by JP Pelzman
JACKSONVILLE – Quincy McKnight went up for the windmill jam Wednesday. And after a couple of misses earlier, he put it through in true highlight-reel fashion.
Of course, Wednesday was the day before Seton Hall’s first-round NCAA tournament game against Wofford, so this was merely a crowd-pleasing dunkathon for the Seton Hall players at the end of their open workout.
McKnight has been known to Pirate fans more for his defense than his offense in his first year on the court for The Hall after sitting out last season as a transfer from Sacred Heart. McKnight routinely draws the opposing team’s playmaker and/or top scorer, and has shut down the likes of Marquette’s Markus Howard and Georgetown’s James Akinjo.
McKnight “works as hard as anyone I've seen on the defensive end,” Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said Wednesday. “He takes a lot of pride in it. He takes up the challenge that he's had to play against Markus Howard, (Villanova’s) Phil Booth, the list goes on of the guys he's had to guard. I love the fact that he accepts those challenges and he looks forward to it.”
“It definitely gives me a lot of confidence to know that coach (Willard) believes in me,” McKnight said in the Seton Hall locker room Wednesday. “And my brothers (teammates) believe in me.”
McKnight has become almost the basketball equivalent of a football defensive coordinator on the court, often calling out the defensive switches during the opponents’ possessions.
“It makes me happy to know I’ve got my guys’ back,” he said, “no matter what the situation is. No matter who it is, I’ll switch off” and take his teammate’s man.
Partly because of all of his attention to defense, and partly because of his transition to point guard from shooting guard at his previous stop, McKnight’s scoring production has slipped.
He averaged 18.9 points as a sophomore at Sacred Heart, but is averaging only 9.5 this season. However, he has half as many turnovers (84) as he did two years ago, when he committed 148 miscues for the “other” SHU in 32 games. He also has 131 assists, up from 95 two seasons ago.
“The year I sat out,” McKnight, “I worked a lot with (former assistant coach Shaheen) Holloway, coach Willard and everybody just worked with me. And then (assistant) coach (Tony) Skinn came in this summer and they just kept working with me. And coach Skinn, he's a great point guard. He's a great mentor for me.”
McKnight said it isn’t necessary for him to score as much as he did with the Pioneers because “we've got Myles (Powell), a guy who everybody knows can score the ball, and my (teammates), they just kept with me and just told me keep pushing and just fight really, and that's really what it was. I'm a good player and I think I'm real versatile, so I just focused on being a distributor over the summer and just working on everything, and I think that's really why I'm playing the way I am.
“I think the most important development for Q,” Willard said, “is I think he's found a nice balance about when to score and when to be a facilitator. And it's hard. Offensively I think he's really grown at the point guard spot, and he's a major reason why we're here.”
Although this will be McKnight’s first NCAA tourney game, he planned ahead. Although he couldn’t travel with the Pirates during his sit-out year, he asked Khadeen Carrington about it after the Pirates went 1-1, beating North Carolina State and narrowly losing to Kansas in Wichita in the second round.
“He told me always stay calm, just relax” in the NCAAs, McKnight related. “They were telling me don’t be too excited (when) it’s your first time, because that’s how you go out there and lay a donut. Just go out there and take it in.”
He said the experience of playing before sellout crowds last week at Madison Square Garden in the Big East tournament helped him.
“I thought I was going to go out there and be a little nervous,” he said. “I thought I was going to be all over the place.”
But he wasn’t, although he did tweak his groin in the championship game, he again said he is fine for Wofford.
“I’m not worried about it right now,” he said. “I’m ready to play. I felt like I had a pretty good practice, one of the better practices that I’ve had in the last couple of weeks. I think that’s why I’ve been struggling offensively because I don’t think I’ve been practicing well.”
McKnight has scored in double figures only once in the last eight games, but it hasn’t affected his defense. Powell believes McKnight should have won Big East Defensive Player of the Year over St. John’s Justin Simon, just as McKnight believes Powell should have garnered Big East POY over Howard.
“We’ve both got a little bit” of extra incentive, McKnight said of himself and Powell. “It definitely hurt a little bit (not winning Defensive POY) but I think they know what I do and I think everybody around the league can see what I do.”
The country will get a chance to see that Thursday night.
