Morgan State men’s basketball senior Kam Hobbs recently chatted with PressBox about how his family influenced his game, why he began his college career at the Division II level and more. The 5-foot-10, 170-pound guard averaged 8.4 points and 2.7 assists per game for the Bears in 2022-23. He also shot 45 percent from 3-point range. Hobbs is a native of Stockbridge, Ga., and graduate of Dutchtown High School.
His uncle, Karl Hobbs, is a longtime college basketball coach and is now the associate head coach at Georgia Tech.
PressBox: How did you become interested in basketball?
Kam Hobbs: My uncle, [Karl Hobbs], is a college basketball coach and my pops, [Ron Hobbs], grew up playing basketball. It was a family thing. A bunch of my cousins played. Once I was about 2 years old, my pops would go out in the driveway with me and make me dribble the ball. While my older brother would be outside shooting, he would make me dribble on the side and watch him play. Or we would go to my uncle’s games and watch the college players play. It was really just a family thing since I was like 2 years old.
PB: What influence did your father and uncle have on your game growing up?
KH: They put the ball in my hands. Without them, I don’t even know if I would be playing basketball. My pops, when he was younger, he was like a defender, athletic type of person. He put the grit in my game, telling me that it’s not just about offense. You’ve got to play defense, too. You’ve got to hustle. You can’t just be shooting threes. My uncle, he was a point guard. He could dribble, pass. He had a finesse game. I kind of get my finesse style from my uncle, but my will to win, I definitely get that from my pops. They definitely influenced me more than anybody, more than any NBA player that I watched, more than anybody.
PB: Do you still talk basketball with your uncle on a consistent basis?
KH: This is my [fourth] year in college. My first year, I want to say the first 20 games or so, I was texting him after every single game, asking him what I need to do better. He’s telling me I’ve got to get more involved, I’ve got to do more on offense, I’ve got to do more on defense. So definitely we would text. My senior year of high school we were texting a lot, but after my freshman year [of college], I kind of got a hang of things. We still do talk a lot about basketball but not as much as my freshman year.
PB: How did your uncle keep you involved in his career?
KH: He was at Rutgers for [seven] years. I want to say when I was in 10th grade of high school, he brought me up to Rutgers’ practice and I practiced with the team like two days in a row. Of course, they were cooking me. They were grown men. I was only in 10th grade. But it was definitely a good experience. Definitely appreciate my uncle for that.
PB: Why did you initially choose to go to Division II North Greenville University?
KH: I want to say 11th grade and my senior year, that’s when I started playing a lot in high school. My freshman year I got hurt, so I couldn’t play the whole freshman year. Tenth grade, I was coming back from injury. I was kind of unsure of myself. So I changed schools and in 11th and 12th grade I started getting some playing time, started playing AAU. The one thing coaches kept telling me is at the height you are, you can’t be so laid back, so cool. For me, it just felt a little easy in high school, the high school game, so I wasn’t playing with all my energy. I wasn’t playing as hard on defense. The college coaches made it seem like I just wasn’t interested in basketball like I actually am. North Greenville, that was the main school that really liked me. I had three D-IIs and two JUCOs that really liked me. I didn’t have any D-Is out of high school.
PB: Did your defense pick up at North Greenville?
KH: Definitely, because my freshman year when I was talking to my uncle a lot, he was already telling me, “You’re a freshman and you’re already small. They might like you, but you’re going to have to do something different than everyone else wants to do.” I already know everybody wants to score 30, everybody wants to shoot threes. I’ve got to play defense. I’ve got to dive on the floor. I’ve got to do all the defensive stuff. Once he kept telling me that, I saw my coaches start emphasizing defense a lot more than they did in high school. That really put it in my head. I want to say North Greenville definitely made me play defense a little bit better.
PB: Why did you choose to go to Morgan State after North Greenville?
KH: It just felt like the right fit. I came up here to have an open run with some of the guys, and it just felt perfect. Everything just felt good. I know it kind of gets a little cold up here, but when I came up here to hoop, the weather was good, people were nice to me. Like I said, my uncle’s a coach. He used to coach at [George Washington University with current Morgan State head coach Kevin Broadus], so there was a little connection already. The fit just felt perfect. And plus, I’m not too far from Boston, and that’s where my family’s from.
PB: How long have you known Broadus?
KH: This is when I first started playing basketball. This is when I was real young, about 5 years old, around there. Broadus knew me when I was a little kid, but of course when you’re a little kid you don’t really remember the grown-ups that you met when you were younger. He knew me when I was younger just because of that connection with my uncle.
PB: What’s your favorite thing about Morgan State?
KH: It goes hand in hand, but the people that are on campus right now, they really support the sports teams, no matter if it’s football, softball, basketball or tennis, they really support it. Things like homecoming, a lot of alumni come back and support. I think I just like the support. It’s like a family up here. Everybody’s cool with each other. You can walk anywhere on campus, talk to the most random person and they’ll act like y’all knew each other for 10 years already.
PB: What’s your favorite memory from your time at Morgan so far?
KH: Going out of the country last year for [the Jamaica Classic] or this year’s [exhibition games in] Paris — either those memories or getting to play in front of Magic Johnson last year versus Howard.
PB: What’s your favorite thing about Baltimore?
KH: I’m trying to play overseas, so I’m just wanting to be away from home, so that’s one good thing about Baltimore — just that it’s away from home. It’s a different experience. It’s helping me get used to being away from home.
PB: Who’s your best friend on the team and what’s a story that underscores your friendship?
KH: My whole team is one, but if I’m going to hang out, I can’t individually pick one, but it would be [Kevon Wiggins, Rob Lawson and team manager Evan Eubanks].
PB: Who did you look up to early in your college career at North Greenville?
KH: DJ Brooks graduated a year before me, but he played the same position as me and he came from Georgia. He always came back to the team and talked to me and all that, gave me some pointers. Jalon Cokley was the leading scorer on North Greenville. We were real cool. We used to hang out off the court and everything. He used to tell me, “Just keep grinding, that’s how it’s going to come.” Me and him were real cool.
PB: What advice would you give to younger players who are frustrated about not getting Division I looks?
KH: As long as you’re sure about yourself, other people are going to see that. They’re going to see the confidence that you’ve got about yourself. They might not at first understand why you’ve got that confidence about yourself, but once you show them why you’ve got that confidence, they’re going to be on your side, too. Just keep working. Nothing else is going to talk louder than the work that you put in. If you’re in the gym more than anybody … that work is going to show. If you’re in the gym more than the person that’s way faster than you, your work is going to outdo that speed they’ve got. Just keep working, keep that confidence and never let anybody tell you that you’re not good enough, tall enough, strong enough, any of that, because you can go work and get better at anything that somebody says that you’re not good at. You can go work and get better at it, just like I had to with defense.
PB: What are your goals for after basketball, whenever it ends?
KH: I’m currently a strategic communications major, so I’m looking to be a sports analyst, but again, I might end up going the family route and becoming a coach. Those are my two main goals after basketball, but if those two don’t work, I did always want to be a pilot.
PB: Why a pilot?
KH: I like to have responsibility in my hands, and that’s a lot of responsibility — flying a plane with all those people’s lives in your hands. I just like being a captain. And I’ve been flying since I was a little kid because I had to go see my grandma a lot, all the way from Georgia, in Boston. I had to fly a lot, so I’m already kind of used to planes.
Photo Credit: Randolph Brant