Road Warriors: Through 24-game season unlike any other, Tigers’ basketball program reaches under head coach Paul Peterson
MOUNT PLEASANT, Sanpete County (March 16, 2021) — Wasatch Academy wrapped up the 2020-21 season with an 18-6 record against arguably the most challenging schedules in program history, wins over top-five opponents, and two national tournaments that helped establish the Tigers as a national power for years to come.
Simply getting to the end of a 24-game schedule proved to be a challenge — let alone excelling in it.
Following the early cancellation of the 2019-20 basketball season and GEICO Nationals due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the players and coaches from No. 2 Wasatch Academy were heartbroken at the unceremonious end of one of the school’s top classes. The group that included five Division I prospects as starters, led by Michigan State center Mady Sissoko, didn’t get a chance to finish their senior seasons like they wanted.
So the Tigers vowed not to let that happen again. That work began as soon as the season ended, from setting up a campus “bubble” to keep virus cases outside of the program to establishing a new roster and putting together a schedule that included some of the best teams in Utah and the United States.
And it started as soon as the ink was dry on last year’s season cancellation. “We adopted the philosophy of playing anyone, anywhere when we started this program,” Wasatch Academy Director of Basketball Ty Kennedy said. “We took that to another level this year. The kids and the coaching staff deserve a tremendous amount of credit.”
The Tigers didn’t just survive the 2020-21 season, though; they thrived. With four double-digit scorers, four more Division I commits, and a team that averaged 77.0 points per game, Wasatch Academy embarked on a national adventure unlike any it has ever seen. The Tigers went on to play 14 games against top-50 schools nationally, eight against the top 25, three against the top 10, and four games against teams ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 in the country.
“What we did this year, as a whole, we accomplished a lot through a lot of hard times,” first-year head coach Paul Peterson said.
“What we thought it would be and would end up being was completely different — as late as mid-December. It took a lot of dialogue to get to where we got it, and it was successful.”
The season started with a long off-season.
Getting to the season
Peterson went to work quickly. The longtime Tigers associate head coach and skills trainer for the likes of Mario Chalmers, Frank Jackson, and others, Peterson’s first season at the head of the 12th-ranked Tigers started with the need to fill some holes.
Peterson knew he had plenty of talent returning, including five-star point guard Richard “Pop” Isaacs (6’3”, 175 lbs), BYU-bound forward Fousseyni Traore (6’7”, 235 lbs), and sixth-man extraordinaire Brennan Rigsby (6’3”, 165 lbs). Alongside assistant coaches Anson Winder and Quinn Nielson, Peterson pulled some fresh blood to join his team. Nolan Hickman joined the squad from Eastside Catholic in Sammamish, Washington, a 6-foot-3, 185-pound shooter and defensive hustler who went on to sign with Kentucky.
Hickman was, in many ways, a building block for the team to continue its success of the previous year that finished with the No. 2 national ranking. “Nolan’s recruitment was a complete team effort,” Peterson said. “Everyone had a hand in it, and it worked out great.”
But he wasn’t alone. Houston signee Robbie Armbrester also joined the squad, a 6-foot-6, 205-pound wing forward from Therrell High School in Atlanta, as well as Casey Jones, a 6-6, 205-pound power forward who played previously at Eastlake in Sammamish, Washington, and Mater Dei in Santa Ana, California who has committed to Eastern Washington.
The Tigers later added Roddy Gayle around Christmas time, a 6-foot-5, 200-pound junior who had previously committed to Ohio State during his time at Lewiston Porter Senior in Youngstown, New York. The four-star prospect was the No. 54 overall player in the Class of 2022, No. 7 shooting guard, and top-rated recruit in the state of New York when he made the cross-country trek to rural Sanpete County.
The Tigers replaced five outbound Division I starters with four more and still brought back Isaacs, Traore, Rigsby, 6-9 center Keba Keita and 6-8 junior Matus Hronsky, among others.
“I thought it was really important to let these guys know their roles when they got here, and they did a great job of filling their responsibilities,” Peterson said.
Hickman led the team in scoring with 16.0 points, 3.3 assists and 2.5 rebounds per game.
Armbrester was the four-man and defensive intimidator that averaged 8.1 points and 2.4 rebounds per game, but also acting as a throwback player not unlike an enforcer in hockey.
Nobody messed with Hickman, and nobody messed with the Tigers, or they got him.
In addition to running the point, Isaacs played more on the ball and emerged as a scoring threat, averaging 14.1 points and 2.4 assists per game. Traore was a beast in the middle, scoring 13.9 points and grabbing a team-high 5.7 rebounds per game. Gayle joined the team late but averaged 11.0 points and 3.8 rebounds, just ahead of sixth-man Rigsby’s 9.6 points.
Even the reserves found their role.
“The emergence of Keiba lately as the Dikembe Mutombo of high school basketball was huge,” Peterson said. “Brennan emerged as the spark off the bench that we needed and became our most efficient player.”
