NEWARK, N.J. — The last time that BYU was in the Sweet 16, BYU guard Egor Demin was a 5-year-old child in Moscow, Russia.
Most college players were around that age when Jimmer Fredette led BYU into the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament in 2011.
But one player on BYU's team was already entering his preteen years. Trevin Knell was 12 while watching "Jimmermania."
Now, Knell is 26 years old — the oldest player in college basketball — and is a key piece in the machine that is BYU basketball.
"People probably joke that I was on the [2011] team," Knell said during Wednesday's press conference at the Prudential Center.
Knell, who is the oldest player in Division l college basketball, had a unique route to this year's Sweet 16.
A high School senior in 2017, Knell averaged 25.4 points per game for the Woods Cross Wildcats in North Salt Lake, Utah his senior year.
He originally signed his letter of intent to Cal, but flipped his commitment to BYU after his season had ended. He then did what a lot of BYU athletes do: serve a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, called to serve in Uruguay.
On Nov 5, 2019, Knell came off the bench against Cal State Fullerton to log his first collegiate minutes ever. He hit a 3-pointer for the first of many long bombs as a Cougar.
This season, Knell became a member of the 1,000-point club when he nailed the game's opening 3-point shot against No. 23 Kansas.
But how did it take Knell six years to get to this point?
In the 2021-22 season, Knell experienced shoulder pain that eventually led to him getting surgery on his rotator cuff in the offseason.
"It came down that I had to get surgery on my rotator cuff. It partially tore the tendon," Knell told BYUtv in 2022. "The timetable on that is just, you know, coach Pope says a couple of weeks. But it’s more like three to four months.”
Knell missed the whole 2022-23 season, a year where the Cougars struggled mightily, going 7-9 in the West Coast Conference. He used this year as a medical redshirt.
Knell also got an extra year of eligibility due to playing during COVID-19.
Between a two-year mission, a global pandemic, and a rotator cuff surgery, Knell magically found his way to the 2025 NCAA Tournament. Eight years after he graduated high school.
But Knell is not just some fun story of an older player overcoming injuries, he is a huge part of the Cougars offense which is among the best in the country.
Against Wisconsin on Saturday, Knell went 4 of 6 from deep, and against Iowa State in the conference tournament, he shot a perfect 4 of 4.
We can possibly attribute this hot shooting to another deep shooter that the Utah native watched growing up.
"I've been talking to Jimmer (Fredette) a ton," Knell said. "He's given me a ton of help, a ton of advice for the first two rounds. I called him again on Monday and he gave some advice going into the Sweet 16."
If that advice is good enough, BYU could be headed to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1981, something that even coach Kevin Young wasn't alive for.