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24 Chris Livingston

Name
Chris Livingston
Position
Guard
Class
FR
Hometown (Last School)
Akron, OH (Oak Hill Academy)
Ht
6'6"
Wt
170
Seasons
2022-23
Birthday
October 15, 2003

Christopher Livingston was born on October 15, 2003, in Akron, Ohio. His mother is Julia Livingston, a doctor of pharmacy in Akron. He has five siblings, Cordell, Cydnee, Corey, Courtney, and CJ. Cordell is his twin brother.  Livingston started playing competitive basketball at age five.

As a freshman in high school, he played for Buchtel Community Learning Center in Akron and held multiple college scholarship offers before his first high school basketball game. National website and  analysts tabbed Livingston as one of the top freshmen in the United States in 2019. At Buchtel, he scored over 600 points and averaged 24.7 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks per game. Livingston led his team to its first state final-four appearance since 1997 and became the highest-scoring freshman in school history. He was named the City Series and the Northeast Ohio Inland District Division II Player of the Year in 2019; and also received All-Ohio honors. Livingston was selected to play for the USA Basketball Men’s U16 National Team in the 2019 FIBA Americas U16 Championship in Belém, Brazil. He scored 23 points, grabbed six rebounds, and had two assists in USA’s 94-77 win over Canada in the gold medal game at the Guilherme Paraense Arena. Livingston made 10-0f-15 field goals, including 1-of-3 3-pointers, and both of his free-throw attempts in 25 minutes against Canada en route to being named MVP of the tournament.

Livingston transferred to Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio for his sophomore season. Livingston played in 25 games for WRA, which was not a member of the Ohio High School Athletic Association. He finished the season with 813 points (32.5 per game), 311 rebounds (12.4), 81 assists (3.2), 72 steals (2.9), and 34 blocks (1.4) for the Pioneers (13-16). In his season finale as a sophomore, Livingston recorded 50 points, 20 rebounds, eight steals, and five blocks in a 76–65 win over Bristol High School. As a sophomore, he averaged 32.5 points, 12.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.9 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game, earning MaxPreps Sophomore All-American first-team honors. He returned to Buchtel for his junior season.

As a junior at Buchtel, Livingston averaged 31.1 points, 15.8 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 4.7 steals and 4.3 blocks per game. Buchtel compiled an 18-5 record during the 2020-21 season and made a Division II regional final appearance. Livingston was named the Gatorade Ohio boys basketball player of the year. He also finished as runner-up for Ohio’s Mr. Basketball Award in 2021 behind St. Vincent-St. Mary’s Malaki Branham. Livingston was also a Beacon Journal boys basketball all-star team selection, the Division II Co-Player of the Year for the Northeast Inland District, as well as a first-team All-Ohio and All-Northeast Inland District selection in Division II. On August 28, 2021, Livingston announced his top four college choices, narrowing down his list to Tennessee State, Kentucky, Memphis, and Georgetown. On March 6, 2021, Livingston notched yet another major milestone, surpassing 2,000 career points as the Griffins topped Norton 76-41 in their Division II Northeast 5 District title game. The 6-foot-7 Livingston ended the game with a triple-double of 27 points (10-of-14 shooting), 10 rebounds and 10 assists. He made two 3-pointers and threw down three dunks, including a stellar fast-break, between-the-legs slam. He scored his 2,000th career point with 3:20 left to go in the first quarter, nailing a deep 3-pointer on the right wing. He needed 11 points to reach the milestone coming into the game. “It means a lot,” Livingston said. “I feel like it’s rare, people don’t really do that. It really means a lot. There’s not much else to say. It’s a big accomplishment for me. I’m really appreciative that my teammates got me the ball in all the right places and allowed me to reach this accomplishment.”

On September 3, 2021, Livingston, rated as the top recruit in the state of Ohio in the class of 2022, announced on Twitter that he and his twin brother Cordell would transfer from Buchtel High School to play their final year of high school at Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, VA).

Playing for the same prep school that sent Keldon Johnson, Doron Lamb, Rajon Rondo, Ron Mercer and others to Kentucky, Livingston averaged 17.1 points, eight rebounds and two assists per game. He shot 33.3% from 3-point range (24 for 72). He was named MVP of the 2019 FIBA Americans U16 Championship after leading Team USA to a gold medal while averaging 14.8 points and 8.0 rebounds. Livingston scored 13 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists in the McDonald’s All-American game and then led the Jordan Brand Classic with 21 points (8-16 FG, 2-5 3PT, 3-7 FT), 8 rebounds and 3 steals.

At 6-foot-7 and 210 pounds, Livingston has been billed as the best player to come from Akron, Ohio since LeBron James.

On September 15, 2021, Livingston ended years of speculation about his future when he made his official college announcement via the  SportsCenter Twitter account. He announced that he was committed to playing college basketball for Kentucky over Ohio State, Kansas, North Carolina, Memphis, LSU, Alabama, Florida, Georgetown, South Carolina, and Arizona.

As a freshman at Kentucky, Livingston was a Southeastern Conference All-Freshman Team honoree. He played in 34 games, starting 26, and averaged 6.3 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.   Livingston averaged 22.4 minutes per game and tallied seven double-figure scoring games and a pair with double-digit rebounds.  He was named SEC Freshman of the Week after averaging 12.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, and two assists per game in wins at Mississippi State and against No. 10 Tennessee.  Livingston notched first career double-double with 12 points and 10 boards in win over No. 10 Tennessee and produced his second-career double-double with 10 points and a career-high 15 boards in a win at Florida.

On April 12, 2023, Livingston declared for the NBA Draft.  With the 58th and final pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, Livingston was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks.

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College Statistics:

On This Day In UK Basketball History

On March 28, 1992, in what many called the “best NCAA Tournament game ever,” Kentucky takes defending NCAA champion Duke into overtime before losing 104-103 in the East Regional finals in Philadelphia. A last-second shot by Christian Laettner sends Duke to the Final Four, and breaks the hearts of Wildcat fans everywhere. It is Cawood Ledford’s last game as the “Voice of the Wildcats.”

 

On March 28, 1998, against Stanford, Kentucky rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit, then grabbed a 5-point overtime lead, before fending off the Cardinals to advance to the title game for the third straight season. Jeff Sheppard canned three long-range three-pointers - two in the final three minutes and one in overtime - en route to a career-high 27 points.

 

On March 28, 2014, unranked Kentucky beat No. 5 Louisville 74-69, in the 2014 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.  Aaron Harrison buried a three-pointer from the left corner with 39 seconds left that put UK ahead to stay before 41,072 in Lucas Oil Stadium.

 

On March 28, 2015, No. 1 Kentucky defeated No. 8 Notre Dame, 68-66, in the 2015 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight.  With its 37-0 record on the line, Kentucky trailed Notre Dame 59-53 with 6:14 left. UK rallied in front of 19,464 fans in Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena and preserved its perfect season thanks to a crucial blocked shot by Willie Cauley-Stein and two game-deciding free throws from Andrew Harrison in the final seconds.

 

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