How does Utes star Ezra Ausar raise 2 kids and play college basketball? It takes a family.

Nearly 10 years ago in a Georgia middle school gymnasium, Ezra Ausar’s family watched from the bleachers as he prepared to do something he had never done before.

At just 13 years old, he had grown to a height he could get a basketball over the rim. So for weeks, he dreamed about his first dunk in a game.

As he dribbled up the court, Ausar saw his chance. He leapt off the hardwood and jammed the ball into the hoop. His mother, Kimya Jones-Ausar, jumped to her feet. His three older brothers — Nashiem, Taji and Ezekiel Ausar — stormed off the bleachers and onto the baseline, hooting and hollering over Ezra’s achievement.

“We were so hype about it. Like, oh my gosh, he was so fire,” Taji said.

Their father, Aha Ausar, beamed.

“We were all so happy, like ‘Man, we were waiting on you to dunk,’” he said.

To this day, the Ausar family reminisces over photos and old videos of Ezra’s moment. They are a close-knit family that cherishes togetherness, faith and education.

Those principles guided him as a three-star high school recruit to the East Carolina Pirates and his eventual transfer to the Runnin' Utes.

Now, as a junior in Salt Lake City, Ezra is averaging 12.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game in Utah. He’s one of the primary catalysts for its 16-13 record, which has the Runnin’ Utes sitting at 10th in the Big 12.

He still relies on his family to this day, as he co-parents his son, Cartier Akemi Ausar, and daughter, A’Millian Auset Ausar.

“It’s all about us being a strong unit,” Kimya said. “Even through our flaws and challenges, we’re all [about] embracing one another and holding each other accountable.”

Ezra isn’t the only high achiever in his family, however.

His mother and father own a skincare and candle business named Itz Appropriate. They also lead a non-profit named The First Dynasty Youth Association that serves their communities in Atlanta, Georgia and Columbus, Ohio.

His brother Taji has produced records for rappers Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, others. He most recently produced the song “Dodger Blue” on Lamar’s latest album, GNX.

Both his brothers Nashiem and Ezekiel played Division II football. Ezekiel is now a father and Nashiem is a fashion designer.

Each credits their success back to their family’s support.

“We always stick together,” Ezekiel said. “Family has always been very important since I came into this world. We’ve been taught that every day, and we continue to teach that lesson to our kids.”

Learning lessons from his family, faith

At a young age, Ezra and his brothers were taught the importance of family.

Pictures that showcase generations of Ausar family are scattered on the walls of their house.

It stood as an example for Ezra and his brothers to learn from.

“We were taught that we are always on the shoulders of giants, and that’s how we treat our ancestors,” Taji said. “I look at my family, it’s like we’re all an extension of each other.

“The more we add, it’s like the bigger our Voltron robot is, in a sense. Where one may fall, another may pick up, and then when one may pick up, somebody may even extend from there.”

Growing up, Ezra was always around his older brothers.

Their father would task them to learn about their ancestral ties. One time Aha made a computer program showcasing the Ausar family tree, and Ezekiel had to click through each family branch and place a call to each person

Those tasks were also given to Ezra and the other siblings to discover the importance of their ancestral legacy.

Ezra would then learn even more from his brothers.

On Sundays they’d each tend to the garden at the back of their church, pulling out weeds from the dirt, making sure there were no spoiled vegetables and learning the art of hard work.

Nashiem can remember a young Ezra watching him play the Madden football video game. The now-Utah forward would study Nashiem’s plays and moves, and would then use them to beat his own friends. Now? Ezra calls him to talk about life, being a father and life as a student athlete.

“He’s been more appreciative of the family’s understanding,” Nashiem said. “It seems like he trusts me and likes getting where I’ve been in life. It just makes me appreciate him more, but also makes me elevate and do better by the things I do. Learning about different religions is also a big part of the Ausar family.

