Nathan Knight

Nathan Knight (born September 20, 1997) is an American basketball player. He played college basketball for the William & Mary Tribe.

Nathan Knight
Knight in February 2020
Personal information
Born (1997-09-20) September 20, 1997
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
Listed weight253 lb (115 kg)
Career information
High school
CollegeWilliam & Mary (2016–2020)
PositionPower forward / Center
Career highlights and awards
  • Lou Henson Award (2020)
  • CAA Player of the Year (2020)
  • CAA Defensive Player of the Year (2020)
  • 2× First-team All-CAA (2019, 2020)
  • 3× CAA All-Defensive Team (2018–2020)
  • Second-team All-CAA (2018)
  • CAA All-Rookie Team (2017)

Early life and high school career

Knight grew up in Syracuse, New York and attended Nottingham High School. As a freshman, he was a pitcher on the baseball team before deciding to focus on basketball after experiencing a growth spurt.[1] As a senior, he averaged 14.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game and was named All-Central New York. Knight completed a postgraduate year at Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, New Hampshire. In AAU play, he competed for Gym Ratz, coached by Billy Edelin. On October 5, 2015, he committed to William & Mary over offers from Temple, Duquesne, George Mason, and Canisius among others.[2] Knight appreciated the rich history of the College and felt at home on the campus, saying it was an easy decision to make.[1]

College career

As a true freshman, Knight averaged 8.2 points and 4.4 rebounds per game in 31 games played (six starts).[3] Coach Tony Shaver praised his work ethic for losing 45 pounds before his sophomore season. As a sophomore, he averaged 18.5 points, 7.3 rebounds and two blocks per game and was named second team All-Colonial Athletic Association (CAA).[1] On February 9, 2019, Knight had a career-high 39 points to go with 14 rebounds at Hofstra. He followed that up with 35 points and 13 rebounds against Elon on February 16 and 30 points in a win over College of Charleston on February 21. Knight was named first team All-CAA as a junior after averaging 21 points, 8.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.3 blocks per game. Knight became the first college basketball player since Tim Duncan at Wake Forest in 1997 to average 20 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots per game, and his scoring average was the highest for a Tribe player since 1968. He also had 12 double-doubles. After entering the 2019 NBA draft, Knight withdrew from the draft before the deadline and decided to return to William & Mary for his senior season.[4]

Coming into his senior season, coach Shaver was fired and replaced by Dane Fischer while four players transferred, though Knight decided to stay on the team.[5] During his senior season, Knight put up 30-point games against Buffalo and Oklahoma.[6] On January 4, 2020, Knight hit a last-second shot in a 66–64 win against Northeastern and finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds.[7] On February 8, 2020, Knight passed the 2,000 career point mark by scoring 16 points while also grabbing 13 rebounds. He became the fourth player in program history to reach the milestone.[8] At the conclusion of the regular season, Knight was named CAA Player of the Year and CAA Defensive Player of the Year.[9] He became just the second men's basketball player in CAA history to earn both awards in the same season, joining George Mason's George Evans (1999, 2001).[9] Knight finished the season averaging 20.7 points and 10.5 rebounds per game, the fourth CAA player to averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds in a season, and was an AP Honorable Mention All-American.[10]

Career statistics
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

College
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2016–17 William & Mary 31617.2.578.167.5944.41.1.41.38.2
2017–18 William & Mary 313028.7.575.306.7697.32.2.62.018.5
2018–19 William & Mary 313030.6.578.244.7328.63.5.42.321.0
2019–20 William & Mary 323229.6.524.305.77310.51.8.81.520.7
Career 1259826.6.560.283.7367.72.1.51.817.1

Personal life

Knight is the youngest of four children born to Joslyn McGriff.[11] In December 2008, Knight's 18-year-old sister Yeisha Howard was stabbed to death in Syracuse. According to the prosecutor, it was part of a longstanding feud, and the perpetrator of the attack was sentenced to seven years in prison.[12]

gollark: What ”sort” of ”special case”?
gollark: That was someone else.
gollark: `peripheral.wrap(computer).turnOn()`
gollark: ... heeey, this could help with the issue I have with backups...
gollark: PotatOS is, at this point, probably nigh-impossible to delete.

References
  1. Doyle, Brendan (November 6, 2018). "For Nathan Knight, hard work pays off". The Flat Hat. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
  2. Waters, Mike (October 8, 2015). "Former Nottingham High School player Nate Knight announces college choice". The Post-Standard. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
  3. Tan, Victor (November 17, 2017). "Who's Next?: William & Mary Features Dominating Forward Nathan Knight". NewDayReview.com. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
  4. Brown, Mitch (May 29, 2019). "Nathan Knight returning to William & Mary after testing NBA Draft waters". WKTR.com. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
  5. Johnson, Dave (May 29, 2019). "Nathan Knight announces he'll return to William & Mary for senior season". The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
  6. Bennett, Brian (December 9, 2019). "This Week in Mid-Major: William & Mary big man's steady dominance, WKU loses Bassey and Dayton aces a test". The Athletic. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
  7. Winkler, Adam (January 5, 2020). "Nathan Knight's last-second bucket sends W&M men's basketball to nation-leading seventh road win". WTKR.com. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
  8. Plain, Megan (February 9, 2020). "William & Mary men's hoops drops third straight, falls to UNCW 70-64". wtkr.com. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  9. "CAA Basketball Announces Men's Basketball Postseason Accolades" (Press release). Colonial Athletic Association. March 6, 2020. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  10. "Tribe's Knight Tabbed AP Honorable Mention All-American". 13 News Now. March 20, 2020. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
  11. Speed, Ashley (January 7, 2020). "A Knight Returns To W&M". William & Mary. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
  12. Ducibella, Jim (March 8, 2019). "A Knight's tale: Reaching for greatness". William & Mary. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
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