William & Mary Basketball: In-depth look at senior center Nathan Knight

By Bryan Mauro | Jul 17, 2019

DURHAM, NC - NOVEMBER 23: Paul Rowley #22 of the William & Mary Tribe reacts after making a three-ppoint shot against the Duke Blue Devils during the game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on November 23, 2016 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /

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DURHAM, NC – NOVEMBER 23: Connor Burchfield #10 of the William & Mary Tribe reacts after making a three-point basket against the Duke Blue Devils during the game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on November 23, 2016 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /

Why you should know Nathan Knight

The Tribe’s new head coach Dane Fischer let out a sigh of relief when Knight decided to return to school to finish up his college career. The senior center would have fit into anyone offense, especially one who was going to make the tournament. As mentioned above Knight is one of the best centers in the mid major ranks. That is a bit of an understatement, Knight is one of the best centers in the entire country as evidenced by his nomination for the Kareem Abdul Jabbar award a season ago. That award goes to the best center in the country and the Tribe big man was one of the final five for the award.

Just looking at the numbers would show that Knight is a dominate force. He averaged over 20 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks for the season. This was the first time any player had accomplished that feat in a season since 1996-1997, the last player to accomplish the feat was Tim Duncan. The center had the highest points per game average since 1968 and finished in the top-5 in school history for points in a season with 651. He did set a Tribe record with three consecutive 30-point games. The five total games of scoring 30 or more points were the tops in the Colonial Athletic Conference

With less offensive weapons this season the senior could potentially see his scoring average increase. Last season his 22.1 points per game in the conference were the second highest scoring average in the school’s history. The most intriguing thing to watch this year is how close can Knight get to the schools’ points record. He is over 700 points away and it would be a stretch for him to get there, but anything is possible.

On a national level don’t be surprised to see the center near the top nearly all statistical categories. Last year he finished top-50 in virtually every category and was top-25 in blocks per game. Knight is one of the most underrated players in the country, because he plays at William and Mary. Had he chosen to go to a bigger school, there is no doubt he would be a household name.