Elijah Parquet is embracing his chance to 'put up or shut up'

BOULDER — Over the summer, Colorado’s senior shooting guard made a change. Rather than continuing to go by Eli Parquet, he wanted to be known by his full name: Elijah Parquet.

“I’ve been going by my nickname my whole life,” Parquet told DNVR. “I’m a senior now so I decided I’d rather go by my full name.”

Not only is Parquet a senior, he’s one of just two scholarship seniors on the roster while the other 10 scholarship players are either freshmen or sophomores.

“It’s a lot of teaching times in practice—getting them in the right spots and knowing the right reasons,” Parquet said. “It’s kind of different from last year because McKinley (Wright IV), he was teaching us the reason stuff.”

Wright’s departure to the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves is Colorado’s biggest loss… and it also opens up a gap next to Parquet at point guard, which the young players will have to fill.

Much of the focus with the younger players comes on the defensive side of the ball, especially under head coach Tad Boyle. Just about every player who signs on to play Power 5 basketball can score, but figuring out how to defend the best of the best takes some time.

Parquet remembers his first days in the program.

“If you can’t stop you’re man, you’re gonna be a liability on the court,” Parquet said. “It took me awhile to lock in on that, so when I did, I started excelling my game. I wish I would have done it sooner, but it is what is. Now, I’m locked in. I’ve gotta tell them that—the freshmen—’Don’t wait.'”

A few years later, Parquet makes his name on the defensive side of the court. He enjoys that side of the ball and he wants the toughest defensive matchup every night.

“People are hyped up—they’re elite scorers and stuff—so I’m like, ‘You have to score on me,'” Parquet said. “I just want to lock in on that and lock people up. That gets me going, for sure. They can’t score on me. I put targets on people like that.”

The targets are working. Parquet is one of the Pac-12’s premier defenders. He led the Buffaloes in blocked shots last year, while finishing second in steals. The effort was enough to land on the conference’s all-defensive team. As you’d expect, Parquet is also on the preseason all-defense team this year.

Beyond building his reputation in the Pac-12 over the past couple of years, Parquet has built a rapport with guards across the league. He has a history with just about every lead guard he’ll see in conference play, plus Remy Martin, who transferred from ASU to Kansas over the offseason.

“You get to know their game a lot, certain stuff they do,” Parquet said of the Pac-12 guards. “You play good defense on them, they probably don’t like that matchup, so they’ve got to go through that when they come here.”

Parquet helps the young guards however he can. He gives tips on how to get through screens and reminds them to stay in their stance. He’ll send clips of NBA guards Marcus Smart or Jrue Holliday—two of the players he spends time studying—to show them different techniques.

But, at least according to a couple of the younger guards, the best help he gives is showing them what an ace defender looks like in practice. Parquet doesn’t hold back.

“I’ll be doing bad on my part if I’m taking off on defense, not going hard every day and trying to get them better, too,” Parquet said.

During the offseason, Parquet developed his offensive game. He focused on ball-handling and shooting off the dribble. During Colorado’s Black and Gold Scrimmage on Saturday, Parquet showed off his ability to create his own shot in a pinch.

“That’s still my game—catch and shoot, lock up on defense—but if I get the ball in my hand and I have to make a play, I can do that this year,” Parquet said.

He also set up an NIL deal with The Athlete Brand Development Firm. His name, number and logo are on a couple dozen different pieces of apparel (which you can check out here) and he gets a portion of the profit.

“A logo came to my head,” Parquet said. “I decided to put it on some shirts and get some motivational quotes and get it out to some young fans just to be inspirational stuff to them.”

The idea came to him thanks to the Buffs with a Brand program, which is run by CU’s compliance team. The idea is to educate student-athletes about the NIL possibilities that are out there and how to make a good deal.

“They’ve really helped us a lot with some tips to give us business-wise—stuff you shouldn’t do and should do when you’re getting deals so you don’t get hurt on the backend of that,” Parquet said.

But Parquet’s priorities are on the court and he has high hopes for CU, and he recognizes that his role is an important one given how young the rest of the team is.

“It’s my time to step up this year,” Parquet said. “It’s me and Evan’s last year so it’s put up or shut up this year.”

But he isn’t playing for himself.

“Anything it takes to win, you gotta do that,” he said. “That’s the most important thing. That’s how we’re gonna get back to the tournament.”