BATON ROUGE – The LSU athletic department received the
national letter of intent papers Tuesday afternoon from men’s basketball guard
Anthony Hickey, Jr., of Christian County High School of Hopkinsville, Ky.
Hickey, a 5-10 guard, averaged 18.6 points, 4.7 assists, 4.6
rebounds and 3.8 steals in leading Christian County to the 5A State
Championship and earning the title of Kentucky Mr. Basketball for his play this
past season.
He had 17 points and 12 assists, including the game-winning
pass in a 65-63 victory over Rowan City in a game played at Kentucky’s Rupp
Arena.
He was named the MVP of the state title event. In the run to
the state championship, Hickey averaged 22.5 points, 7.3 rebounds and 4.8
assists.
“We are happy to have Anthony Hickey, Jr. become a part of
our LSU basketball family,” said LSU Coach Trent Johnson. “He is someone who
has the ability to defend and pick up full court and put a lot of pressure on
the ball. From an offensive standpoint, he is someone who can really push the
ball in transition. We are very fortunate to be able to obtain a player of this
caliber late in the recruiting period. He definitely helps us become a much
better basketball team. He’s a winner and very competitive.”
Hickey also quarterbacked Christian County High School to
the championship game this past season in football. In fact, the afternoon of
the championship football game, he played a basketball game for his high
school, some 140 miles away that evening.
In his three years at Christian County, he scored over 1,300
points, dished out 415 assists and had 341 steals.
Hickey has taken part in the prestigious 2011 Derby Festival
Basketball Classic in Louisville and his final high school-related action will
take play June 10-11 when Hickey will represent Kentucky in the
Kentucky-Indiana All-Star Games first at Bellarmine University’s Knights
Hall and then at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. As Mr. Basketball,
Hickey will wear the No. 1 jersey for Kentucky.
Hickey becomes the third member of the LSU basketball
signing class for the 2011-12 season, joining two fall signees – McDonalds
All-American Johnny O’Bryant from East Side High in Cleveland, Miss., and guard
John Isaac of Pickering (La.) High School. The Tigers also will have Iowa State
transfer Justin Hamilton next season.
“With the addition of these players, it has really improved
the overall athleticism of our basketball team,” said Johnson.