Damion Lee

Damion Lee
No. 0 – Louisville Cardinals
Position Shooting guard
League Atlantic Coast Conference
Personal information
Born (1992-10-21) October 21, 1992
Baltimore, Maryland
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Listed weight 210 lb (95 kg)
Career information
High school Calvert Hall (Towson, Maryland)
College
Career highlights and awards
  • First-team All-CAA (2015)
  • Second-team All-CAA (2013)
  • CAA Rookie of the Year (2012)
  • CAA All-Defensive Team (2015)
  • CAA All-Rookie Team (2012)

Damion Lee (born October 21, 1992) is an American college basketball player. Lee played 3 seasons and 1 game for the Drexel Dragons men's basketball team before deciding to graduate and transfer to The University of Louisville for his redshirt senior season.[1] He played high school basketball at Saint Thomas More Prep School in Oakdale, Connecticut, and also at Calvert Hall College High School in Towson, Maryland.

High school

Lee graduated from Calvert Hall College High School in Towson, Maryland,[2] where in his final season he was a Second-Team Baltimore Sun All-Metro and a First Team All-Baltimore Catholic League selection. Lee attended prep school at St. Thomas More in Oakdale, Connecticut where he averaged 17 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Lee was a First Team All-New England Preparatory School Athletic Council selection, leading his team to a 30-7 record and a National Prep School championship title.

College

Drexel Dragons

In his freshman season as a member of the 2011–12 Drexel Dragons men's basketball team, Lee started for the Dragons at point guard. During that season, he averaged 12 points and 4.4 rebounds.[3] After the impressive start to his college career, he was named the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Rookie of the Year. He was also named to the CAA All-Tournament team after averaging more than 15 points in Drexel's three tournament games. In the CAA championship game, the Dragons (25-5) lost to VCU 59-56 in highly anticipated mid-major final. VCU was a Final Four team the previous year, and the majority of projections had both teams making the NCAA tournament. However a disappointing Selection Sunday saw the Dragons not invited to the NCAA Tournament and instead accepting an automatic bid to the 2012 National Invitation Tournament as the CAA regular season champion and #3 seed. The Dragons defeated UCF and Northern Iowa, before falling to UMass in the regional final.

The following season, Lee was named to the Second Team All CAA after leading Drexel in scoring and finishing 3rd in the CAA averaging 17.1 points per game. He was also second in the CAA in free throw percentage (.829), and fourth in three pointers per game (2.3). In a game against Old Dominion, Lee recorded a career high 34 points.

In his third season at Drexel, after being selected to the Preseason CAA All-Conference First Team, Lee suffered a torn ACL in a game against Arizona. This caused him to sit out the entire season and redshirt his junior year.

Before his redshirt junior season at Drexel, Lee was named to the Preseason CAA All-Conference First Team for the second year in a row. He also was named to the Charleston Classic All-Tournament team. On February 21, 2015 during a game against Northeastern, Lee suffered a fractured right hand which prematurely ended his season.[4] Damion Lee averaged 21.4 points per game during the season, ranking fourth in the nation and first in the CAA.[5] His free throw percentage of .887% ranked 14th in the nation and 2nd in the CAA. He also averaged 6.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game in 27 games. Furthermore, Lee also led the team in steals per game (1.5 SPG), field goal percentage (.438 FG%), and 3 point percentage (.385 3P%).[6] At the conclusion of the regular season Lee was one vote shy of winning CAA Player of the Year, losing to Senior William and Mary guard Marcus Thornton.[7] However, Lee did win awards in CAA All-Conference First Team, CAA All-Defensive Team, and CAA All-Academic Team.[8]

On March 30, 2015, Lee announced that he would be transferring out of Drexel University for his 5th and final collegiate season.[9] He was considered to be the top transfer in college basketball by ESPN.[8]

Louisville Cardinals

On April 23, 2015. Lee announced he would play his final collegiate season at Louisville under head coach Rick Pitino.[10] Other schools Lee was considering included Arizona, Gonzaga, Marquette, and Maryland. Damion Lee also announced he would be changing his number from 14 to 0. "The U of L community itself was unreal," Lee said. "I don't think there's any other city or college basketball town like it. Random people were coming up to me -- 'Hey Damion, we'd love to have you here.' That was kind of different."[8] By mid-season in December 2015 he was Louisville's top point scorer.[11] He was named to the 35-man midseason watchlist for the Naismith Trophy on February 11. The Cardinals put out a post-season ban and Damion Lee never got to make the NCAA tournament.[12] On Senior Night Lee passed the 2,000 point mark.[13]

References

  1. ↑ Geary, Molly. "Drexel guard Damion Lee says he will graduate, transfer". SI.com.
  2. ↑ "Damion Lee". DrexelDragons.com. Drexel Athletics. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  3. ↑ Medcalf, Myron. "Get to Know: Drexel's Damion Lee". ESPN.com. ESPN. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  4. ↑ "Damion Lee to Miss Rest of Season Due to Injury". DrexelDragons.com. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  5. ↑ "NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Player Scoring Per Game Statistics - 2014-15". ESPN. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  6. ↑ "Drexel Dragons Stats - 2014-15". ESPN. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  7. ↑ "2014-15 All-CAA Men's Basketball Release" (PDF). CAASports.com. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 Greer, Jeff (April 23, 2015). "Drexel transfer Damion Lee picks U of L". Louisville Courier-Journal. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  9. ↑ Borzello, Jeff. "Damion Lee eyes other schools". ESPN.com. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  10. ↑ Parrish, Gary. "Louisville lands Damion Lee". CBSSports. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  11. ↑ Sullivan, Tim (27 December 2015). "Lee steps up but misfires for U of L". Louisville Courier-Journal. Archived from the original on 28 December 2015.
  12. ↑ Payne, Terrence (February 11, 2016). "Naismith Trophy midseason list announced". Fox Sports. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  13. ↑ "No. 11 Louisville Holds Off Georgia Tech 56-53 on Senior Night". gocards.com. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
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