Quincy McKnight (born December 5, 1995) is an American professional basketball player who last played for Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Sacred Heart Pioneers and the Seton Hall Pirates. He grew up in Bridgeport, Connecticut and attended St. Joseph High School before transferring to The Phelps School. McKnight played two seasons at Sacred Heart, where he was named to the First Team All-Northeast Conference, before transferring to Seton Hall. He was named Honorable Mention All-Big East after leading the team to a share of the league championship during his senior season.
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| Free agent | |
|---|---|
| Position | Shooting guard |
| Personal information | |
| Born | December 5, 1995 Bridgeport, Connecticut |
| Nationality | American |
| Listed height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) |
| Listed weight | 185 lb (84 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | |
| College |
|
| NBA draft | 2020: undrafted |
| Playing career | 2021–present |
| Career history | |
| 2021 | Fort Wayne Mad Ants |
| 2021–2022 | Široki |
| 2022 | Fort Wayne Mad Ants |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Early life and high school career
editMcKnight was born and raised in Bridgeport, Connecticut.[1] He is the son of Vanessa Bruce and Terry McKnight. Shortly after he won a diocesan championship at 13 years old, his mother was diagnosed with cancer. She died several weeks later. Quincy used her death as motivation to become better at basketball.[2]
McKnight began his high school career at St. Joseph High School in Trumbull, Connecticut, and led the team to back-to-back state championships.[3] As a junior, he averaged 22 points per game, but he injured his knee in the spring.[4] He transferred to The Phelps School where he competed in basketball and tennis. McKnight was an honor roll performer academically at The Phelps School and was coached in basketball by Brian Shanahan. In Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) play, he competed for the PSA Cardinals in the Peach Jam tournament.[5] As a senior at The Phelps School, he averaged 15.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game and was selected to play in the 2015 Jordan Brand Classic Regional Game. He led the team to the 2015 state championship.[3] McKnight was lightly recruited, being regarded as a two-star prospect ranked no. 341 in his class by 247 Sports. He committed to play college basketball for Sacred Heart.[5]
College career
editAs a freshman, McKnight averaged 11.4 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. He was a five-time Northeast Conference rookie of the week honoree and was named to the league All-Rookie team.[3] McKnight scored a career-high 44 points in a triple-overtime win against Bryant during his sophomore season.[6] He also posted 36 points in a loss to Boston College and scored at least 25 points in 10 games.[4] He was named Northeast Conference player of the week on three occasions.[3] As a sophomore, McKnight averaged 18.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. He was named to the First Team All-Northeast Conference. After the season, he announced his intention to transfer.[7] McKnight scored 914 points in two seasons at Sacred Heart.[3]
After impressing in an open gym workout, McKnight transferred to Seton Hall and was offered a scholarship on the spot. McKnight redshirted the 2017–18 season, during which he engaged in fierce practices against Khadeen Carrington, whom he credited with making him a better player. McKnight forged a special relationship with Myles Powell during a summer class in 2017.[2] During his junior season, McKnight emerged as a lockdown defender and secondary scorer to Powell.[5] He averaged 9.4 points, 3.9 assists, and 1.6 steals per game. On December 19, 2019, McKnight scored 17 points and had eight rebounds and six assists, including two free throws with 1.1 seconds on the clock, in an upset win against Maryland without the injured Powell and Sandro Mamukelashvili. The following game, McKnight scored a season-high 25 points in a win against Prairie View A&M.[6] On February 3, 2020, he scored 15 points in a 74–62 loss to Xavier but injured his knee late in the game and was listed as day-to-day.[8] An MRI revealed a muscle sprain, and he returned for the following game against Georgetown.[9] As a senior, McKnight averaged 11.9 points, 5.4 assists, and 1.5 steals per game.[10] He led the Big East Conference in assists and was named Honorable Mention All-Big East after leading the team to a share of the league championship.[11] McKnight tallied 295 assists in two years at Seton Hall, placing himself in the school's top-20 despite playing 64 games for the Pirates.[12]
Professional career
editFort Wayne Mad Ants (2021)
editIn January 2021, McKnight was selected with the seventh pick in the second round of the NBA G League Draft by the Fort Wayne Mad Ants.[13] He played sparingly and averaged 0.8 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game.[14] On December 5, 2021, McKnight signed with Široki of the Bosnian Championship.[15] He parted ways with the team on January 13, 2022.[16]
Return to Fort Wayne (2022)
editOn October 24, 2022, McKnight rejoined the Fort Wayne Mad Ants roster for training camp.[17] However, he did not make the final roster.
