Northwest Mississippi Community College Rangers

After being a force at the high school level at Mitchell High School, Rickey Barrett was destined to be a star for the Ranger basketball team when he made his way to Northwest.  

As a three-year member of the varsity for the Tigers, he never missed a postseason, leading them to an overall record of 78-19 in three years, averaging 14 points per game in his career with 1,353 total points, including an astounding 19 points per game as a senior, taking home All-District Tournament, All-State, All-MIAA, and All-Metro team honors, the Rangers ended up on his radar as his first stop in collegiate athletics.  

Barrett joined the Rangers for the next three seasons, redshirting as a freshman before becoming a star on the court during the 1983-84 and 84-85 seasons. Northwest saw incredible success during his three years on campus, winning over 60 games and never having less than 19 wins in a season.  

As an individual, Barrett was a key for the Rangers, leading the state in scoring average in the 1983-84 season with 22.8 points per game, and as a sophomore he was selected as an All-Star, All-Region, and the Region 23 Most Valuable Player.  

The Rangers were narrowly defeated in both years in the Region 23 Championship, falling to Delgado Community College 87-85 in the ’84 championship before dropping a heartbreaker to Hinds Community College 55-54 in ’85. The success for Barrett in the 1985 season earned him Third Team All-American honors from the NJCAA, becoming only the fourth player in program history at that time to achieve that feat, and he was the only Ranger in the 80’s to be named an All-American. 

All of that gained him the attention of the University of Alabama-Huntsville, where he would move on to be one of the top scorers for the Chargers in his two seasons, scoring 1,094 points and finishing his career fifth all-time in career points scored. He still holds a spot at 26th on that list nearly 40 years later and is still second all-time in career points-per-game, averaging 20.3 over 54 games played.  

Barrett was also able to etch his name in the NCAA Division II basketball record books, finishing his senior season as a sharpshooter from three, averaging 55.8 percent from deep, which is 17th all time in history for a single season, going 63-119 in 26 games.