NEW YORK — All young basketball players dream of their big moment.

They picture themselves in a famous arena, playing in a big game and hearing their name announced to the masses.

Tom Knight isn’t dreaming it anymore. He’s living it.

This week, during the Big East Conference tournament at Madison Square Garden — one of the world’s most recognized arenas — the former Dirigo High School standout took to the court.

“Starting for Notre Dame … Tom Knight, from Dixfield, Maine” blared from the speakers high above.

Knight was been part of the Fighting Irish’s run to the Big East semifinals, where Notre Dame lost Friday night to Louisville.

“It’s been really exciting,”  said Knight, who also confirmed that he will return next year and play for the Fighting Irish with his final year of eligibility. “Starting in the Big East is a huge accomplishment. It’s something I’ve always tried to work toward. It finally happened.”

In Notre Dame’s first game of the tournament Wednesday, Knight scored a career-high 18 points and added nine rebounds to help lead the Fighting Irish to a win over Rutgers.

“I came out for the game wanting to give energy where the team needed it,” Knight said after the game. ” If it was rebounds or scoring, that’s what I was going to try to do, and today was scoring. I’m going to try to work off of that, just hit the ground running every game.”

This week, these moments have been a long time coming for Knight, who is the all-time leading scorer at Dirigo and former Maine Mr. Basketball award recipient.

One story described Knight as having a “custodial role” in his early years with the Fighting Irish. Playing time was limited, and he was frustrated. 

“There’s definitely been times I was down,” Knight said. “I just talked to my high school coaches, my AAU coach, my parents and they just said to make the best of the opportunity you have. Even though I wasn’t playing much in basketball, I was still at a great university at Notre Dame. Things could have been worse, I guess you could say.”

Knight was redshirted his first year at Notre Dame. He averaged just 3.5 minutes as a sophomore and chipped in 1.4 points and 1.1 rebounds per game. Last year he was playing 8.9 minutes per game and averaging 2.9 points and 1.5 rebounds.

He was hoping for a larger role this season, but it didn’t start out that way. He was still seeing limited time and coming off the bench. When senior wingman Scott Martin injured his knee, the door opened for Knight.

“It’s been a lot of ups and downs this season at the beginning,” Knight said. “I wasn’t playing. We were playing pretty well and then it dropped off a little bit. That was disappointing. When Scott got hurt, that was disappointing as well, but it allowed me to play. I got really excited about that, and I’ve been playing ever since. It’s been great.”

When Knight finally earned his first start with the University of Notre Dame in January against Southern Florida, he suggested to his father, Karl Knight, that he should watch that game, making no mention of his starting role. He sent a text message to provide the time and cable channel.

The Fighting Irish senior then went out and recorded careers highs with 17 points and seven rebounds.

He’s been starting — and worth watching — ever since.

“I was hoping to contribute to the team and do whatever I could do to help them win,” Knight said. “Last year, I had a very small role on the team. I went in but I was only going to play 10 minutes a game. So I just had to supply energy.”

Knight has been giving the Irish energy this season, and a whole lot more. His 18 points and nine boards Wednesday set a new bar. His 10 points and four rebounds in the first half helped stake Notre Dame to a 14-point lead at the half in the win over Rutgers, and he followed that up with an eight-point first half against Marquette the following night as the Fighting Irish rallied from an early deficit to post another victory.

“It feels great,” Knight said. “We were all really excited to play this game. It’s tournament time. Everyone gets up for it. I definitely wanted to play with energy as much as I could. I was really up for the challenge.”

Knight is showing a new comfort level and confidence in his new role. He’s proving he’s willing to battle and compete to make things happen when he’s on the court. The 6-foot, 10-inch forward has been averaging 5.3 points and 3.6 rebounds during his string of starts.

“I think we’ve discovered some things about ourselves,” Knight said. “If our top three guys can’t score the way they usually do, we have to rely on other guys to do the same.”

Notre Dame is now 25-9 and ranked 24th in the nation, and after Louisville knocked the Irish out of the Big East tournament Friday, they will await Sunday’s selection show to find out where they will play in the upcoming NCAA Division I tournament.

kmills@sunjournal.com