Andrew Nicholson (basketball)

Andrew Nicholson
College St. Bonaventure
Conference A 10
Sport Basketball
Position Power Forward
Jersey # 44
Class Senior
Height 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Weight 250 lb (113 kg)
Nationality Canadian
Born December 8, 1989 (1989-12-08) (age 22)
Mississauga, Ontario
High school Father Michael Goetz Secondary School
(Mississauga, Ontario)
Awards
  • A 10 Rookie of the Year
  • A-10 Rookie of the Week x6
  • Freshman All-American team by CollegeHoopsNet.com
  • 2009-10 Second Team All-Atlantic 10
  • Atlantic 10 Preseason and All-Defensive First Team
  • 2010-11 A-10 Athlete of the Week x1
  • 2010-11 Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball All-Conference First-Team
  • 2010-11 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division I All-District First Team
  • 2011 John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 List
  • 2011 A-10 Preseason First Team
  • 2011 A-10 Preseason First Defensive Team
  • 2011-12 Lute Olson PRESEASON ALL-AMERICA TEAM
  • 2011-12 Naismith Award preseason watch list
Tournaments

Andrew Nicholson (born December 8, 1989 in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada) is a basketball player from Canada who currently plays basketball at St.Bonaventure. He is 6'-9" and weighs 250 pounds. Nicholson currently plays as a forward. He is a 2012 NBA Draft prospect. Currently, he is considered an early second round pick in 2012

Contents

High School Career

Andrew didn't start playing basketball until his junior season and missed the entire summer circuit prior to his senior year with a broken ankle.In an even more bizarre twist, basketball wasn't always his sport of choice. Baseball was his original passion, but blessed with such size and athleticism he decided to pass on the American past time, opting for basketball instead. Only in his senior year did Nicholson receive any attention. Named to the Toronto Star Fab Five team in back-to-back seasons (2007 & 08)also named MVP of five different tournaments over two-year career. As a junior, he led Father Michael Goetz to a 38-4 record, a Peel Region Senior Championship and a berth in the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations Quad-A playoffs, he averaged 17 points, 14 rebounds and two steals en route to being honored by the Toronto Star, he earned MVP status at three tournaments, including the Pearson Invitational where he scored 22 points and had 17 rebounds during a victory in the championship game. As a senior Andrew averaged 18 points, 13 rebounds and six blocks per game, coached Ray Kulig, Nicholson led Father Michael Goetz to its second consecutive 38-win season. Andrew was named the MVP of the Sheridan College Cup and Burlington Classic in 2007-08, Nicholson scored a season-high 27 points and added 11 rebounds against Eastern Commerce.

College career

Freshman

Andrew was named the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year, also named to the CollegeHoopsNet.com Freshman All-American team. Throughout his freshman season he won the A-10 Rookie of the Week award a program record six times. He made 25 starts out of 30 games played and led all freshmen nationally in field goal percentage (.602) and blocks (81), also one of two players in the nation to rank in the top 15 in field goal percentage (12th) and blocks (11th). Andrew was ranked second on the team at 12.5 points per game, 6.0 rebounds per game were good for third on the team and 14th in the A-10. He finished second in the A-10 in both field goal percentage and blocked shots and led all A-10 freshmen in six different categories. His 602 field goal percentage set a program single-season record, while his 81 blocks were third. Nicholson scored in double figures 21 times and was tied for the team lead with three 20-point games and had three double-doubles. He led the team in scoring and rebounding on 10 occasions, including both in the same game five times. He had a team-high 37 dunks and recorded a block in 25 games, including two or more 19 times, having blocked five or more shots six times. He posted first career double-double in first career start during a win over Rutgers (Nov. 23) with 15 points, a game-high 11 rebounds and five blocks, followed with a 13-point, nine-rebound effort against Mississippi State (Nov. 25) and All-American candidate Jarvis Varnado. He just missed recording a triple double with 16 points, nine rebounds and a then-school record tying eight blocks in a win against Princeton (Dec. 6). He closed the month of December by averaging 21.3 points and shooting 74 percent (25-34) over a three-game stretch and scored 13 of his team-high 19 points in the second half in a win at Eastern Michigan (Dec. 20, followed with an 11-of-14 performance for 23 points and seven rebounds against Niagara (Dec. 23). He just missed recording another triple-double with 22 points, eight boards and school record nine blocks over a season-best 42 minutes in double-overtime win at Bucknell (Dec. 30). He had 13 points and nine rebounds in first-ever A-10 game at Fordham (Jan. 7). He averaged 23.5 points, 10 rebounds and 4.5 blocks over two games against Duquesne and had 18 points on 7-of-8 from the floor with eight rebounds and three blocks in the first meeting on Jan. 10, then exploded for a double-double at Duquesne (Jan. 31) that featured a season-bests of 29 points and 12 rebounds to go along with six blocks on 13-of-18 from the field. He fought through a foul-plagued 22 minutes to record 12 points, eight boards and six blocks in a win over La Salle (Feb. 7), he went 7-of-10 from the field and 5-of-5 from the free throw line at Rhode Island (Feb. 11) for 19 points, seven rebounds and four blocks and had 10 points and nine rebounds in just 20 minutes in a win over UMass (Feb. 14)he scored 15 points and hauled in a game-high 10 rebounds for third double-double in a win over Charlotte (Mar. 7) that clinched an A-10 Tournament berth. Lastly he finished the season with 13 points and six rebounds against Richmond in the A-10 Tournament.

