Skal Labissière

Skal Labissière

Labissière in Kentucky's Blue-White scrimmage in 2015
No. 1 – Kentucky Wildcats
Position Power forward / Center
League Southeastern Conference
Personal information
Born (1996-03-18) March 18, 1996
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Nationality Haitian
Listed height 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Listed weight 225 lb (102 kg)
Career information
High school Evangelical Christian School
(Memphis, Tennessee)
Lausanne Collegiate School
(Memphis, Tennessee)
College Kentucky (2015–present)
Career highlights and awards

Skal Labissière (French pronunciation: ​[labissjɛʁ]; born March 18, 1996) is a Haitian basketball player who currently plays for the Kentucky Wildcats Men's Basketball Team.[1][2]

Early years

Labissière was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. His basketball career began at the Collège Canado-Haïtien, a junior-senior high school in Port-au-Prince, which participated in school championships organized by the Comité Interscolaire de Basket-ball Amateur (CIBA), and the Association de Basket-ball Interscolaire (ASI).[2] During the 2010 Haiti earthquake, his family's home collapsed with Labissière, his mother and his brother inside. All three survived but were trapped under the debris for the next three hours. Skal's legs were trapped, causing them to go numb and he was unable to walk for a few weeks after. A few months after the earthquake, Labissière moved to the United States in Memphis, Tennessee to live with Gerald Hamilton who ran the Reach Your Dream Foundation, which brought international prospects to the United States.[3][4][5]

High school career

Labissière attended Evangelical Christian School in Memphis and started to play varsity basketball as an eighth-grader.[3] When he had first arrived, Labissière spoke little English and required a French interpreter in all of his classes. After three to four months, he didn't need the help and became fluent.[3] In 2014, he left the school his senior year and enrolled at Lausanne Collegiate School, also located in Memphis,[6] but because of the move he was ruled by TSSAA as ineligible to play basketball at Lausanne for the season. So instead, Labissière played for Gerald Hamilton's Reach Your Dream Prep Academy team, where he averaged 26 points, 12 rebounds and 4.5 blocks per game.[7][8][9][10]

"The harder I work, the better I will be as a basketball player and I'll be able to influence more people around the world."

—Skal Labissière[11]

Name Home town High school / college Height Weight Commit date
Skal Labissiere
PF/C		 Port-au-Prince, Haiti Lausanne Collegiate School 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Nov 13, 2014 
Scout:5/5 stars   Rivals:5/5 stars   247Sports:5/5 stars    ESPN:5/5 stars
Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: 1   Rivals: 1  ESPN: 2, 1 (C), 1 (TN)
  • 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

Labissière was rated as a five-star recruit and was considered among the best players in his class.[12][13] He committed to the University of Kentucky to play college basketball.[14][15][16] UK's coach John Calipari, offered Labissière a scholarship before any other 2015 prospect and compares him to Anthony Davis.[10]

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, December 10, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.