Photo by Joe Fusco, d3photography.com

Guard - Nate West
LeTourneau University
2016 - 2020

All-American selections: 2020 (Player of the Year)

All-Region selections: 2018 (1st), 2019 (1st), 2020 (Player of the Year)

Conference MVPs: 2018, 2020

Other honors: 2020 NABC Player of the Year

NCAA Tournament appearances: 2018 (second round), 2020 (first round)

From the archives

• West leads LETU to NCAA Tourney and ASC title (February 2020)
• West scores 67 in victory over Belhaven (February 2020)
• LETU wins fifth straight behind West's double-double (December 2019)
• Senior season highlight reel (YouTube)

What others say: "Nate West never missed a practice or game with injury and was pound for pound the toughest player each day. His love for the game was amazing as he would be in the gym practicing early every morning when nobody else was in the building. He always rose to the occasion in the biggest games and finished his amazing senior season dropping 67 on his senior night, breaking the scoring record in the ASC Tournament and almost brining us all the way back against Whitworth with 51 points. Most important about Nate is he is an incredible young man who treats everybody great." – Dan Miller, LeTourneau head coach

In their own words: "I think my college career surpassed any of the goals and expectations I had for myself. I am very thankful for Coach Miller and all the other coaches as well at LeTourneau. Also, I am thankful for LeTourneau University for the opportunity I was given."

Where are they now: Working out and hoping to extend his basketball career as a pro.

Career synopsis: That Nate West was only a one-time D3hoops.com All-American says more about the difficulties of playing in the relative isolation of Texas than his abilities as a player. He averaged 14 points per game as a freshman and improved every season, making a real leap as a junior, when he started playing as many minutes as he could handle, and leaping into the stratosphere in the final weeks of his career – scoring 114 points in his last two regular season games, averaging upwards of 30 points per game en route to winning the ASC tournament title and breaking all kinds of records. Those 67 points on senior night are the eighth highest single-game total ever, and the most by a non-Grinnell player against NCAA competition. And although he did not make our 2019 All-America team, he was in the conversation until the very end.

West's stature (5-10) led to him sneaking up on people, but with a tireless work ethic and continued improvement, he was no secret by his senior year. Still, his exploits were legendary and his talent had to be seen to be believed. West played so many minutes in February 2020 for LeTourneau that it made one wonder whether he was worn out or hurt when he scored just 23 and shot 7-for-23 in the ASC semifinals against Sul Ross State this past Feb. 28. But he bounced back the following day with 36 against East Texas Baptist in an 82-79 win in the conference final. All in all, West played 10 games in that month, and played all but 11 minutes in those games. Whitworth then got a first hand lesson in the first round of the 2020 NCAA Tournament, where West scored 51, including the final 22 points for LeTourneau, reducing a 10-point Whitworth lead to zero in the final 50 seconds of play only to lose on a buzzer beater. Whitworth coach Damion Jablonksi called it the finest individual performance he'd ever seen. West took a blowout loss and turned it into a near miracle out of sheer force of will and pure talent.

West finished his career with 2,393 points, 667 rebounds, and 534 assists.