McKnight Remains on His Feet Despite Plenty of Reasons to Sit

Pacific’s Clay McKnight wishes he were coming back home to Orange County under better circumstances.

The Tigers play at Cal State Fullerton Thursday night and at UC Irvine Saturday night.

“Our season isn’t going as well as I hoped it would be at this point, and I wish I were more healthy than I am right now,” said McKnight, who played at Mater Dei High, then for one season at UC Irvine before transferring to Pacfic.

The Tigers are 8-10 and McKnight has been slowed by injury problems.

“Both of my ankles have been bothering me,” McKnight said. “I have a deep bruise right in the middle of my left foot, and I have a sprain in my right ankle.

“The only thing that probably would help is taking some time off, but . . . I look at how few games we have left in my senior season, and I’m reluctant to sit out any of them.”

McKnight leads the Tigers in scoring at 12.8 points per game. He also ranks first in the nation in free-throw shooting (50 of 51).

McKnight had a streak of 36 consecutive free throws this season before missing at Boise State.

“I’ve always been a three-point shooter, and that isn’t any different this season,” said McKnight, who made seven of 10 three-pointer attempts Saturday while scoring 21 points in Pacific’s 87-66 victory over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. “But it seems like the defenses are keying on me more this season, and I’m not shooting as well as I’d like to be.”

McKnight said he is glad he decided to transfer to Pacific.

“It’s turned out to be a good decision for me,” McKnight said. “I know some people in Orange County feel like I bailed out on the program at Irvine, but the change has been good for me as a player.

“The coaches have really helped me, and Coach [Bob] Thomason is really good on the X’s and O’s. I want to coach on the college level someday, and I’ve learned a lot from them.”

NOTEWORTHY

Lovieanne Jung (Fountain Valley High), a sophomore infielder, is one of eight regulars back this season for a Fresno State softball team ranked No. 3 nationally in the USA Today preseason coaches’ poll. The Bulldogs are favored to win the Western Athletic Conference title. Jung batted .330 with six home runs and 50 runs batted in last season. Other former Orange County players on the team are sophomore infielder Lindsay Fossatti (Foothill High) and freshman catcher Caitlin Haworth-Yasger (El Dorado).

Ty Tramblie (Newport Harbor High) is a freshman setter for the Cal State Northridge men’s volleyball team.

Freshman Kyle Dodd, who played at Brea Olinda High, is a reserve guard on the Arizona State men’s basketball team. He is averaging 3.7 points.