CAREER OVERVIEW
After sitting out the first nine games of the 2023-24 season, he made his UTA debut on Dec. 16 versus Air Force ... following a roller coaster several days of court rulings and NCAA announcements the week of Dec. 11,
the NCAA reached an agreement with the States on Dec. 15 to convert a 14-day temporary restraining order into a preliminary injunction through the end of the 2024 spring championship season to grant immediate eligibility to all multiple-time undergraduate transfers ... he will use one year of eligibility in 2023-24 and his last year in 2024-25.
Transferred to UTA following his sophomore season at Southeast Missouri in 2022-23 … has scored more than 1,000 points at the Division-I level the last two years … led SEMO to the NCAA Tournament in 2023.
AWARDS
2022-23 Ohio Valley Conference First Team
2023 Ohio Valley Conference All-Tournament Team
2x Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week
2021-22 Ohio Valley Conference Second Team
2021-22 Ohio Valley Conference All-Newcomer Team
5x Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Week
AS A SOPHOMORE AT SOUTHEAST MISSOURI (2022-23) | Game-By-Game Stats
Averaged a team-high 18.1 points, 5.1 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 34 starts … knocked down a team-most 82 3-pointers at a 36.1-percent rate … shot 80.5 percent from the free throw line … ranked 11th in the country in free throws made (173) and 26th in total assists (174) … led the OVC in total points (615) and assists, and ranked 2nd in steals (54) and minutes played (1,104) … became only the third OVC player in the last 25 years to lead the conference in points and assists in the same season; the other two were Murray State’s Ja Morant (2018-19) and Cameron Payne (2014-15) … scored the 5th most ‘clutch’ points of any player in the nation, tallying 79 in last five minutes of regulation or overtime (leader: 87) … 615 points were the most in SEMO’s single-season D-I history (since 1991-92; 5th most all-time), and the 174 assists were the 4th most in the D-I era (5th most overall) … tied SEMO’s D-I single-game scoring record not once, but twice, with a pair of 37-point outbursts in conference action at Morehead State (Jan. 14) and then again versus Little Rock (Feb. 2) … combined with a 30-point outing against Tennessee State (Jan. 26), he scored 30+ points three times in a three-week stretch from Jan. 14-Feb. 4, not including a 29-point showing at Tennessee Tech (Feb. 4) … scored in double figures every game except one: a six-point contest on just 1-4 shooting at Southern Indiana (Dec. 29) … tallied 20+ points on 11 occasions … notched a pair of double-doubles, capped by a 15-point, 10-assist, 5-steal act in the NCAA Tournament against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Mar. 14); those 10 assists equaled the Islanders entire team output … carried the Redhawks to their first OVC Championship in 23 years with four wins in four days – capped by him scoring the final seven points of an 89-82 overtime victory in the tournament final against Tennessee Tech (Mar. 4).
AS A FRESHMAN AT SOUTHEAST MISSOURI (2021-22) | Game-By-Game Stats
Ranked 2nd on the team with 13.4 points per game in 30 starts … led the Redhawks with 95 assists and 37 steals … averaged 2.5 rebounds and shot 41.9 percent from the floor … reached double-figure points 21 times and 20+ five times … led the team in scoring on 10 occasions … broke SEMO’s D-I single-game scoring record by a freshman when he poured in 35 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and collected five steals at SIU Edwardsville (Feb. 7) … those exploits made him only the second D-I freshman in the previous 25 years to reach 35+ points, 10+ rebounds and 5+ steals in a game; the other belongs to three-time NBA All-Star and 1st Overall Pick Ben Simmons when he was at LSU in 2015 … scored 24 points on 10-16 shooting versus Evansville (Dec. 8) … dropped in 21 points against Montana State (Nov. 28) and 25 (20 in the 2nd half) at Pepperdine (Dec. 18).
AS A FRESHMAN AT SAINT LOUIS (2020-21) | Game-By-Game Stats
Walk-on during the COVID-impacted campaign … played in eight games off the bench and registered 17 points … season-best five points on two occasions: at Fordham (Feb. 13) and at Dayton (Feb. 19) … issued a season-most three assists against Arkansas Pine Bluff (Dec. 5) … had two steals in his collegiate debut versus SIU Edwardsville (Nov. 25).
HIGH SCHOOL
Averaged 15.7 points per game en route to claiming all-state honors as a senior in 2019-20 … shot 45 percent from the field and 56.8 percent from 3-point range that same year … helped lead the Wolverines to a state title his junior season … Vashon was also in the state semifinals his senior year before the tournament was canceled due to COVID.
PERSONAL
Born on Oct. 11, 2001 … son of Phillip Russell and Teirra Knox … has one brother, Trevon, and two sisters: Ayanna, Terena … initially signed with SEMO out of high school, but decommitted and went to Saint Louis.
