Isaiah Sykes (born December 2, 1991) is an American former basketball player. He played college basketball for the

UCF Knights men's basketball The UCF Knights men's basketball team represents The University of Central Florida, located in unincorporated Orange County, Florida near Orlando, United States. UCF competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), ...

team where he was named to the 2013

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

First Team. He scored a career-high 36 points in a double overtime victory over

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

in the opening round of the 2014 AAC tournament.

High school career

Sykes played

high school basketball High school basketball, also known as prep basketball, is the sport of basketball as played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. Top high school athletes often go on to play college basketball after ...

representing Edwin C. Denby High School (

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

). Playing for head coach Chuck Albright, Sykes averaged 19.7 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.3 assists throughout his senior year. After leading the school to the Michigan Class A state semi-finals, he was selected to play in the Michigan High School All-Star Game in which he scored 17 points. Soon after he graduated from Denby, Sykes played for the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

(AAU) team known as the Michigan Hurricanes, under coach Will Smith. He then went on to participate in the 2009 Reebok All-American Camp, earning all-star honors.Isaiah Sykes Bio
/ref>

College career

Sykes chose to attend the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in unincorporated area, unincorporated Orange County, Florida, United States. It is part of the State University System of Florida. ...

after also considering the schools:

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Mem ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, and

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. In his freshman year, he seemed to have little effect on the success of the program, led by

Marcus Jordan Marcus James Jordan (born December 24, 1990) is an American former college basketball player who played for the UCF Knights men's basketball team.

and

Keith Clanton Keith Clanton (born August 18, 1990) is an American professional basketball player. Standing at , he plays at the power forward and the center positions. After playing four years of college basketball at the University of Central Florida, with th ...

. By the end of his first season, Sykes averaged 4.0 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. He logged a season-high 12 points against Furman on December 29, 2010. By the end of Sykes's sophomore year, he had made 32 of 33 possible starts in the Knights' regular season schedule. He scored at least 20 points in six of these games and also emerged as a huge rebounder, recording six double-doubles. He was also named the 2012 UCF Holiday Classic MVP. Shortly before he entered his senior year, Sykes considered entering the

NBA draft The NBA draft is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) annual event, dating back to 1947 BAA draft, 1947, in which the teams in the league can Draft (sports), draft players who declare for the draft and that are Eligibility for the NBA dr ...

but withdrew his name. On February 9, 2013, against

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university in Greenville, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of universities in North Carolina by enrollment, fourth largest university in North Carolina and the only one in the state with s ...

, Sykes became the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

's second player to record multiple triple-doubles in a single season. Becoming one of the

's premier scorers, rebounders, and shot-blockers, he was named to the conference's All-Defensive Team and All-Conference First Team. After an exceptionally successful junior year in college basketball, Isaiah Sykes was named to the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...

All-League Preseason Second Team. During his senior season he averaged 17.2 points per game and scored a career-high 36 points in a victory over the

Temple Owls The Temple Owls are the college athletics, athletic teams that represent Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The current athletic director is Arthur Johnson (athletic director), Arthur Johnson. The owl has been the symbol and masco ...

on March 12, 2014. The record initiated a win in the opening round of the 2014 American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament.

College statistics

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2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, style="text-align:left;", UCF , 32 , , 1 , , 16.4 , , .563 , , .000 , , .475 , , 3.2 , , .8 , , .8 , , .0 , , 4.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2011–12 , style="text-align:left;", UCF , 33 , , 32 , , 30.7 , , .545 , , .286 , , .546 , , 6.4 , , 2.0 , , 1.1 , , .4 , , 12.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, style="text-align:left;", UCF , 31 , , 31 , , 34.8 , , .457 , , .320 , , .617 , , 7.5 , , 4.5 , , 2.3 , , .5 , , 16.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2013–14 , style="text-align:left;", UCF , 30 , , 30 , , 31.9 , , .475 , , .375 , , .540 , , 7.2 , , 3.5 , , 1.7 , , .2 , , 17.2

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

2014 NBA draft The 2014 NBA draft was held on June 26, 2014, at Barclays Center, Brooklyn. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. The ...

, Sykes joined the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...

for the

2014 NBA Summer League The 2014 NBA Summer League consists of two pro basketball leagues organized by the NBA and the Orlando Magic just after the 2014 NBA draft. Ten teams took part in the week-long summer league at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, from July 5 t ...

. On August 11, 2014, he signed with Basket Recanati of the

Serie A2 Gold Basket Serie A2, known for sponsorship reasons as Serie A2 Old Wild West, is a men's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Italy. It constitutes the second-tier of the Italian basketball league system, Italian league pyramid, below the firs ...

.Recanati lands rookie Isaiah Sykes
/ref>

References

External links

RealGM profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sykes, Isaiah 1991 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Italy American men's basketball players Basketball players from Detroit Maccabi Hod HaSharon players Shooting guards Small forwards UCF Knights men's basketball players Al Mouttahed Tripoli players 21st-century American sportsmen