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PROVO β BYU basketball reeled in another transfer Monday, flipping a former all-Mountain West guard from LSU to the Cougars' backcourt.
San Jose State transfer Seneca Knight announced his commitment to the Cougars via Instagram Monday morning, selecting BYU over a final three that included Georgia Southern and Idaho.
In January, the 6-foot-7, 215-pound shooting guard committed to play his senior season at LSU but re-entered the transfer portal and came out to Provo.
Knight was a third-team all-Mountain West selection as a sophomore in 2019-20 for the Spartans when he led the team with a career-high 17.1 points and 5.7 rebounds per game while shooting 48% from the field.
But the talented shooter from Lafayette, Louisiana, moved on from San Jose in 2020-21 after just four games, when he averaged 9.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists. He committed to LSU in January, opting to spend his senior season closer to home, but mysteriously transferred out less than six months later without playing a game.
A former 1,000-point scorer and three-year letterman at Northside High, Knight was a Class 4A first-team all-state honoree in Louisiana, where he averaged 25 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 3.0 blocks and 2.0 steals per game.
The shooter will pair with returning point guard Alex Barcello, who opted to take advantage of the NCAA's free season of eligibility following the COVID-19 pandemic, and shooting guard Te'Jon Lucas, an Illinois transfer by way of Milwaukee, in the Cougars' back court.
One year after returning to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five years, the Cougars will try to build on that success following the departure of center Matt Haarms and guard Brandon Averette to professional opportunities, as well as a handful of transfer-portal losses that include backup center Kolby Lee (Dixie State), wing Connor Harding (Utah Valley) and former Deseret News Mr. Basketball star Jesse Wade (medical retirement).
In the new signing class, BYU also added Atiki Ally Atiki, a 6-foot-11, 220-pound center out of Mwanza, Tanzania, and the London (Ontario) Basketball Academy, and former Wasatch High standout Fousseyni Traore, the 6-foot-7, 220-pound forward from Mali, West Africa.
