Knight Keeps Battling in Face Adversity

BOULDER - When redshirt sophomore Aubrey Knight was deciding where to go for her collegiate basketball career, a Colorado assistant basketball coach recruiting her asked her, "if you got hurt on the first day and it was a career-ending injury, where would you want to be, just as a college student?".

This question guided her to the University of Colorado, where she had a successful freshman season but ended up having to face the same question that helped her land at CU.

Knight suffered a shoulder injury towards the end of her first season that put a pause on her playing career. She returned for her sophomore season, excited to get back on the court, only to have the injury flare up again.

"I'm going to be honest; I didn't even know that Colorado was a school until about my junior year of high school," Knight said. "I was recruited by JR [Payne] when she was at Santa Clara. They had been recruiting me since my sophomore year of high school."

Colorado head coach JR Payne had watched Knight play throughout high school but as a volleyball player.

"She actually came to one of my volleyball tournaments in high school while she was still at Santa Clara," Knight said.

Once Payne made the move to Colorado, she was still highly interested in Knight to play for her. Knight started getting recruited to Colorado and connected with the coaching staff that CU had.

"I thought to myself that this was a place I could see myself," Knight said. "Even if it wasn't for basketball. Obviously, basketball was a huge reason I came [to CU], but you have to think outside of the sport and about your happiness too."

In Knight's freshman season, she started 13 games and played in 28. She shot 45.4 percent from the floor and totaled 122 rebounds, 102 points, 25 steals and 12 assists. She also received CU's Ceal Barry Pride Award. Towards the end of the 2018 season, however, Knight dislocated her shoulder.

"I kind of didn't process it because it was towards the end of the season and I only missed three games," Knight said. "It wasn't anything super drastic. I was able to get surgery right away and started the recovery process. It didn't seem like a big deal."

The summer of 2018 came and went without Knight being able to practice with the team, but by all accounts, she was on track to get back to the court. Everyone was telling her she would be ready for the next season.

"I was really excited for my sophomore year, then I got hurt again," Knight recalled.

She was back on the court for CU's opener against Northern Colorado, playing 25 minutes. Her first set back came in game No. 2 of the season against Colorado State. The last straw came right before Thanksgiving against Nevada.

"It was really defeating," Knight noted. "It was really difficult to bounce back from that, especially having already had surgery and thinking it was going to happen again. It was hard."

Knight said that deciding to redshirt was not easy, but it was something that needed to happen. Her shoulder was just not going to stay in place. Knight took the injury as an opportunity to learn off the court, seeing the game from a different perspective.

"I was having to understand the game on the opposite end," Knight said. "It was the most adversity that I've been through. It made me not take the game for granted. I know that you can get injured and your career can be over. That's just what I try to remember. I try to not get mad about the little things and just be happy that I can play in general because my injury was just last year, and I think about where I am today."

Throughout the time that Knight was injured, coaches and teammates helped to keep her as engaged as possible in practice and games, always including her on the team.

"I never felt like I wasn't part of the team. I always felt that it wasn't just them, it was us, even though I wasn't contributing on the court. I wanted to take more of a leadership role and help the younger players understand. I would talk to them on the bench and tell them what I saw to try and help them."

Her consistent leadership off the court showed and Knight was named a team captain at the start of this season. She said she is not super vocal but tries to lead by example for her teammates.

"I like to say that anytime I'm on the court, I'm giving 100 percent effort. Even if I am messing up or not doing everything I'm supposed to be doing, at least I'm trying. I've been here for three years. I've seen and know what the grind is like. I'm trying to be that role model and show that you can get through it, and it will be okay."

Along with being a role model for her teammates, Knight feels she can relate to those on her team who are injured because she knows what it feels like to be an outsider off the court.

"It's hard to understand if you haven't had the game taken away from you," Knight explained. "I think that I'm a good testament to my teammates and can help them through their hard times. One of our teammates is returning this year, she's been recovering from an ACL, and because of that, I can be more at her level. If a teammate is out for a few games, I can understand how that feels and tell them that it will be okay and that they'll get through it."

Looking forward, Knight still has goals she wants to achieve in her time at Colorado.

"The biggest thing for me is that I want to make the NCAA Tournament. I think that's what everyone on the team wants. At this point, I think we are going to make a tournament this season, but I don't want to be fine with the WNIT. I want to be able to compete with the best. I know we are the best, but we must be able to finish games. That's the biggest thing as we go into these final games."

Knight and the Buffaloes have four games left this season before they head to Las Vegas for the Pac-12 Tournament. She knows better than most that every minute matters because you never know when it could be your last.

"Whenever our team has a bad game, we just have to think of how lucky we even are to get to play in the first place. We're in a position of being able to play against some of the best players and teams in the country. I think the biggest thing is that we not take it for granted, taking a step back when things don't seem to be going right and just thinking about how lucky we are to be playing in the first place."

Players Mentioned

Aubrey Knight

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