Aha would teach Ezra about the Quran and how to pray five times a day as a child. Kimya was raised in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and there she learned about the values of education and understanding.

They passed their own lessons down to their kids

“We’re not a family that’s here to judge,” Kimya said. “Even though we study these different faiths or different religions, we still serve a God — whether it’s Allah or God — we serve the God that we really believe in, and we don’t tear each other down.”

Aha added: “Being able to pray and being able to have your own relationship with God and having faith based off of that, it has given [our children] the diversity and the ability to be able to deal with what the world has to offer.”

Now, as a 22-year-old, college athlete and parent, Ezra is taking those lessons and applying them to fatherhood.

That may even be his biggest challenge yet.

“Now he has his own children, who have to look up to him,” Kimya said. “There’s no other way to do that. You have to have a support system in order for this to work. You know how many people would drop out of school? You know how many people just let up and go out there and find a 9 to 5?

“That’s not the mentality that we brought our children up on.”

‘Failure, it’s not an option’

Ezra gathered his parents and siblings for a family meeting a day before Kwanzaa four years ago.

As they sat down and were enjoying breakfast, he explained to them he was having his first child, Cartier, who is now 2 years old and is turning 3 in March. A year later he broke even more news when announced he was having a daughter, A’Millian, who is now 1.

“His children are adding more legacy, happiness, more story to the creation of what we’ve already established with [our family],” Kimya said.

In the beginning, balancing life as a student, athlete and father, things were difficult for Ezra. But he’s slowly learned to embrace his children and the responsibilities of being a father with the help of his parents and brothers.

Initially, he was worried about how much help he would need.

“He had some struggles with identifying responsibility and things like that,” Aha said. “I think that was out of fear that this is a new realm of existence that he was going into, and so it wasn’t something that he was used to, and he didn’t understand, or wasn’t sure how we, as parents, would embrace the transition into becoming a father.

“I think that overall, with the amount of help and assistance that is received from the family becoming a father, that I think that is kind of opening him up to being maturing and acceptable to the responsibility of being a parent.”

In Salt Lake City, while attending practices and competing in games with Utah, Ezra gets to take care of his son and daughter every other month. He doesn’t get to see them as often as he would like, given the Runnin’ Utes are on the road seemingly every other game in the Big 12.

Kimya and Aha will fly in to help take care of A’Millian and Cartier when Ezra’s on the road.

They say those challenges have made him even more mature and ready to take on the responsibilities of a father with his family by his side.

“Failure, it’s not an option,” Kimya said. “We check in on each other four times a day, because it’s not easy to get away from your family or kids, children, your parents, your friends. It’s different. I’m not going to say it’s been easy every day for him, but I think it makes it a little less challenging at times, especially when we’re able to go and visit him and be there presenting for a week of time or so.”

It’s harnessed his drive to become better on the basketball court.

And, even if he’s the youngest of four siblings, he’s now passing lessons onto his three brothers.

All the while, Ezra — the father and student-athlete — is now passing on the lessons he’s learned from family to his own children.

“In a fatherly sense, he’s the first one on the line to show us how parenthood works,” Taji said.

“Ezra’s relationship with them is just so remarkable and loving, man. [It’s amazing] when you just see how much joy it brings him. It brings so much inspiration, fervor, fire, and excitement to see those guys connect and be able to love on each other and have fun and play around. … It gives you baby fever, honestly.”

Ezra is still learning.

But the love is obviously there.

At games at the Jon. M Huntsman Center, A’Millian and Cartier will watch as Ezra chases his dreams for them as a Runnin’ Ute.

They may not understand what he’s doing just yet.

And he may not be dunking for the first time like he did 10 years ago.

But every basket — and every ounce of improvement he’s chasing — is done for family, done by family and celebrated by everyone altogether.

That’s how he got here in the first place.

“He’s able to see what our parents were talking about growing up,” Nashiem said. “But now he’s able to do it in a full-fledged way that he has his own.”

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