As San Jose State’s men’s basketball team finished up a late-season practice, Seneca Knight remained at the free-throw line.
His jersey was draped around his neck like a cape as he took extra shots.
The look was fitting. After all, the sophomore guard has been SJSU’s Superman this season. But even the man of steel needs motivation and Knight has his with him wherever he goes.
Knight trotted off the court sporting bright yellow sneakers. They are intricately designed, but they didn’t come like that straight out of the box.
Reminders of Knight’s origin story canvas his kicks. With a black marker, Knight has decorated multiple pairs with over a dozen meaningful phrases, numbers and names.
They’re just shoes of course, but Knight believes they have something to do with his hero-like performances this season. He led the Spartans in scoring and rebounding with 17 points per game and just under 6 rebounds per game.
“Any time in a game, say something doesn’t go my way or I get frustrated . . . I just look down at my shoes and I just remember why I play,” Knight said.
His story starts in New Orleans.
With his hometown’s name written near the toe and the area code “504” near the ankle, Knight’s childhood in the "Big Easy” has a meaningful impact on his mentality on and off the court.
“All we got in New Orleans is just hope,” Knight said. “After Katrina hit . . . it just taught us how to fight through adversity.”
Adversity is a thread that runs throughout Knight’s life. While he fortunately moved to Arkansas the year before Katrina struck, the impact of the disaster stuck with him.
Knight learned to deal with profound loss, tragedy and massive change at a young age.
Among the motifs on his sneakers are tributes to two close friends. At age 12, Knight moved to Lafayette, Louisiana where he attended Northside High School.
One of these motifs, “#RipEric,” recognizes Knight’s close friend and high school teammate at Northside High School in Lafayette. When Eric Robinson was a senior in high school during Knight’s junior year, Robinson was shot and killed.
The same year, Knight’s friend Cam McGilvery was “jumped outside of a barbershop.” He was left with severe brain damage, according to Knight. McGilvery is acknowledged on the shoes with “#CamWay.”
After facing tragedy of this volume at such a young age, some might lose hope.
Not Knight.
Scattered around his left sneaker are words that remind him of the experiences that would be unfathomable to most. Pain, loss and heartbreak.
“Basketball brings me through [it],” he said.
Alongside those words is the latest addition to Knight’s shoes: “Mamba Mentality.” The death of the late Kobe Bryant, one of Knight’s basketball idols, serves as a reminder of how to be successful at the game he loves.
“[It’s about being] locked in and focused,” he said. “Hard work each and every day and never feeling like, ‘Oh, just because I had one good game,’ that’s in the past, we’re on to the next one now.”
So does Knight have the “Mamba Mentality?”
“I think I’m getting there,” he said with a laugh. Others say he’s already there.
“On game day, from the crack of dawn, he’s up making his breakfast, playing his music super loud,” said teammate and roommate Zach Chappell. “Everybody knows [Knight’s] getting ready for the game. He has the same routine every gameday.”
After waking his roommates up with the loud sounds of rapper YoungBoy Never Broke Again’s tunes, he’ll go to class, then shootaround, which is when Knight says his day really starts. He’ll then have lunch in his dorm, take a nap and talk to his parents on the phone.
Both Knight’s mother and father remain in Louisiana and being away from home has been a tough transition for Knight.
“I was definitely homesick at first,” he said.
Knight added that he talks to his parents on the phone “about four or five times per day,” and that they remain his support system, even from more than 2,000 miles away.
“They help me figure everything out,” he said. “They make sure I go eat and eat the right things and eat enough.”
Knight’s parents have made an effort to help him on the court as well. When he returned home to Louisiana over the summer, his father, a former professional football player in the Arena Football League, put him on a strict workout regimen.
“He had me lifting like a football player,” Knight said.
Putting on weight and adding strength was a priority for Knight this offseason. He had a solid freshman year, starting about half of the Spartans’ games and averaging about 6 points per game. But in his sophomore season, Knight’s game exploded.
“He showed flashes last year, but now he’s putting strings of games together,” head coach Jean Prioleau said.
Knight has improved in nearly every statistical category, but the difference between now and then may be more mental than physical.
“I just go out there and try to play all the way until the end,” Knight said. “You never know when the game might take a turn . . . I just give it my all. Whatever it takes.”
After the Spartans were eliminated from the Mountain West Conference Tournament this season, Knight said he is preparing for a stellar junior year – potentially still at SJSU.
If Knight misses a shot or if the team is in a rut, check to see if he takes a look at those bright yellow shoes. If he does, you just might see something special from SJSU’s Superman.
