by turning the starter with the fuel pump disconnected. Also, it would have been a good idea to fill up the oil filter with oil before you put it on. I've heard of people using a shop vac at the filter location to circulate oil through the engine. There's probably some other priming techniques that I'm not thinking of.
But I don't really know if lack of priming is related to your knock. Hopefully someone with some more knowledge will chime in.