Jackson Sivills scored over Duke freshman sensation Cooper Flagg in a game earlier this season. (Wofford Athletics Photo)
Tonight is going to be a true “full-circle moment” for former McCracken County standout Jackson Sivills.
He is still the all-time leading scorer (1.998 points) and rebounder (871) at McCracken after averaging 21.4 points and 7.9 rebounds per game during his senior season in 2019-20 that was cut short by COVID before McCracken could play in the state tourney.
Tonight Sivills will be playing in Rupp Arena when Wofford takes on Tennessee.
“It’s pretty cool. My family is going to be able to come up, obviously more people from Paducah, my high school coaches, which is very special to me,” Sivills said Wednesday. “I think it’s just crazy. Full-circle moment. It took me a little while to get over not being able to finish my senior year of high school.
“But it’s crazy how life works in mysterious ways, and now I’m back. I’m just blessed to be here and it’s a dream come true and a blessing for sure.”
Sivills went to Murray State — where his father, McCracken girls coach Scott Sivills — for two years before transferring to Wofford, one of his original finalists.
“Coach (Dwight) Perry was the one who recruited me initially. So I always had that relationship with him. There are a lot of qualities about Wofford that align with me,” the fifth-year Wofford player said. “I think tradition, obviously they had built up a very, very good program before I got there. The school is amazing.
“But overall just the community and how they treat you. Everyone there is connected with each other toward the same goal. You feel like when you are on campus, everybody is there for a reason, as cliche as that may sound.
“I just fell in love with it. I knew once I went in the portal and I got on the phone with coach Perry, they wanted me. It was a done deal from that moment. I just knew what was there, and I was excited to get on board. And now you see where we are, so it paid off.”
Sivills has averaged 9.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 21.7n minutes per game this season for Wofford, a No. 15 seed. He had 20 points, four rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal in the conference tourney championship game “
Perry, a former walk-on player at Kentucky, recalled talking to Sivills a “decent amount” in his first recruitment.
“Out of high school we thought it was going to be tough with Murray State playing at home and his dad playing at Murray State and the family ties there, but we saw a guy that could not only shoot the ball and was really skilled,” Perry said. “We noticed a guy that was committed to winning and was tough and hard-nosed and had a lot of attributes that have made a lot of really good players at Wofford successful.
“Just like in recruiting a lot of times, it didn’t work out the first time around, completely understood it. I think after his experience there, after a couple years, he wanted something different. He wanted to look at a different place and we had the opportunity for that.”
Perry said the “second time around was really simple” because of prior relationships that had been established.
“We had built a relationship with him already. He knew the style of play. He knew what we were about. For lack of a better term, he knew the strengths and the weaknesses,” the Wofford coach said.
“So the second time around was, ‘Hey, what are you looking for? Coach, this is what I’m looking for.’ You already know in your mind if we check those boxes or not. You want a family atmosphere. You want to be in a place where you’re going to be pushed in a healthy way. You want to go somewhere where they value skill and toughness.
“So the second time around was really quick. Didn’t even visit, didn’t really need to, he and his family. Even though it didn’t work out the first time, that was one of the better official visits I’ve been a part of, not just with a player, but with a mom and dad ingratiating themselves and being part of the family.
“And even though it didn’t work out the first time, I think it’s cool because it ended up working out probably exactly when it was supposed to.”
