W&M News and Notes
- W&M and American are former Colonial Athletic Association rivals and founding members of the league. The Tribe and Eagles meet for the first time since AU left the CAA in 2001. American leads the all-time series at 34-11, but the Tribe won the two of the last three meetings. W&M will look for its first win at American since 1995, a stretch of six games.
- The Tribe faces a Patriot League opponent for the first time since 2011 when it played Lehigh in 2K Sports Classic at Liberty. The Green and Gold travels to a Patriot League foe for the first time since back-to-back games at Holy Cross and Navy in 2006.
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Dane Fischer became the first W&M head coach since Bernard Wilson in 1947-48 to win his W&M debut on the road and just the third W&M head coach overall to do so. He was the 14th Tribe head coach to win his first game on the sidelines and just the seventh to win his first road game.
- Fischer has preached a defense-first mentality since arriving in Williamsburg, and in the opener at High Point, that attitude came to fruition. W&M limited the Panthers to just 31.7% (20-of-63) shooting and 16.7% (2-of-12) from 3-point range. It marked the program's best defensive performance in three years and best in a season opener since limiting Hampton to hundredths of a percent less in 2012.
- Sophomore
Thornton Scott made the most of his first career start at High Point. He erupted for a career-high 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 6-of-8 from 3-point range. 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.
- With six more points, senior
Nathan Knight will become the ninth player in W&M history score 1,500 career points. Coupled with his 640 career rebounds, Knight will become 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 career points and 600 career rebounds. With five more rebounds, he will move into W&M's all-time top 12.
- 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-straigth 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.
- Senior
Andy Van Vliet is one of the top transfers in the Colonial Athletic Association. He is the only 7-footer in the league and demonstrated his ability to make an impact at the highest level of college basketball in the Big Ten. In his debut with the Tribe at High Point, he tallied eight points and a career-high 10 rebounds. At Wisconsin in 2017-18, Van Vliet averaged 8.8 points and 4.3 rebounds per game in four starts. He is a 44.1% career 3-point shooter, including hitting at a 52.2% clip in 2017-18.
- W&M's roster has a distinct international flavor in 2019-20. The Tribe has four student-athletes from European countries on its roster, including Van Vliet (Belgium), junior
Miodrag Dronjak (Serbia), freshmen
Miguel Ayesa (Spain) and
Rainers Hermanovskis (Latvia). Van Vliet, Ayesa and Hermanovskis have each represented their home countries in the European Youth Championships.
- W&M has an influx of seasoned talent in 2019-20 with grad students
Bryce Barnes (Milwaukee) and
Tyler Hamilton (Penn) joining Van Vliet as additions via transfer. Barnes, a two-year starter at Milwaukee, started his first game at W&M and led the team with four assists to go along with five rebounds at High Point. Hamilton, who missed most of his final two seasons at Penn, played 20 minutes off the bench and had a nice all-around game with two points, four rebounds and three assists.
- W&M will play its first three games on the road for the first time since 2010. It is the Tribe's most consecutive games away from home to start a season since 2001 when the program played its first five away from Williamsburg. It is the start of a road-heavy schedule for the Green and Gold as the Tribe will play nine of its 13 nonconference games away from Williamsburg. W&M also has its first three CAA games on the road, giving its 12 of its first 16 away from home.