Sophomore

Started all 30 games he played in and made the Second Team All-Atlantic 10. He was ranked 18th nationally, second in the A-10, in field goal percentage at .564 (198-351), the ninth-best season total in program history. Finished the year as St. Bonaventure’s all-time field goal percentage leader (.580, 352-607) ahead of Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer and St. Bonaventure great Bob Lanier. He moved to third on the career blocks list (136), needing just 28 more to pass Eric Stover (163) for second place. His 51 blocks tallied during the season are the seventh-highest total on the program’s ledger and led the team and was seventh among A-10 competition in scoring at 16.4 points per game. He paced the squad and listed 10th in the conference in rebounding (7.1), the second-best mark among league sophomores. He scored a career-high 29 points on two separate occasions, the first of which came on 11-of-13 shooting from the floor with a career-best 14 rebounds against Norfolk State (Nov. 28) and equaled his high water mark at Duquesne (Jan. 23), where he played the full 40 minutes, also tallied 26 points twice during the year versus St. John’s (Nov. 17) and at Massachusetts (Jan. 20). His both 24-point performances came on the road opposite Niagara (Dec. 22) and La Salle (Feb. 21) with seven and eight rebounds, respectively and blocked three or more shots seven times, including a season-best six at Charlotte (Jan. 9). Andrew recorded a field goal percentage at or above .600 in 15 of 30 games played, including 9-of-10 at Syracuse (Dec. 19) and booked a double-double with 15 points and 12 boards against Southeast Missouri State (Nov. 27) at the Riley Center. Andrew chipped in with 16 points and 13 rebounds against Saint Joseph’s (Feb. 7) and converted 7-of-10 free throws on three separate occasions and was perfect from the line in seven contests with an 8-of-8 performance versus Savannah State (Dec. 12).

Junior

NABC All-District First Team ... All-Atlantic 10 First Team … Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 20 with eventual conference Player of the Year Tu Holloway … Atlantic 10 Preseason and All-Defensive First Team selection … career field goal percentage (.576, 589-1022) is tied for first with Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer and Bona legend Bob Lanier … ranked 15th nationally and led the A-10 with 20.8 ppg ... season field goal percentage (.571, 237-415) ranked 20th nationally and eighth on the school’s single-season list …became the 38th player in school history to surpass the 1,000-point barrier with a foul-line jumper in the first half of the Niagara game … blocked 45 shots, the 9th highest total in school single-season history and now sits in sole possession of second place on the career list (181) … enters his senior campaign with 1,512 career points and 618 rebounds, good for 13th on the St. Bonaventure scoring list and 22nd on the rebounding ledger … career scoring average (16.6 ppg) is tied for 12th all-time … first player in school history to shoot 200 or more free throws in a season (232) … played 35 or more minutes 14 times, including complete games against Ohio (4 OT, 60 minutes), Charlotte (3 OT, 55 minutes), Niagara and Marshall ... 30 points and 13 rebounds against La Salle in the first round of the A-10 Championship were the highest championship totals in St. Bonaventure history in a crushing double overtime defeat to the Explorers …scored 30 or more points five times, including back-to-back games against Rhode Island (Mar. 5) and La Salle (Mar. 8) … booked 10 or more points in all but one (9 points at Rhode Island, Jan. 16) … recorded 11 double-doubles, including a streak of five straight between Nov. 27 and Dec. 18 … hit back-to-back game-winning jump shots vs. Buffalo (Dec. 4) and St. John’s (Dec. 7) … scored a career-high 44 points, on 14-of-19 field goals and 16-of-25 from the line, while pulling down 12 boards in a four-overtime thriller vs. Ohio (Dec. 18), the longest game in SBU history … turned in one of his most impressive performances in a Bona uniform on the road against Dayton, where he went 15-for-23 from the field for 35 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in 35 minutes.

Senior

Nicholson was named to the John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 List. Andy Katz of ESPN published the nominations and quoted an unnamed coach saying that Nicholson "is fast, strong and efficient as a scorer and a defensive rebounder regardless of the opponent. He is also a very underrated passer and shot-blocker. He knows how to use his body to protect the ball and has a very high basketball IQ. His long wing span and great bounce allow him to play above the rim."

Personal life

Andrew is the son of Fabian and Colmaleen Nicholson and has an older brother, Gary. He was an originally a chemistry major at St.Bonaventure but then switched into Physics to balance out with his basketball.

College Statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2009–10 Bonnies 30 25 25.1 .602 .000 .613 6.0 0.2 0.6 2.7 12.5
2009–10 Bonnies 30 30 30.2 .564 .000 .760 7.1 0.5 0.2 1.8 16.4
2010–11 Bonnies 30 30 33.8 .571 .261 .712 7.4 1.1 0.6 1.5 20.8
Post Season CBI 2010–11 Bonnies 1 1 35 .571 -- .667 4 -- -- 1 20
2011–12 Bonnies 1 1 33 .444 .000 1.000 5 2 1 2 24
Career

References

http://www.gobonnies.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/nicholson_andrew00.html | http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Andrew-Nicholson-5518/stats/ http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/player/profile?playerId=41510 http://www.mississauga.com/sports/article/1218819--nicholson-among-the-best http://www.gobonnies.com/sports/m-baskbl/2011-12/releases/2011100353e1we