Isaac Hamilton

For the politician and businessman, see Isaac Miller Hamilton.
Isaac Hamilton

Hamilton with UCLA in 2015
No. 10 – UCLA Bruins
Position Guard
League Pac-12 Conference
Personal information
Born (1994-05-14) May 14, 1994
Los Angeles, California
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight 185 lb (84 kg)
Career information
High school Crenshaw (South Los Angeles, California)
St. John Bosco (Bellflower, California)
College UCLA (2013–present)
Career highlights and awards

Isaac Brandon Hamilton (born May 14, 1994)[1] is an American college basketball player for the UCLA Bruins. The guard earned second-team all-conference honors in the Pac-12 Conference as a junior in 2015–16.

Hamilton grew up in the Los Angeles area, where he was among the top high school players. As a senior in 2013, he captured all-state honors in California, and was nationally recognized as a McDonald's All-American. He originally signed a National Letter of Intent (NLI) to attend the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), but decided to transfer to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Hamilton was required to sit out his freshman year after UTEP would not grant him a release from his commitment. He played his first year in college in 2014–15 as a sophomore with the Bruins, and he led the team in scoring as a junior.

Early life

Hamilton was born in Los Angeles to Greg and Karen Hamilton.[2] He attended his first two years of high school at Crenshaw High School in South Los Angeles.[3] He helped lead Crenshaw to the 2010 Coliseum League title in his freshman year.[1] He averaged 19.5 points per game as a sophomore, when he teamed with his younger brother Daniel, who averaged almost 10 points as a freshman.[4] The following season, the brothers transferred to St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower.[5] As a junior, Hamilton was voted third-team all-state by Cal-Hi Sports after averaging 24.3 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 5.4 assists and leading his team to the SoCal Div. III Regional final.[3] In his senior year, he averaged 22.1 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game, and St. John Bosco captured a CIF Southern Section Class 3A title, its first since 2003.[3][6] He was named first-team all-state by Cal-Hi Sports,[7] and was recognized nationally as a McDonald's All-American.[3]

Hamilton was rated by Rivals.com as the No. 14 player overall in the country in the class of 2013, and ESPN ranked him No. 25. Rivals had him as the No. 3 shooting guard, and Scout.com listed him as No. 5.[1][2]

College career

In November 2012, Hamilton signed an NLI to play with the UTEP Miners. However, he later requested a release, citing a desire to attend a school closer to home, preferably in Los Angeles, to be with his grandmother, who was sick with a heart condition. It should be noted that his younger brother, Daniel chose to go to school at UCONN even though his grandmother was sick, causing many to speculate that Isaac's reasoning was false. However, UTEP coach Tim Floyd would not grant his release. One reason the coach cited was his belief that USC Trojans coach Andy Enfield had tampered with Hamilton.[8][9] Even as a freshman, Hamilton was projected to be UTEP's best player.[10] He appealed the case, but it was denied by the NLI appeals committee. Hamilton had since enrolled at the UCLA. He lost a year of eligibility and was not allowed to play for the Bruins until the following year as a sophomore. The rules permitted him to practice with the team, during which his play impressed coach Steve Alford.[11][12]

Eligible to play in 2014–15, Hamilton was expected to play a prominent role for the Bruins. Three of UCLA's top four scorers from the previous year had moved on to play professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Given the team's limited depth at guard, the team was expected to be heavily dependent on their backcourt trio of Hamilton, senior Norman Powell, and sophomore Bryce Alford—the coach's son.[13] Although he had never been a point guard before, Hamilton was expected to become a combo guard and be the team's No. 2 ballhandler behind Alford.[12][14] He was rusty after not having played for 18 months, and had an up-and-down season.[15][16] On November 28, 2014, he scored a team-high 21 points at the Battle 4 Atlantis, helping UCLA salvage a win in the seventh-place game.[17] Just a day earlier, he had missed all six of his shots and committed seven turnovers due to poor decisions and bad passes in a loss to North Carolina.[16][14] Soon his ball-handling opportunities began to wane.[14] Towards the middle of the season, Hamilton at times would again assume the point guard role for the Bruins, and Alford would shift to being a scorer.[18] In February 2015, Hamilton enjoyed games of 16 points and nine assists against Oregon State, as well as 16 and 10 against Washington. However, he was also limited to two points against Oregon and four versus Arizona.[16] In the quarterfinals of the 2015 Pac-12 Tournament, Hamilton made 13 of 17 field goal attempts to score a career-high 36 points in a 96–70 win over USC. His grandmother had died just four days earlier, but he decided to play as the Bruins were still fighting to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. It was the most points scored by a Bruin in a decade,[lower-alpha 1] and was just the second time Hamilton had scored over 20 points that season.[19][20]

Hamilton opened 2015–16 as part of a three-guard lineup, with Alford and freshman Aaron Holiday sharing most of the point guard responsibilities.[21][22] In December 2015, Hamilton had five consecutive games with eight or more field goals, the longest streak by a Bruin since Tracy Murray's six games in 1991.[23] In February 2016, he became the first Bruin since Kevin Love in 2008 to score in double figures for more than 20 straight games.[24] Hamilton finished the season as the team's leading scorer with 16.8 points per game, which ranked third in the Pac-12.[1][25] He earned second-team All-Pac-12 honors, the only player from UCLA named to the all-conference team.[26]