Career statistics
edit| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
College
edit| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015–16 | Sacred Heart | 27 | 27 | 32.1 | .433 | .250 | .565 | 5.3 | 2.5 | 1.6 | .4 | 11.4 |
| 2016–17 | Sacred Heart | 32 | 31 | 32.5 | .429 | .321 | .775 | 4.9 | 3.0 | 1.6 | .2 | 18.9 |
| 2017–18 | Seton Hall |  Redshirt
| ||||||||||
| 2018–19 | Seton Hall | 34 | 33 | 28.5 | .452 | .269 | .641 | 2.7 | 3.9 | 1.6 | .2 | 9.4 |
| 2019–20 | Seton Hall | 30 | 30 | 30.7 | .414 | .346 | .850 | 3.3 | 5.4 | 1.5 | .2 | 11.9 |
| Career | 123 | 121 | 30.9 | .431 | .308 | .725 | 4.0 | 3.7 | 1.6 | .2 | 12.9 | |
References
edit- ^ Borges, David (January 27, 2020). "Bridgeport's Quincy McKnight is the best defensive player on one of the nation's best teams, Seton Hall". New Haven Register. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
- ^ a b Carino, Jerry (February 27, 2020). "Seton Hall basketball: Quincy McKnight's fire is igniting a title push". Asbury Park Press. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e "Quincy McKnight Transfers to Seton Hall". Seton Hall Pirates. July 10, 2017. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
- ^ a b Bonjour, Doug (June 2, 2017). "McKnight transferring to Seton Hall". Connecticut Post. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
- ^ a b c Carino, Jerry (February 19, 2019). "Seton Hall basketball: Where did Quincy McKnight come from?". Asbury Park Press. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
- ^ a b Zagoria, Adam (December 27, 2019). "Seton Hall's Quincy McKnight: The Pirate who has steered the ship from disaster". NJ.com. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
- ^ Payne, Terrence (April 24, 2017). "Sacred Heart's Quincy McKnight to transfer". NBC Sports. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
- ^ "Seton Hall guard Quincy McKnight day to day with knee injury". USA Today. Associated Press. February 3, 2020. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
- ^ "Seton Hall's McKnight day to day with knee injury". 3 February 2020.
- ^ Young, Jacob. "Seton Hall Men's Basketball 2020 NCAA Tournament Capsule". College Sports Madness. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
- ^ "Howard, Powell, Bey Named Unanimously To All-BIG EAST First Team". Big East Conference. March 8, 2020. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
- ^ "Powell, McKnight and Gill Set for NBA G League Debut". Seton Hall Pirates. February 9, 2021. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
- ^ Zagoria, Adam (January 11, 2021). "Former Seton Hall trio Myles Powell, Romaro Gill, Quincy McKnight headed to NBA G League". NJ.com. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
- ^ "Quincy McKnight". NBA G League. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
- ^ Alispahic, Harun (December 5, 2021). "Siroki signs Quincy McKnight". Eurobasket. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
- ^ Alispahic, Harun (January 13, 2022). "Quincy McKnight left Siroki". Eurobasket. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
- ^ "Mad Ants Announce 2022 Training Camp Roster". oursportscentral.com. October 24, 2022. Retrieved October 24, 2022.