W&M News and Notes
- Tuesday will be the first of four W&M games in the 2019 National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Classic Powered by ShotTracker. The Tribe competes in a multi-team exempt (MTE) event for the second-straight year. Next week, W&M travels to Oklahoma (Nov. 18) and Stanford (Nov. 21) before hosting Morehead State (Nov. 26).
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Dane Fischer became just the second W&M head coach, along with S.B. Holt in 1945-46, to win his first two games on the road. He was the seventh Tribe head coach to start his career 2-0. A win on Tuesday would make Fischer the first W&M head coach to win his first three road games and just the fourth to start his career 3-0. The last Tribe head coach to start 3-0 was Richard F. Gallagher in 1946-47.
- The Tribe has been road warriors to start the year with wins at High Point and American. It marks the fourth time in school history that W&M won back-to-back road games to start a season and just the second time in the last 70 years. A win at Wofford on Tuesday would give W&M wins in each of its first three road games, equaling the school record set in 1935-36.
- W&M is playing its first three games on the road for the first time since 2010. In total, W&M will play nine of its 13 nonconference games away from Williamsburg. The Tribe also has its first three CAA games on the road, giving it 12 of its first 16 away from home.
- The Tribe started the season 2-0 for the 34th time in the 115-year history of the program. A win at Wofford would give W&M a 3-0 start for the 23rd time in school lore and just the third time in the last 25 years.
- Defense has been the Tribe's calling card through two games in 2019-20. W&M limited each of its first two opponents to less than 38% shooting from the floor, including holding High Point to just 31.7%. The Tribe ranks 35th nationally, according to KenPom.com, in effective field goal % defense (39.1%) and 28th in the country in 2-point field goal % defense (37%). W&M is second in the CAA in field goal % defense (34.9%) and third in scoring defense (63.0).
- The Tribe's 16-point comeback at American equaled the program's largest on the road in the last 30 years. After AU started the game hot, scoring 26 points (1.54 points per possession) and hitting 5-of-8 from 3-point range over the opening nine minutes, the Tribe held the Eagles to 0.77 points per possession (44) over the final 31 minutes, shooting just 31.4% from the field (16-of-51) and only 4-of-17 from 3 (23.5%).
- The Tribe's senior twin towers of
Nathan Knight and
Andy Van Vliet played a huge role in its 79-70 win at American, combining for 40 points and 20 rebounds. Knight tallied his third-straight double-double and second this season with 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Van Vliet notched his first career double-double, tying career-highs with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Both players rank among the top 10 in the CAA in rebounds.
- Sophomore
Thornton Scott has started the season strong, producing the first two double-digit scoring games of his career and averaging 17.5 points, five rebounds and four assists per game. He ranks second in the CAA in 3-point % (70%), third in 3-pointers made (7), sixth in assists and seventh in scoring.
- In the opener at High Point, Scott erupted for a career-high 22 points on on 6-of-8 from 3-point range, in his first start. His six 3-pointers tied for the program record for the most treys in an opener along with W&M's all-time leading scorer Marcus Thornton '15, who hit six triples in a win over Hampton in 2012.
- Knight became the ninth player in W&M history score 1,500 career points with his 22 at American. Coupled with his 650 career rebounds, Knight is one of only five players in program lore, along with Jeff Cohn '61, John Lowenhaupt '78, Omar Prewitt '17 and Thomas Roberts '93, to record 1,500 points and 600 rebounds. He ranks 12th in W&M history in rebounds and is just 19 away from the top 10 in program lore.
- Knight's list of preseason accolades continued to grow this week as he was named to the watch lists for both the Lute Olson National Player of the Year Award and the Lou Henson Mid-Major Player of the Year Award, presented by CollegeInsider.com. A two-time Lou Henson All-American as a finalist for the award in both 2018 and 2019, Knight was one of only 40 players in the country to earn a spot on the Lute Olson Watch List. He was one of 50 players to earn a spot on the Lou Henson Award Watch List.
- For the second-straight year, Knight was one of 20 players nationally named to the preseason watch list for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year award presented by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Last season, the 6-10 bigman was selected as one of five finalists for the honor.
- Knight is a name to know nationally. Recently, he was listed on Jay Bilas' top 10 players you should know in college basketball. He was named one of the top 20 bigmen in college basketball by Brian Bennett of
The Athletic. Andy Katz of the NCAA March Madness listed Knight as one of the 20 most-exciting players in the country and No. 19 on the list of the top-25 seniors in college basketball.
NBC Sports' Rob Dauster (No. 71) and
Stadium's Jeff Goodman (No. 86) ranked the Tribe center as one of the top 100 players in the country.
