Khalif Wyatt

Khalif Wyatt (born June 10, 1991) is an American professional basketball player. He was the Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Year as a senior in 2012–13 after leading the Owls to the Round of 32 in the 2013 NCAA Tournament. Wyatt led Temple in scoring in his final season with a 20.5 points per game.

High school

Wyatt attended Norristown High School in Norristown, Pennsylvania from 2005–06 to 2008–09. In his junior season he averaged 18.0 points while guiding them to a 33–2 record.^[1] Norristown lost the state championship game to powerhouse Chester High School, which also featured future Temple teammate Rahlir Jefferson.^[1] The next year, Wyatt's senior season, he averaged 20 points, four rebounds and four assists while leading Norristown to the PIAA Class AAAA District championship.^[1] He earned Second Team All-State accolades for the second year in a row as well.^[1]

College career

Wyatt played in 10 games during his freshman campaign in 2009–10 in which Temple won both the Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) regular season and conference tournament titles.^[1] In Wyatt's sophomore season, he averaged 10.1 points and 1.3 steals per game^[2] and was named the A-10's Sixth Man of the Year.^[1] In 2011–12, his junior season, the Temple Owls won the A-10 regular season title for the second time in three years. Wyatt was second on the team in scoring with a 17.1 points per game average that also ranked fourth in the conference.^[1][2] Despite the success, the Owls entered the 2012 NCAA Tournament as a 5-seed but were upset in the Round of 64 by 12-seed South Florida. Wyatt earned Second Team All-Conference honors, however.^[1]

In his final season, Temple finished in a three-way tie for third place in the A-10. Wyatt led the team in scoring with 20.5 points per game; he also averaged 2.9 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.7 steals.^[2] Despite losing in the first round of the A-10 Tournament, the Owls had finished the regular season with a 23–8 overall record and were invited to participate in the 2013 NCAA Tournament via an at-large bid. The 9th-seeded Owls then defeated 8th-seeded NC State behind Wyatt's 31 points to advance to the Round of 32. In their next match-up, they took on #1-seed Indiana who had national player of the year candidate Cody Zeller in their line-up. Temple battled them toe-to-toe, and Wyatt was so effective against them that Indiana coach Tom Crean employed a special defensive tactic, called a full-court face-guard, against him (whereby an opposing player's primary responsibility for that game is to follow that player around all over the court to prevent him from even catching the ball).^[3] The Owls were two questionable calls by the referees and one big-time three-point shot by Victor Oladipo away from upsetting one of the best teams in the country.^[3] Wyatt still managed to score 31 points in the loss.^[3] Tom Crean said in his post-game conference that Wyatt was the best player that Indiana had played all season and that Temple was the toughest team they had also faced.^[3] Khalif Wyatt was named an A-10 First Team All-Conference selection as well as the A-10 Player of the Year,^[4] becoming Temple's 10th overall recipient of that award. On April 15, 2013, Wyatt was named the Philadelphia Big 5 Player of the Year, awarded annually to the player who performs the best throughout Philadelphia "Big 5" inner-city games among the five member schools that season.^[5]

Birthday arrest

In June 2012, Wyatt went to Atlantic City, New Jersey to celebrate his 21st birthday. That weekend, he was arrested for trying to pay for sex to an undercover female police officer posing as a prostitute.^[6] Wyatt then tried to flee on foot but was apprehended.^[6] In September 2012, he was given a $1,000 fine and sentenced to community service.^[6]

Relationship with Fran Dunphy

He and head coach Fran Dunphy did not see eye-to-eye and frequently got into arguments early throughout Wyatt's career.^[7] Dunphy said that Wyatt "was killing [him] with high maintenance" and how "In the beginning, he had his way of doing things and I had mine."^[7] Wyatt would be late to meetings, doctors' appointments and practices, his defense was considered at times lazy and undisciplined, and he would make "head-scratching" plays more frequently than a coach would like.^[4] As Wyatt's tenure with Temple lengthened, he and Dunphy's relationship grew, and by the time he was a senior in 2012–13 there was great mutual respect for one another.^[7] In March 2013, after Wyatt's career had concluded, he said, "Coming in here as a 17-year-old, you think you know everything. You think you have the answers to everything. Coach Dunphy helped me grow up a lot. He really was like a father to me for four years. He pretty much raised me from 17 to 22. I'm happy I had him in my life. Through everything, he's stuck with me. He had my best interests at heart."^[4]

Professional career

After going undrafted in the 2013 NBA draft, Wyatt was chosen to participate for his hometown Philadelphia 76ers in the 2013 NBA Summer League.^[8] On September 27, 2013, Wyatt signed with the Philadelphia 76ers.^[9] He was later waived by the 76ers on October 25.^[10]

October 28, 2013, he signed with the Guangdong Southern Tigers of China.^[11]

References

External links

• Khalif Wyatt @ sports-reference.com