COMMENTS
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
JACKSONVILLE – Quincy McKnight went up for the windmill jam Wednesday. And after a couple of misses earlier, he put it through in true highlight-reel fashion.
Of course, Wednesday was the day before Seton Hall’s first-round NCAA tournament game against Wofford, so this was merely a crowd-pleasing dunkathon for the Seton Hall players at the end of their open workout.
McKnight has been known to Pirate fans more for his defense than his offense in his first year on the court for The Hall after sitting out last season as a transfer from Sacred Heart. McKnight routinely draws the opposing team’s playmaker and/or top scorer, and has shut down the likes of Marquette’s Markus Howard and Georgetown’s James Akinjo.
McKnight “works as hard as anyone I've seen on the defensive end,” Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said Wednesday. “He takes a lot of pride in it. He takes up the challenge that he's had to play against Markus Howard, (Villanova’s) Phil Booth, the list goes on of the guys he's had to guard. I love the fact that he accepts those challenges and he looks forward to it.”
“It definitely gives me a lot of confidence to know that coach (Willard) believes in me,” McKnight said in the Seton Hall locker room Wednesday. “And my brothers (teammates) believe in me.”
McKnight has become almost the basketball equivalent of a football defensive coordinator on the court, often calling out the defensive switches during the opponents’ possessions.
“It makes me happy to know I’ve got my guys’ back,” he said, “no matter what the situation is. No matter who it is, I’ll switch off” and take his teammate’s man.
Partly because of all of his attention to defense, and partly because of his transition to point guard from shooting guard at his previous stop, McKnight’s scoring production has slipped.
He averaged 18.9 points as a sophomore at Sacred Heart, but is averaging only 9.5 this season. However, he has half as many turnovers (84) as he did two years ago, when he committed 148 miscues for the “other” SHU in 32 games. He also has 131 assists, up from 95 two seasons ago.
“The year I sat out,” McKnight, “I worked a lot with (former assistant coach Shaheen) Holloway, coach Willard and everybody just worked with me. And then (assistant) coach (Tony) Skinn came in this summer and they just kept working with me. And coach Skinn, he's a great point guard. He's a great mentor for me.”
McKnight said it isn’t necessary for him to score as much as he did with the Pioneers because “we've got Myles (Powell), a guy who everybody knows can score the ball, and my (teammates), they just kept with me and just told me keep pushing and just fight really, and that's really what it was. I'm a good player and I think I'm real versatile, so I just focused on being a distributor over the summer and just working on everything, and I think that's really why I'm playing the way I am.
“I think the most important development for Q,” Willard said, “is I think he's found a nice balance about when to score and when to be a facilitator. And it's hard. Offensively I think he's really grown at the point guard spot, and he's a major reason why we're here.”
Although this will be McKnight’s first NCAA tourney game, he planned ahead. Although he couldn’t travel with the Pirates during his sit-out year, he asked Khadeen Carrington about it after the Pirates went 1-1, beating North Carolina State and narrowly losing to Kansas in Wichita in the second round.
“He told me always stay calm, just relax” in the NCAAs, McKnight related. “They were telling me don’t be too excited (when) it’s your first time, because that’s how you go out there and lay a donut. Just go out there and take it in.”
He said the experience of playing before sellout crowds last week at Madison Square Garden in the Big East tournament helped him.
“I thought I was going to go out there and be a little nervous,” he said. “I thought I was going to be all over the place.”
But he wasn’t, although he did tweak his groin in the championship game, he again said he is fine for Wofford.
“I’m not worried about it right now,” he said. “I’m ready to play. I felt like I had a pretty good practice, one of the better practices that I’ve had in the last couple of weeks. I think that’s why I’ve been struggling offensively because I don’t think I’ve been practicing well.”
McKnight has scored in double figures only once in the last eight games, but it hasn’t affected his defense. Powell believes McKnight should have won Big East Defensive Player of the Year over St. John’s Justin Simon, just as McKnight believes Powell should have garnered Big East POY over Howard.
“We’ve both got a little bit” of extra incentive, McKnight said of himself and Powell. “It definitely hurt a little bit (not winning Defensive POY) but I think they know what I do and I think everybody around the league can see what I do.”
The country will get a chance to see that Thursday night.
COMMENTS
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
