Lexington’s C.J. Cox impressing in freshman season with Purdue men’s basketball team 

Long before C.J. Cox established himself as one of the nation’s most promising freshmen in Division I college basketball, he honed his game at courts across Lexington.

From outdoor workouts at Bowman Elementary School and a court near his childhood home with his father, Cecil, to indoor shooting sessions and pickup competition at J.W. Hayden Recreation Centre, Cox built the foundations for a promising college career with powerhouse Purdue University. 

“Defensive drills I’d do with my dad, just being able to move my feet and know where I should be positioned has helped me a lot,” Cox told LexObserver, “especially at this level to guard a lot of these high-major guards.” 

Those defensive skills earned Cox a spot in the rotation from the get-go. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound combo guard broke out on the national stage in mid-November before a sold-out crowd of 14,786 at Mackey Arena with 3-of-3 from 3-point range en route to 11 points across 18 minutes in a win over then-No. 2 Alabama as the Purdue Boilermakers passed their first major test of the 2024-25 college basketball season.

Ranked No. 20 in the most recent AP Top 25 Poll, Purdue (12-4, 4-1 Big Ten) remains a contender for the NCAA tournament after reaching the National Championship Game last year. Cox, who turned 20 in November, is a big reason why. Through his first 16 games (3 starts), Cox averaged 5.4 points and 2.4 rebounds, across 15.1 minutes per game. 

What led to his emergence? 

“I think just being able to guard the ball full court and put pressure on the ball-handler helps us get back on defense,” Cox said. “On offense, just being able to find my shot and just look to be aggressive and also help create for my teammates when the time allows.” 

Cox hails from athletic lineage. His mother, Lisa George-Cox, who passed away in 2021 after a battle with cancer, graduated from Lexington High School in 1981 as a three-time Boston Globe All-Scholastic in track and field and competed on Syracuse University’s Division I team. She also coached track at Lexington. Cox’s father, Cecil Cox, a 1980 Lexington graduate, is a member of Harvard’s varsity club Hall of Fame and was a two-time AP All-American defensive back for the Crimson football team and pitched on the school’s baseball team. Cox’s sister, Alex, a 2016 LHS graduate, ran track at Division I Elon. 

Cox attended Bridge Elementary and Clark Middle Schools and Lexington High School through his junior year. He played three years with the Minutemen varsity, blossoming into the Middlesex League Liberty Division MVP and All-Scholastic selections by both the Boston Globe and Boston Herald. After his junior year, Cox reclassified and finished his prep career with two-years at Milton Academy. 

Derin Ongur, a 2024 Lexington graduate, played with Cox for four years in middle and high school. Ongur remembers playing a high school game against Waltham where they completely focused on stopping Cox from scoring; he racked up double-digit assists instead. 

“We ended up winning the game by 30, and I haven’t seen him happier,” Ongur said. “He could care less about how many points he had, all he cared about was getting the team to win.” 

A standout two-way player, Cox flourished at Milton Academy, earning the Independent School League (ISL) Defensive Player of the Year honors as a senior last winter, and as a junior led the Mustangs to the ISL and New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) championships. 

Milton Academy coach Lamar Reddicks called Cox the best defender he’s ever coached.

“He can make life miserable … I’ve watched basketball players nearly quit because of him,” Reddicks said. “He’s a phenomenal competitor and you’d want him on your side with anything you do.”

Plenty of Division I college programs began making offers to Cox during the winter of his repeat junior year at Milton Academy. Brown and Dartmouth called first, then Boston University, Holy Cross and about a dozen other schools from mid-major programs from the Ivy League, Patriot League, Mid-American Conference and Coastal Athletic Association. 

No high-major programs offered Cox, who was unranked by most recruiting services until late in his senior year, until he dominated a high-profile AAU basketball tournament in Las Vegas during the summer between his junior and senior years. Averaging 18.7 points per game, including 29, 27 and 26-point performances against some of the nation’s best teams, Cox’s performance piqued the interest of Purdue head coach Matt Painter.

Painter only stumbled upon Cox while watching the tournament finale as part of a recruiting effort for a different player who ended up at Kentucky. Not only did Painter love Cox’s shot-making ability, but he noticed an intangible impact made through how he treated his Middlesex Magic teammates, and how they responded to him. 

Magic coach Michael Crotty, who began coaching Cox when he was in fourth grade, called Cox “beloved” and echoed Reddicks’ statement that Cox is the best on-ball defender he’s coached. Crotty said Cox’s competitive nature, and consistent, razor-sharp focus combined with his affable nature and humility make his teammates better, whether they realize it or not.  

“As laid back and as chill as he is off the court, he’s the opposite when he plays,” Crotty said. “He’s an easy guy to go to battle with because he’s the toughest and never thinks winning is out of reach. He brings together a lot of things that most people of his ability don’t have.” 

The Purdue coaching staff invited Cox on an official visit last fall, offered him a scholarship, and Cox pledged to the program not long after. 247Sports composite rankings listed Cox as a 3-star recruit ranked No. 266 in the nation and No. 7 in Massachusetts.

“Not everybody gets the opportunity to play at the Division I level, especially a high-major,” said Cox, who is studying business management. “It just shows the hard work that I put in throughout the years paid off.” 

At Purdue, Cox  impressed with a 12-point performance in a narrow victory over Yale in the third game of his collegiate career, followed by the breakout against Alabama. Cox owns six double-figure scoring games, topped by a 16-point effort in a December loss to Auburn. After going scoreless in his debut game as a starter in a Jan. 2 win at Minnesota, Cox scored 12 points and hauled in a career-best eight rebounds in his second career start three days later in a win against Northwestern. 

“I was kind of surprised because they didn’t really tell me until that practice when they said I’d be with the starting group,” Cox said. “I was very excited, but it didn’t change my perspective and I’m still playing the same game.” 

Orion Barrett-Tzannes, a 2022 Lexington graduate and three-year high school teammate of Cox, is a junior at Purdue and big Boilermakers hoops fan. They’ve kept in touch over the years and now enjoy running into each other on campus. Cox left Barrett-Tzannes tickets for the game against Alabama, which also happened to be Cox’s breakout, and showed him around Purdue’s facility.

“It’s pretty surreal considering I played with him in high school and now he’s playing with one of the best programs in the country, and it’s my team,” Barrett-Tzannes said. “I’m just happy for him. He’s always been a good friend and a good person.” 

Few, if any, of Cox’s teammates know Lexington, so he starts by explaining its proximity to Boston and reminds them “it’s a historic place.” 

A near-constant in the NCAA Tournament in recent decades, Purdue has qualified for March Madness every year a tournament took place since 2015. Though it’s still early — most regular season league play and conference tournaments remain on the schedule — ESPN and On3 peg the Boilermakers as a No. 6 seed. 

Barring any unforeseen Purdue collapse, expect Cox and the Boilermakers on your TV screen come March.

“I just want to be someone that kids and people look up to, where it doesn’t matter where you’re from and you can achieve and go anywhere you want,” Cox said. “Also, if you surround yourself with people that will support you, that will help you through challenges along the way.”