Awards and honors

Hamilton in the 2013 McDonald's All-American Game

Personal life

Hamilton's younger brother, Daniel, played college ball at Connecticut. Their older brother, Jordan, played collegiately at Texas before playing professionally in the NBA.[29]

Notes

  1. ↑ Dijon Thompson scored 39 against Arizona State on February 10, 2005.[19]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Isaac Hamilton Bio". UCLABruins.com. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 "Isaac Hamilton Bio". UTEPAthletics.com. Archived from the original on March 17, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Flores, Ronnie (April 1, 2013). "Isaac Hamilton: Maturation Process of an All-American". Cal-Hi Sports. Archived from the original on March 16, 2015.
  4. ↑ Bolch, Ben (August 10, 2011). "TIMES REPORTERS BLOG ABOUT HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS ACROSS THE SOUTHLAND". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 17, 2015.
  5. ↑ Morales, Robert (February 28, 2013). "The Isaac & Daniel Hamilton Show a big hit". Los Angeles Daily News. Archived from the original on March 17, 2015.
  6. ↑ Johnson, Raphielle (September 13, 2013). "Report: Former UTEP signee Isaac Hamilton enrolls at UCLA". NBCSports.com. Archived from the original on March 16, 2015.
  7. 1 2 Flores, Ronnie (April 29, 2013). "All-State Basketball: Boys Elite Squads". Cal-Hi Sports. Archived from the original on March 17, 2015.
  8. ↑ "UTEP's Tim Floyd rejects Issac Hamilton's request for release". Sporting News. July 23, 2013. Archived from the original on March 17, 2015.
  9. ↑ Helfand, Zach (March 13, 2015). "UCLA guard Isaac Hamilton's road to a career night almost led to USC". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 16, 2015.
  10. ↑ Parrish, Gary (July 24, 2013). "Tim Floyd is wrong (and hypocritical) to not release Isaac Hamilton". CBSSports.com. Archived from the original on March 17, 2015.
  11. ↑ Prisbell, Eric (October 31, 2013). "UCLA's Isaac Hamilton's NLI appeal denied, will sit out 2013-14". USA Today. Archived from the original on March 17, 2015.
  12. 1 2 Kartje, Ryan (December 9, 2014). "Hamilton thrown into the fire right away at UCLA". Orange County Register. Archived from the original on March 17, 2015.
  13. ↑ Moura, Pedro (October 14, 2014). "Bruins basketball team still an inexperienced bunch". Orange County Register. Archived from the original on March 17, 2015.
  14. 1 2 3 Helfand, Zach (March 26, 2015). "UCLA's Isaac Hamilton is more comfortable in his attire and on court". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 28, 2015.
  15. ↑ Helfand, Zach (December 2, 2014). "UCLA guard Isaac Hamilton continues to shake off the rust". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 27, 2015.
  16. 1 2 3 Wang, Jack (March 26, 2015). "UCLA sophomore Isaac Hamilton has rediscovered his game at the right time". Los Angeles Daily News. Archived from the original on March 27, 2015.
  17. ↑ Reynolds (November 29, 2014). "Isaac Hamilton leads UCLA basketball to seventh-place victory over UAB". Los Angeles Daily News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on March 7, 2015.
  18. ↑ Wang, Jack (March 20, 2015). "UCLA's Bryce Alford at the top of UAB's scouting report". Los Angeles Daily News. Archived from the original on March 21, 2015.
  19. 1 2 Wang, Jack (March 12, 2015). "Four days after grandmother's death, sophomore Isaac Hamilton leads UCLA past USC". Los Angeles Daily News. Archived from the original on March 17, 2015.
  20. ↑ Eisenberg, Jeff (March 12, 2015). "UCLA guard honors his grandmother with career-best performance". Yahoo! Sports. Archived from the original on March 17, 2015.
  21. ↑ Helfand, Zach (November 22, 2015). "UCLA has a chance to prove itself in Maui Invitational". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 10, 2015.
  22. ↑ Helfand, Zach (November 29, 2015). "UCLA finds outlet for better point-guard play in 77–45 win over Cal State Northridge". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 8, 2015.
  23. ↑ Liotta, Tim (December 22, 2015). "Isaac Hamilton's big game lifts UCLA to basketball victory over McNeese State". Los Angeles Daily News. The Associated Press. Archived from the original on January 11, 2016.
  24. ↑ "No. 17 Arizona knocks off UCLA 81-75". KCCI.com. The Sports Xchange. February 12, 2016. Archived from the original on February 16, 2016.
  25. ↑ Helfand, Zach (March 13, 2016). "How UCLA basketball roster shapes up for 2016-17". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 8, 2016.
  26. ↑ Wang, Jack (March 7, 2016). "UCLA guard Isaac Hamilton makes All-Pac-12 second team". Inside UCLA. Archived from the original on March 8, 2016.
  27. ↑ Werstine, Dave (March 19, 2013). "St. John Bosco's Isaac Hamilton wins Wooden Award". Long Beach Press Telegram. Archived from the original on March 17, 2015.
  28. ↑ Sondheimer, Eric (April 6, 2013). "The Times' All-Star boys' basketball team". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 17, 2015.
  29. ↑ Katz, Andy (September 6, 2013). "Isaac Hamilton won't get NLI release". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on March 17, 2015.
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