Matthew Knight

He finished his career with 1,466 points and 743 rebounds, ranking 10th and sixth, respectively.

He became the fifth player in LMU history to rank in the top-10 in career points and rebounds.

He was a talented footballer growing up, following in the steps of his father, Scott, who played five games for Collingwood in the VFL in 1984 before carving out an accomplished career in Tasmania.

Knight went to watch his father play every Saturday, and during the week, he'd go with him to training.

He played football right up until the end of secondary school.

At that stage, he had to make a decision, and he'd heard there was more opportunity to go overseas with basketball, so he chose to commit to basketball.

He also wanted to get away from the shadow of his father.

Matthew James Knight (born 31 May 1985) is an Australian former professional basketball player.

Knight attended Smithton High School in 1997 and 1998 before linking up with the Tasmanian Institute of Sport (TIS) and joining the TIS Basketball Elite Development Squad.

He played for the Tasmania under-16 team in 1999 and 2000, the under-18 team in 2001 and 2002, and the under-20 team in 2003.

In 2002, Knight played in the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) for the North-West Tasmania Brewers and earned SEABL South Australian Youth Player of the Year honours.

He moved to Canberra to attend the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in 2003 and played for AIS men's basketball team in the SEABL.

He subsequently went on to play for the Australian junior national team at the 2003 FIBA Under-19 World Championship, where he won a gold medal.

On 10 June 2003, Knight and future Perth Wildcats teammate Damian Martin signed National Letters of Intent to join the Loyola Marymount University men's basketball program.

Knight was slowed by ankle surgery following the 2003 FIBA World Championship and subsequently missed the first six games of the 2003–04 season.

As a sophomore in 2004–05, Knight proved to be the go-to-guy for the Lions all season, and for his efforts, he earned All-West Coast Conference honorable mention honours.

He finished the regular season averaging a team-best 15.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game while starting all 28 games.

He led the team in minutes played (28.9 per game), and led the team in scoring in 18 contests.

His 10.5-point turn around on the season was the best in the WCC as he scored in double figures in all but four games.

He ranked sixth in the league in shooting percentage (51.2) and was second in the league in offensive rebounds (2.82).

On 18 December 2004, Knight exploded for the Lions in win over San Diego State to become the first Lion to score 30 points in a regular season game since January 1998.

Knight finished with 30 points on 13-of-21 shooting, going 4-of-4 from the free throw line while adding a then career-high nine rebounds.

As a junior in 2005–06, Knight was a Player of the Year candidate in the West Coast Conference and earned first-team All-WCC honours.

He ranked seventh in the WCC at 16.2 points per game and led the WCC in rebounds at 10.0 per game.

He scored in double figures in every WCC game and had a career-best 32 points and 18 rebounds against Long Beach State on 30 November 2006.

Prior to the 2006–07 season, the Lions were picked by many to challenge for the WCC title, but their season was filled with near misses (losing to Long Beach State on a half court shot at the buzzer and three other WCC games on shots at the buzzer), critical injuries (Brandon Worthy out with ACL), uphill battles (starting 1–6 in the WCC) and bad luck (drawing host team in first round) that proved too much for the sixth-seeded Lions as they finish 13–18 on the year.

Their season ended with a loss to the University of Portland at the Chiles Center in the first round of the West Coast Conference Championships.

In his final game for LMU, Knight recorded 15 points and seven rebounds.

Over 28 games as a senior in 2006–07, Knight averaged 16.5 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

He subsequently earned first-team All-WCC honours for the second straight year.

Knight's four-year career at LMU was defined by the double-double.

He played four years of college basketball in the United States for the Loyola Marymount Lions before debuting in the National Basketball League (NBL) in 2007.

After two seasons with the West Sydney Razorbacks / Sydney Spirit, he had a season in Hungary before playing eight seasons with the Perth Wildcats and winning three NBL championships.

Knight endured a long list of injuries during his tenure with the Wildcats, having struggled with calf, shoulder, ankle and toe complaints, as well as suffering a number of concussion-related incidents.

He earned his 25th double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds against Santa Clara on 27 January 2007.

During the season, he became just the 11th player in LMU history to record 1,000 career points and 500 career rebounds.

Three head knocks in 2017 led to Knight announcing his retirement from the NBL midway through the 2017–18 season.

Born in Burnie, Tasmania, Knight played both basketball and Australian rules football as a junior.

He played 18 games for the Lions as a freshman, with his 3.5-rebounds-per-game average ranking 11th all-time among freshmen at LMU.

He also averaged 4.9 points per game.