W&M News and Notes
- Hampton, which joined the Big South Conference in July, is the third team from the league W&M has played in 2018. The Tribe is 23-17 all-time against the Big South, including a 17-10 mark under head coach
Tony Shaver. W&M is 10-4 against Big South teams over the last six years.
- W&M and HU meet for the 21st time in the last 24 seasons with the Tribe holding an 12-8 advantage in the series. The Tribe downed Hampton, 83-76, last season in Williamsburg thanks to
Nathan Knight's 31-points and 14 rebounds. The Pirates hold a 5-4 advantage in Hampton and have won the last four meeting at home. W&M will look for its first win on the road in the series since 2005.
- The Tribe has played one of the toughest schedules in the country. According to the NCAA's new NET rankings, W&M's schedule currently ranks 24th in the country, playing opponents with an average NET rating of 122 (as of Dec. 6). W&M will play its sixth of seven road games in the non-conference on Saturday, which is the most in the CAA. The Green and Gold's road opponents are a combined 29-3 (as of Dec. 6) at home in 2018.
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Paul Rowley was named one of 30 candidates for the 2018-19 Senior CLASS Award®. The award recognized DI seniors with notable achievements in four categories (community, classroom, character and competition). W&M is one of three schools (out of 353 in DI) to have both a men's and women's player recognized as Bianca Boggs was also honored. Rowley, a second-year law student who graduated
magna cum lade in just three years with a double major in finance and computer science, is the third Tribe player to be named a candidate, joining Quinn McDowell '12 and Omar Prewitt '17. The CAA led all conferences with four players on the men's 30-player list. The 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award will be named in February.
- W&M, which has led the CAA five of the last six years, ranks second in the conference in assists at 16.3 per game in 2018-19. That number also ranks 50th nationally. The Tribe is 18th in the country according to KenPom.com in assists percentage, recording an assist on 61.2 percent of its made field goals. W&M has ranked among the top 50 nationally in the category in 10 of head coach
Tony Shaver's 16 seasons, including each of the last four.
- The Tribe's freshman class has accounted for 89.7 minutes per game this season. W&M's rookies have produced averages of 24.1 points, 9.8 rebounds and 6.9 assists in 2018-19. The group has accounted for 32.5 percent of W&M's scoring, 30.4 of its rebounds and 42.2 percent of its assists. According to KenPom.com, the Tribe is the 18th youngest team in the country in terms of experience, averaging just 1.02 years per player.
- Junior
Justin Pierce recorded his fourth double-double against George Mason and ranks 18th nationally in double-doubles. He is the only player in the CAA to rank among the top 10 in the league in points (sixth at 17.0), rebounds (2nd at 10.3) and assists (8th at 3.6). Pierce is one of only four players in the country averaging 17 points, 10 rebounds and three assists per game along with Kansas's Dedric Lawson (18.8 ppg, 11.2 rpg, 3.5 apg), Wisconsin's Ethan Happ (17.4 ppg, 11.6 rpg, 5.4 apg) and BYU's Yoeli Childs (22 ppg, 11.9 rpg, 3.4 apg).
- Junior
Nathan Knight, who is only 13 points shy of becoming the 40th player in school history with 1,000 career points, has led W&M in scoring in six of nine games. He ranks third in the CAA with four 20-point games. He has scored 20 or more in three of the last five games and in 15 contests over last two years (40 games). Knight, who was named the Lou Henson National Player of the Week on Nov. 26, ranks among the top 15 in the CAA in eight categories, including fifth in scoring (17.8) and 11th in both assists (3.4) and rebounding (6.4).
- In two of the first three weeks of the season, freshmen
L.J. Owens (Nov. 12) and
Chase Audige (Nov. 26) were named the CAA Rookie of the Week. The duo is the first Tribe teammates to earn the league's weekly rookie honor in the same season since 2004-05. Owens ranks fourth among CAA rookies in scoring at 9.1 points per game followed by Audige in fifth at 8.8 per contest.
- Pierce is one of the top rebounders in the country, ranking 18th at 10.3 per game. He averages 7.7 defensive rebounds per game which leads the CAA and ranks 12th nationally. His defensive rebounding percentage (29.1) is 17th in the country.
- Knight was named one of 21 players nationally to the Watch List for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award presented by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The 6-10 center was selected to the CollegeInsider.com Lou Henson Mid-Major Player of the Year Watch List and was an NBC Sports Preseason Mid-Major All-America Second Team in September.
- W&M erased a 20-point second-half deficit in an 87-85 win over Saint Joseph's on Nov. 24. The Tribe shot 67.7 percent (21-of-31) in the final 20 minutes and Knight scored with 1.7 seconds left for the game-winner. It marked W&M's third comeback of 20 or more points under head coach
Tony Shaver and 27th double-digit comeback overall.
- Rowley and junior
Matt Milon both rank among the active NCAA Division I leaders in career 3-point percentage. Rowley is 10th on the list at 44.2 percent (91-of-206) from long range, while Milon comes in 13th at 43.6 percent (137-of-314).
