Kobe Knox will face his older brother's former team tonight

The Knox family loves playing college basketball in the SEC.

First it was the eldest son Kevin, who was named the conference’s Freshman of the Year and an All-SEC First-Team performer during his lone season at Kentucky in 2017-18 under John Calipari, before going on to be a lottery pick. Then it was the youngest son Karter, who is now in year two at Arkansas and is also coached by Calipari, currently averaging 8.1 points per outing for the Razorbacks. Soon, it will be Ashley, the youngest of the family and a four-star 2026 recruit currently committed to play for the Auburn women’s program.

But it’s the middle son, Kobe, who will be in focus today.

Kobe Knox is a redshirt senior for the South Carolina Gamecocks. He’ll face his older brother’s former team tonight (7:00 p.m. ET | SEC Network) when Carolina hosts Kentucky in what will be as close to a must-win as possible for the Wildcats. The Gamecocks’ leading scorer, Meechie Johnson, will draw most of the attention, but Knox is playing his best basketball yet in his final college season.

A 6-foot-5 guard, Knox ranks second in scoring for South Carolina during SEC play. He’s averaging 11.8 points and 4.4 rebounds in 31.2 minutes per outing as a full-time starter against conference competition, doing so on impressive shooting splits of 51.8/38.5/72.2. His 17-point performance over the weekend against Mississippi State helped the Gamecocks end a seven-game losing skid. He dropped in 21 points a week prior on the road against Alabama.

Knox is hitting a groove at the right time, too. He had seven double-digit scoring games against 13 non-conference teams to begin the season, but only two came against a high-major opponent (Clemson, Virginia Tech). Across 14 SEC games, he’s already hit that mark eight times with a few more games to go. Knox has come a long way after redshirting his freshman season in 2021-22.

Making his college debut for Grand Canyon in 2022-23, Knox started 16 of 34 games played, averaging 5.3 points per contest. He transferred to South Florida from there, averaging 8.4 points per game in 2023-24 before ticking that number up to 10.8 in 2024-25. Following the tragic and unexpected death of his head coach, Amir Abdur-Rahim, Knox elected to spend his final season in Columbia. He’s been a necessary piece for Lamont Paris in 2025-26.

What Knox does best is score the ball at an efficient rate, especially when it comes to getting into the paint. He’s easily South Carolina’s most consistent shooter. Wins have been tough to come by for the Gamecocks this season (12-15; 3-11 SEC), but Knox is someone Kentucky will need to keep from popping off if the hope is stealing a road win and ending a losing skid.