Bad Hadraulic Lifters, Maybe?

LOL Im sorry. That was kinda mean. All Im saying is if the engine is really knocking then you have a big problem. Your human, and mistakes happen. I once put an engine together and forgot to tighten the oil pump bolts. It had very little oil pressure and wiped the rod/main bearings out in less than a minute.

First thing I would check is the oil pump drive and see if the hex got broken off. This is fairly common, I have seen it many times. If that is good, get a priming rod and try to pump the oil with a drill and see if you get any pressure or resistance while turning the pump with said drill. If you dont get any oil pressure you are pulling it back out and taking the pan off to investigate what went wrong.

You have to pull the timing chain off to spin it with a drill right?