Wednesday, Jun. 30
Venson Hamilton
Drafted by:
Houston, Round 2, pick 50.
College: Nebraska
Height: 6-10
Weight: 240 pounds
Position: Center
Age: 21
(Aug. 11, 1977)
Birthplace: Forest City, N.C.
Career highlights
Named Honorable Mention All-America as a senior by The Associated Press
Nebraska's all-time leader in rebounding (1,080), shotblocking (241) and games played (129)
Also finished career third in steals with 186 and ninth in scoring with 1,416 points
Shot at least 50 percent from the field all four seasons
Owns three of the top six rebounding seasons in school history and four of the top 12 in shotblocking
Only Nebraska player to reach 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds, and only the fourth player in Big 12 history to achieve those plateaus as well as 200 blocked shots (Danny Manning, Wayman Tisdale, Byron Houston)
At Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, averaged 10.7 rebounds and 7.7 points per game
College highlights
Senior
Named Big 12 Player of the Year after averaging 15.7 ppg and 10.2 rpg; first Nebraska player since Andre Smith in 1981 to earn conference player of the year honors
Grabbed a school-record 335 rebounds (10.2 rpg, 11th in nation) and blocked a career-high 80 shots (2.42 bpg, 24th in nation)
Scored in double figures in 28 of 33 games, including 21 of his last 22 outings, and had 18 double-doubles
Scored a career-high 26 points against Washington State and hauled down a season-high 16 rebounds against Colorado
Junior
Averaged 11.2 ppg and 9.8 rpg; named honorable mention All-Big 12 and named to All-Defensive team
Led the Huskers in rebounding, shotblocking (66, 2.06 bpg) and field goal percentage (.517) and ranked second in scoring
Reached double figures in points 20 times, including a season-high 19 against New Orleans, and notched 17 double-doubles
Twice hauled down 15 rebounds, against Minnesota and Tulsa
Ranked second behind Kansas' Raef LaFrentz in rebounding, but his 9.6 rpg in league games topped the Big 12
Sophomore
Broke into starting lineup in December and went on to average 10.8 ppg and 8.4 rpg
His 269 rebounds were fifth-highest season total in school history
Grabbed 18 rebounds against Old Dominion and 17 against Northern Iowa
Posted 11 double-doubles, including five in the last 10 games
Blocked 56 shots, including six against Missouri-Kansas City
Shot a career-high .577 (124-for-215) from the field
Freshman
Making all but one of his 32 appearances off the bench, averaged 6.1 ppg and 5.0 rpg
Shot 9-for-9 from the field and scored a season-high 19 points, with nine rebounds and four blocks, against Iowa State
Set a Nebraska freshman record with 39 blocks
College statistics
| SEASON |
G |
FGM |
FGA |
PCT |
FTM |
FTA |
PCT |
REB |
AST |
PTS |
AVG |
|
1995-96 | 32 | 71 | 130 | .546 | 54 | 100 | .540 | 161 | 19 | 196 | 6.1
| | 1996-97 | 32 | 124 | 215 | .577 | 96 | 148 | .649 | 269 | 33 | 344 | 10.8
| | 1997-98 | 33 | 139 | 269 | .517 | 80 | 144 | .556 | 315 | 58 | 358 | 11.2
| | 1998-99 | 33 | 194 | 388 | .500 | 130 | 198 | .657 | 335 | 54 | 518 | 15.7
| | TOTALS | 129 | 528 | 1,002 | .527 | 360 | 590 | .610 | 1,080 | 164 | 1,416 | 11.0
| | Three-point field goals: Totals: 0-for-2 (.000.)
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