NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State has added another piece for the 2022-23 season, as ISU head coach Ryan Pedon has signed Seneca Knight to an offer of admission.
Knight, who is joining the squad as a graduate transfer, spent two seasons at San Jose State, one season at LSU, and most recently a season at BYU.
"We are very excited about adding Seneca Knight to our Redbird men's basketball family," said Pedon. "He adds immediate versatility, which is something that we really valued about him from a basketball standpoint. He will bring flexibility to our lineup, and he has a history of getting to the free throw line, which we felt was an area of need for our program. His perimeter skills, combined with his size and physicality should give him the opportunity to be an impact player in our program."
With the Cougars – who advanced to the NIT Quarterfinals – he played in 27 games with eight starts and averaged 7.4 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. He had nine games in double-figure scoring and 15 games of at least eight points. He scored a season-high 14 points three times, including back-to-back contests against San Diego and Portland on January 20 and 22, respectively. He pulled down a season-high seven rebounds on December 1 against Utah Valley and gave out four assists against Utah State on December 8.
He played in four games for San Jose State in 2020-21Â averaging 9.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. He also added five steals and gave out eight assists. He scored 18 points against Cal Poly on December 13 for his season-high that year.
At San Jose State Knight was named third team All-Mountain West conference, the first player in three seasons to earn all-league honors. He played in all 31 games during the year with 30 starts, averaging 17.1 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, including averaging 20.1 points per game in Mountain West Conference play. He scored in double-figures 27 times, including in each of his last 15 games, with 12 games of at least 20 points and three with 30 or more points.
During his second season with the Spartans, Knight had a pair of double-doubles including 12 points and 10 rebounds against Pepperdine and 23 points and 13 rebounds against Fresno State. He also dished out 73 assists during the season, while making 156-of-202 free throws, a percentage of 77.2. His career-high scoring effort came at Colorado State on February 22 with 37 points, as he also scored 34 at Nevada on February 8 and 30 at UNLV on January 15.
As a freshman in San Jose, he played in 31 games with 17 starts, averaging 6.2 points and 2.5 rebounds per game in 20.1 minutes of action. He opened his career with 17 points, one of seven games in double-figures during the season. He also closed the year strong by scoring in double-figures in five of his last seven contests, including back-to-back games of 15 points to close the season.
A native of Lafayette, Louisiana, Knight was a three-year letterwinner at Northside High School, where he was named First Team 4A All-State, All-Acadian, and All-District in 2017-18. He averaged 25 points, six rebounds, four assists, three blocked shots, and two steals per game. As a prep senior, he was the top-scoring forward in the state of Louisiana, including nine 30-point games and eight 20-point contests, as he scored more than 1,000 career points.
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