Kendrick Nunn

Kendrick Nunn

Nunn with the Simeon Wolverines after winning the 2013 Illinois High School Association championship.
No. 25 – Illinois Fighting Illini
Position Shooting guard
League Big Ten Conference
Personal information
Born August 3, 1995
Chicago, Illinois
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight 180 lb (82 kg)
Career information
High school Simeon (Chicago, Illinois)
College Illinois (2013–present)
Career highlights and awards
  • Big Ten All-Freshman Team (2014)
  • 4x IHSA state champion (2010–2013)
  • First team All-State (News-Gazette, Illinois Basketball Coaches Association) (2012)
  • No.20 retired by Simeon Wolverines

Kendrick Nunn (born August 3, 1995) is an American college basketball player for the University of Illinois, where he is playing his sophomore season for the 2014–15 team. He was named to the 2013–14 Big Ten season All-Freshman team.

High school career

Nunn dunks an alley-oop pass from Jaylon Tate.
Nunn in the 2013 Illinois High School Association championship game.
Nunn dunks an inbounds alley oop from Jabari Parker over Jahlil Okafor.
Nunn dunks in the 2013 Illinois High School Association playoffs

As a freshman, Nunn received his first scholarship offer from the late Rick Majerus while he was the head coach at Saint Louis University.[1] In talking about schools he was considering, Nunn listed Illinois, Marquette, Memphis, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, and UCLA.[2][3]

During his senior season, Simeon Career Academy celebrated its senior night by retiring Nunn's #20 and teammate Jabari Parker's #22.[4] Nunn and Parker joined Derrick Rose, Bobby Simmons, and Benji Wilson as the only other Wolverine basketball players to have their jersey number retired.[5] Over the course of his high school career, Nunn won four IHSA state titles with Simeon.

Initially, Nunn had verbally committed to Texas A&M before the start of his junior year in August 2011.[6] About two months later, Nunn had announced his de-commitment from Texas A&M to re-open his recruiting process. Nunn's father, Melvin, explained that Kendrick felt he committed too quickly in the process and wants to further explore all of his options.[7]

After his official visit to Illinois, Nunn verbally committed to the program and coach John Groce on September 15, 2012.[2]

Name Hometown High school / college Height Weight Commit date
Kendrick Nunn
SG		 Chicago Simeon (Illinois) 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Sep 15, 2012 
Scout:4/5 stars   Rivals:4/5 stars   247Sports:4/5 stars    ESPN grade: 86
Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: 59, 12 (SG)   Rivals: 60, 18 (SG)  ESPN: 61, 14 (SG)
  • Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight.
  • In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale.

Sources:

College career

He made his first start for the Fighting Illini on February 9 against Penn State, scoring 19 points and helping the team end an 8-game losing streak.[8][9] Nunn tied his career high of 19 points starting against Minnesota in Minneapolis on February 19,[10] and he was awarded Big Ten Freshman of the Week on February 24, 2014, for his efforts in helping the Illini to a win.[11][12] Following wins over Nebraska[13] and Michigan State,[14] in which Nunn averaged 10.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists, Nunn repeated as Big Ten Freshman of the Week on March 3.[15] Following the regular season Nunn was named to the 2013–14 Big Ten All-freshman team by the coaches.[16][17]

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
2013–14 Illinois 35 12 19.5 45.6 38.8 80.8 1.7 1.1 0.6 0.1 6.2
2014–15 Illinois 19 10 26.3 47.1 45.2 86.4 3.0 1.8 1.6 0.2 10.4

Updated: January 20, 2015

International play

In March 2011, Nunn was among the 24 players who earned an invitation to the June 10–18, 2011 tryouts for FIBA U16 competition at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.[18] Nunn was one of four Chicago products to emerge from the 27-man tryouts as part of the 12-man team.[19] He won a gold medal in the 2011 FIBA Americas Under-16 Championship, with Team USA in Cancun, Mexico. This qualified the United States for the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship. The team, which was coached by Don Showalter of Mid-Prairie High School, scored over 100 points in each outing.[20]

Nunn was selected for the USA team that competed in the 2012 FIBA Under-17 World Championship in Kaunas, Lithuania from June 29 – July 8, 2012 along with Simeon teammate Parker and Whitney Young rival Jahlil Okafor.[21] Again, Nunn won a gold medal with Team USA.[22][23]

Notes

  1. ↑ Kane, Colleen (December 6, 2012). "S1MEON All Access, Spotlight on Kendrick Nunn". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Helfgot, Mike (September 15, 2012). "Simeon's Nunn picks Illinois". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Kendrick Nunn". USA Basketball. July 10, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  4. ↑ Kane, Colleen (January 25, 2014). "Simeon All Access - Parker, Nunn do work before jersey numbers retired". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  5. ↑ Powers, Scott (February 1, 2013). "Simeon retires numbers of Parker, Nunn". ESPN. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  6. ↑ Powers, Scott (2011-08-07). "Kendrick Nunn commits to Texas A&M". ESPN. Retrieved 2014-01-24.
  7. ↑ Powers, Scott (2011-09-29). "Kendrick Nunn de-commits from Aggies". ESPN. Retrieved 2014-01-24.
  8. ↑ Ryan, Shannon (2014-02-10). "Freshman starters Kendrick Nunn, Malcolm Hill energize Illinois: Groce plans to stick with new lineup after ending eight-game skid at Penn State". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2014-02-17.
  9. ↑ "Nunn's 2nd half lifts Illinois past Penn St. 60-55". ESPN. 2014-02-09. Retrieved 2014-02-17.
  10. ↑ "Nunn helps Illinois shoot down Minnesota, 62-49". ESPN. 2014-02-19. Retrieved 2014-02-24.
  11. ↑ "Nunn Named Big Ten Freshman of the Week". FighitngIllini.com. 2014-02-24. Retrieved 2014-02-24.
  12. ↑ "Michigan and Illinois Earn Weekly Men's Basketball Honors". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. 2014-02-24. Retrieved 2014-02-24.
  13. ↑ "Illinois ends Nebraska streak with 60-49 win". ESPN. 2014-02-26. Retrieved 2014-03-03.
  14. ↑ "Illinois stuns No. 18 Michigan State at home". ESPN. 2014-03-01. Retrieved 2014-03-03.
  15. ↑ "Indiana and Illinois Earn Weekly Men's Basketball Honors". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. 2014-03-03. Retrieved 2014-03-03.
  16. ↑ "Big Ten Announces 2014 Men's Basketball Postseason Honors: Michigan's Stauskas named Big Ten Player of the Year". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. 2014-03-10. Retrieved 2014-03-10.
  17. ↑ "2013-14 All-Big Ten Men’s Basketball Team" (PDF). CSTV.com. 2014-03-10. Retrieved 2014-03-11.
  18. ↑ "2011-12 USA Basketball Men’s Developmental National Team Announced". USA Basketball. March 24, 2011. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  19. ↑ Powers, Scott (June 13, 2011). "Parker leads Illinois national quartet". ESPN. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  20. ↑ "Second FIBA Americas U16 Championship For Men -- 2011". USA Basketball. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  21. ↑ Powers, Scott (June 19, 2012). "Chicago trio makes USA U-17 squad". ESPN HS. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  22. ↑ Powers, Scott (July 8, 2012). "Okafor named World Championship MVP". ESPN HS. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  23. ↑ "FIBA U17 - USA repeat undefeated golden title". FIBA.com. July 7, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2014.

External links