Senior Send-Off: San Francisco’s Kruize Pinkins

Kruize Pinkins arrived at San Francisco in 2013 as a First Team All-Panhandle League junior college transfer from Chipola College, located in his hometown of Marianna, Florida. Pinkins contributed in USF games immediately. He finished his first season as the Dons’ leading rebounder. He led the team in rebounds during the final game of the season against LSU in the first round of the NIT.

Pinkins led the WCC in offensive rebounds with a 3.2 per game average, was named All-WCC Honorable Mention, and named the WCC Player of the Week after his performance against Santa Clara on February 15, 2014 where he scored a career-high 26 points, shot 8-for-11 from the field and hit 10-of-11 free throws. He finished the 2013-14 season averaging 12.2 points per game, 6.5 rebounds and shooting 61% at the free throw line.

Even more impressive was that he either led the team in scoring or shared high scoring honors with another teammate consistently during the season. The Dons had a breakout season as the finished 4th in the WCC and were invited to the NIT Tournament, all of which can be traced back to the strength of Pinkins’ contributions.

Sometimes his aggressive play got him into foul trouble and earned him the second highest total in school history for fouling out of games.

During his senior year at USF in 2014-15, Pinkins averaged 13.9 points per game, second on the team behind Mark Tollefsen. He scored in double figures in six consecutive games at one point including 15 points against NCAA Tournament-bound BYU. Kruize tied with Matt Glover for highest rebounding average on the team that season with 5.5 rebounds per game. He achieved a personal-best 14 rebounds in a December game against Eastern Washington, another NCAA Tournament team. His ability allowed him to perform well even against tough competitors.

Kruize hopes he will be remembered as “a great person on and off the court” and as “a guy you can go to and get a great laugh” as well as “a good advisor.”