Christopher Lykes (born July 22, 1998) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for

Denain Voltaire Basket Denain Voltaire Basket is a French professional basketball club that was founded in 1947, and is based in Denain, France. The club plays in the LNB Pro B, which is the second-tier level pro competition in France. History The small club of the Vo ...

of the

LNB Pro B The LNB Pro B, commonly known as Pro B, is the French basketball league system, 2nd-tier level men's professional basketball league in France. It is the second division of the Ligue Nationale de Basket (LNB), which has organized the league since t ...

. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Miami Hurricanes The Miami Hurricanes (known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes) are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic A ...

and the

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville. The University of Arkansas student body voted to change the name of the school mascot (ori ...

Early life and high school career

Lykes began playing basketball in second grade and competed for

Gonzaga College High School Gonzaga College High School is a private Catholic college-preparatory high school for boys in Washington, D.C. Founded by the Jesuits in 1821 as the Washington Seminary, Gonzaga is named in honor of Aloysius Gonzaga, an Italian saint from the 16 ...

Washington, D.C ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

. He was a starter since his freshman season, despite standing only . As a sophomore, he helped his team win the

Washington Catholic Athletic Conference The Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) is a major high school athletic league for boys, girls, and co-ed Catholic high schools of the Archdiocese of Washington & Diocese of Arlington Schools located in the Washington Metropolitan Ar ...

(WCAC) championship over top recruit

Markelle Fultz Markelle N'Gai Fultz (born May 29, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for the Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Washington Huskies before being selected by the Phila ...

and

DeMatha Catholic High School DeMatha Catholic High School is a four-year Catholic high school for boys located in Hyattsville, Maryland, United States. Named after John of Matha, DeMatha is under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and is a member of the Washington Ca ...

. In his junior season, Lykes averaged 22 points and 4.3 assists per game and was named WCAC player of the year and D.C.

Gatorade Player of the Year The Gatorade Player of the Year awards are given annually to up and coming high school student-athletes in the United States. They are given for boys' baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine playe ...

. As a senior, he averaged 17.6 points and 4.2 assists, repeating as WCAC player of the year. On February 16, 2017, Lykes became his school's all-time leading scorer, passing Tom Sluby. He finished his career with 2,266 points. Lykes helped Gonzaga win a postseason triple crown, with WCAC,

District of Columbia State Athletic Association The District of Columbia State Athletic Association (DCSAA), is the association that oversees post-season high school sporting contests in Washington, D.C. DCSAA is made up of public schools from the DCIAA, DC private schools from various confere ...

(DCSAA) and Alhambra Catholic Invitational titles. He was a four-star

recruit __NOTOC__ Recruit can refer to: Military * Military recruitment * Recruit training, in the military * '' Rekrut'' (English: Recruit), a military recruit or low rank in German-speaking countries * Seaman recruit Books *''Le Réquisitionnaire'' (E ...

and the No. 48 player in the 2017 class, according to

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. Lykes committed to playing

for Miami (Florida) over offers from Villanova, among other

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

programs. He was drawn to Miami due to the success of fellow undersized guards

Shane Larkin DeShane Davis Larkin (born October 2, 1992) is an American-Turkish professional basketball player for Anadolu Efes of the Turkish Basketball Super League and the EuroLeague. He also represents the senior Turkish national team in international c ...

and Ángel Rodríguez with the program.

College career

As a freshman, Lykes averaged 9.6 points and 2.3 assists per game. He developed a close friendship with teammate Lonnie Walker IV. During his sophomore season, Miami coach

Jim Larrañaga James Joseph Larrañaga ( ; born October 2, 1949) is the head men's basketball coach for the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. He has held this position since 2011. Before joining the University of Miami, he served as the head men ...

called him "crazy, but he's also crazy good" for his tendency to make risky plays that usually turn out well. Lykes scored a career-high 28 points on January 3, 2019, in a 87–82 loss to

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The university ...

. Lykes scored 20 points in a loss to

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

on January 19, and tied a season-high with four three-pointers. Lykes averaged 16.2 points, 2.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game as a sophomore. He was named to the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

(ACC) All-Academic Team for the second straight season. Coming into his junior season, Lykes was named Preseason Second Team All-ACC. Lykes missed four games in January 2020 with a groin injury. He sat out a game against

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

on March 8 with a laceration near his eye. As a junior, Lykes averaged 15.4 points, 2.4 assists, and 2.1 rebounds per game. Lykes was named All-ACC Honorable Mention. Two games into his senior season, he suffered a season-ending ankle injury. Lykes transferred to

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

for his final year of eligibility, choosing the Razorbacks over

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

Professional career

After going undrafted in the 2022 NBA Draft, Lykes signed with

Horsens IC Horsens Idræts Club Basketball, commonly known as Horsens IC or Horsens, is a professional basketball team based in Horsens, Denmark. The club plays at the Forum Horsens, which can accommodate 4,000 people. The team holds six titles in the Bask ...

of the top league in Denmark,

Basketligaen The Basketligaen ( en, The Basketball League) is the highest professional basketball league in Denmark. The original men's first division was founded in 1957 and the current league was founded in 1998. All-time record holder in league titles is B ...

. He averaged 22.0 points, 4.8 assists and 3.1 rebounds per game over 26 games, leading his team to an overall 17-9 record. On June 27, 2023, Lykes signed with Denain Voltaire of the 2nd Division French League,

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, 32 , , 10 , , 21.6 , , .402 , , .345 , , .720 , , 1.2 , , 2.3 , , .8 , , .0 , , 9.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 32 , , 32 , , 33.8 , , .406 , , .318 , , .781 , , 2.7 , , 3.2 , , 1.3 , , .0 , , 16.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 26 , , 24 , , 30.1 , , .432 , , .381 , , .814 , , 2.1 , , 2.4 , , 1.1 , , .3 , , 15.4 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 2 , , 2 , , 28.5 , , .364 , , .455 , , .909 , , 4.0 , , 5.5 , , 2.0 , , .5 , , 15.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 37 , , 2 , , 17.3 , , .344 , , .281 , , .875 , , 1.0 , , 1.5 , , .9 , , .0 , , 7.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 129 , , 70 , , 25.2 , , .401 , , .336 , , .806 , , 1.7 , , 2.4 , , 1.0 , , .1 , , 11.9

References

External links

Arkansas Razorbacks bioMiami Hurricanes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lykes, Chris 1998 births Living people American men's basketball players Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball players Miami Hurricanes men's basketball players People from Mitchellville, Maryland Basketball players from Prince George's County, Maryland Point guards