RENO, Nev. – Nevada head coach Steve Alford announced the signing of guard Kenan Blackshear (Orlando, Fla./FAU) to the Wolf Pack program Monday.
Blackshear, a 6-foot-6, 215-pound guard, will have three seasons of eligibility remaining, and will be immediately available to play for Nevada ahead of the 2021-22 campaign.
Over two seasons at FAU, Blackshear appeared in 53 games, with 30 starts, averaging 5.9 points and 3.4 rebounds while shooting 41.2 percent from the floor. This past season, Blackshear started 20 of the Owls’ 22 games, scoring 9.5 points with 4.2 rebounds over 23.6 minutes a game, and shot 45.9 percent while hitting 19 3-pointers. FAU finished the season 13-9 (7-5 C-USA) and reached the quarterfinals of the C-USA Tournament.
“We’re excited to add Kenan to our program. He is a big guard, skilled, tough, and brings a lot of versatility,” Alford said. “Kenan is from a basketball family and we are looking forward to his bright future.”
Basketball runs throughout Blackshear’s immediate family, as each of his parents, and his older brother, played collegiately. Both of his parents played at Stetson, and are members of the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame, each being inducted in 2002. Blackshear’s father, Kerry, graduated as the program’s all-time leading scorer (1,826 points) and was the 1994-95 Atlantic Sun Player of the Year, while his mother, Lamilia (née Lamilia Ford), scored 1,285 points over her career (1992-96) with the Hatters and was a two-time all-conference selection.
His older brother, Kerry Jr., spent four seasons (2015-19) at Virginia Tech before playing his final season at Florida (2019-20). Following the end of his collegiate career, Kerry Jr. spent the 2020-21 professional season with Hapoel Golboa Galil of the Israeli Premier League.
Blackshear will join a Nevada program that is coming off a 16-10 (10-7 MW) campaign and reached the semifinals of the Mountain West Tournament in 2020-21.
