W&M News and Notes
- The trip to Stanford marks W&M's fourth trip to California, and its third to Stanford. The Tribe competed in the Apple Invitational at Stanford in 1987 and in the Stanford Invitational in 1998. The program's first trip to the Golden State came in 1976 as the Tribe played road games at UCSB and UCLA.
- Thursday is the Tribe's fifth game against the Pac-12 and its first in 23 years. W&M last faced a Pac-12 team when it traveled to Arizona State in 1996 for their Invitational. The Sun Devils downed the Tribe, 74-57. The Green and Gold has faced UCLA on two occasions and Stanford once during its 1987 trip to California.
- On Monday, senior
Andy Van Vliet was named the CAA Player of the Week after averaging 21.5 points and nine rebounds per game in two wins last week. He tallied 21 points on 5-of-9 from 3 in the one-point win at Wofford, before netting a career-high 22 points to go with 12 rebounds vs. Hampton. Van Vliet notched his third double-double in the last four games with 16 points and 13 rebounds at Oklahoma. He ranks fifth nationally in double-doubles, while coming in seventh in the CAA in scoring (17.0) and third in rebounds (10.2).
- One of five finalists for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year in 2019, senior
Nathan Knight dominated at Big 12 opponent Oklahoma on Monday. He scored a season-high 30 points, his ninth career 30-point game, hitting 13-of-18 from the floor, including 2-of-5 from 3-point range. Knight added eight rebounds. He leads the country with four double-doubles and ranks second in the CAA in rebounding (11.0) and blocked shots (1.6) and fourth in the league in scoring (20.8). He is 19th nationally in rebounding and 38th in scoring. His 26 career double-doubles are the sixth most among active DI players.
- The Tribe outplayed Big 12 foe Oklahoma, who ranks just outside the top 25 in both the AP and coaches poll, for the majority of the teams meeting on Monday. W&M led the game for nearly 34 minutes, including by as much as 11 in the first half. The Tribe outshot OU (46.7% to 41.8%), hit more 3-pointers (10-3) and outrebounded the Sooners (40-35), but OU used a 10-2 run in the final three minutes to rally past W&M.
- The Green and Gold started the season 4-0 for just the 10th time in the 115-year history of the program. It marked the first time W&M began a year 4-0 since 1992-93 and just the second time in the last 60 years.
- The Tribe leads the country in road wins with three. W&M tied a school record with three-straight road wins to open the season. On Nov. 12, the Green and Gold snapped Wofford's 17-game home court win streak, which was the fourth-longest in the country.
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Dane Fischer became just the third W&M head coach to start his career 4-0 and the first since Rube McCray in 1943-44. He is the first to win his first three road games.
- Defense has been the Tribe's calling card in 2019-20. W&M is limiting opponents to 38.7% shooting from the floor. The Green and Gold is third in the CAA in defensive field goal and fourth in defensive 3-point % (29.3). The Tribe ranks 51st nationally, according to KenPom.com, in effective field goal % defense (43.0) and 2-point field goal % defense (42.4).
- In each of the last two wins, the Tribe shot better than 54% from the field, including 56.4% at Wofford and 54.5% vs. Hampton. On the year, W&M ranks third in the CAA in both field goal % (49.6) and fourth in 3-point shooting (38.4). The Tribe ranks 41st nationally in field goal shooting and 30th nationally in effective field goal % (57.2).
- Graduate student
Bryce Barnes has emerged on the offensive end for the Tribe. He turned down a ball screen, crossed over his defender and scored on a driving lay-up with 3.8 seconds left to give W&M its 80-79 win at Wofford on Nov. 12. He followed by scoring 17 of his career-high 21 points in the first half of the win over Hampton. Barnes has posted a career-high tying seven assists in each of the last two games. He ranks second in the CAA and 41st nationally in assists (5.8) and third in the CAA in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.42).
- The Tribe's 16-point comeback at American, on Nov. 8, equaled the program's largest on the road in the last 30 years. Trailing 24-8, the Tribe held AU to 0.77 points per possession (44) over the final 31 minutes. The Eagles shot just 31.4% shooting from the field (16-of-51) and only 4-of-17 from 3 (23.5%) over that stretch.
- In each of its first five games, the Tribe has outrebounded its opponent. W&M ranks second in the CAA in rebounding margin at +6.2. The Tribe is 36-16 over the last four seasons when outrebounding its opponent.
- Knight's list of preseason accolades continued to grow last 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.
