 season.
Over two seasons at Oakland, a member of the Horizon League, he averaged 10.5 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.7 steals in just under 32 minutes per game. Parrish shot 48.4 percent from the floor (207-of-428), 35.2 percent from the bonus distance (62-of-176), and 76.2 percent from the line (141-of-185). In addition, he has reached double-figure scoring in 33-of-59 career games, scored at least 15 points in 16 of those contests, and 20 or more in three, including a 20-point effort in the 2022 Horizon League tournament quarterfinal, his final game for the Golden Grizzlies.
Last year, he started in all 30 contests for Oakland and averaged 12.1 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.4 assists in 1,030 minutes (34.3 per game). He was successful on 114-of-259 shots from the field (44.0 percent), including making 47-of-133 triples (35.3 percent) and shot 80.0 percent (88-of-110) from the line. He added 179 rebounds, 51 steals and 43 assists. Among players in the Horizon League, he ranked No. 6 in free throw percentage and steals, and his 129 defensive boards were good for 14th in the conference. On a national scale, he was No. 105 in steals per game (1.7/g), No. 115 in total steals, No. 122 in minutes per game, No. 154 in free throw percentage, No. 285 in free throws made, and No. 314 in minutes. A member of the conference's all-defensive team, he helped lead the squad to its first 20-win season (20-12) in five years and just its seventh in the last 25 years.
As a freshman in 2020-21, Parrish was a starter in 27-of-29 games in which he appeared and averaged 8.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.7 steals, 1.1 assists, and 0.5 blocks in 842 minutes (29.1 per game). He was successful on 55.0 percent (93-of-169) of his shots from the field, one of nine players 6-6 or shorter to shoot at least .550 in 2020-21 and the only one of those nine who was an underclassman. In addition, he knocked down 15-of-43 shots (34.9 percent) from the bonus distance and was successful on 53-of-75 (70.7 percent) of his free throw attempts. He ranked second among Golden Grizzlies when a minimum of 10 attempts were applied to field goal and three-point field goal shooting.
A two-time Horizon League Freshman of the Week honoree, he finished the season No. 2 in steals (50), No. 15 in rebounds (167) and No. 19 in blocks (15) among league players. In addition, his total steals, 1.7 steals per game, 2.38 offensive rebounds per game, total minutes and two double doubles ranked No. 34, No. 82, No. 137, No. 212, and No. 333, respectively, in the nation that season. He reached double figure scoring 14 times and snatched five or more rebounds on 18 occasions, including a pair of 12 rebound efforts. Following the regular season, he earned inclusion on the Horizon League All-Freshman Team.
After a four-year career at River Rouge (Mich.) High School in which his teams went a combined 94-12, including 33-2 in Michigan Metro league play and won a pair of conference titles, and as a senior, led the team to the championship game of the 2019 Michigan High School Athletic Association's Division 2, according to Maxpreps. Parrish then spent a post-graduate year at Hillcrest Prep in Phoenix, Arizona, where the team posted a 30-5 mark in 2019-20.
This past season, the Aztecs finished with a 23-9 record, reached the championship game of the Mountain West tournament for the fifth straight year under head coach Brian Dutcher and earned a No. 8 seed in the NCAA tournament.
San Diego State is expected to return starters Matt Bradley, Lamont Butler and Keshad Johnson, as well as significant contributors Adam Seiko, Aguek Arop, and Chad Baker-Mazara. Parrish joins TCU transfer Jaedon LeDee, who sat out last season, Seattle U transfer Darrion Trammell, redshirt freshman Demarshay Johnson Jr., as well as incoming freshmen Miles Byrd and Elijah Saunders as new faces in the 2022-23 season.
-SDSU-