INDIANAPOLIS--Cam Fuller talks with Horizon League Player of the Week Keifer Sykes. The junior guard from Chicago, Ill. has been honored as the Horizon League Player of the Week a program-record four times this season and has Green Bay off to a 12-3 (2-0 Horizon League) start.
Meet Keifer Sykes
Position: Guard
Height: 5-foot-11
Weight: 175 lbs.
Year: Junior
Hometown: Chicago, Ill.
High School: Marshall
2013-14 Season (Junior)
- Named Preseason First Team All-Horizon League.
- Garnered player of the week honors four times this season and eight times in his career.
- Averaging 19.6 points, 5.3 assists, 3.1 rebounds per game.
- Posted a career-high 32 points in a 69-66 loss vs. No. 20 Wisconsin on Nov. 16.
- Led Green Bay to win over Virginia on Dec. 7 posting 21 points, 10 assists.
2012-13 Season (Sophomore)
- Named First Team All-Horizon League.
- Voted NABC All-District 12 Second Team.
- Named Preseason Second Team All-Horizon League.
- Averaged 15.9 points, 4.3 assists per game.
- Tied his then career-high 31 points on March 9 in the Horizon League Championship semifinal at Valparaiso.
- Scored 31 points in the season-opener vs. Chicago State (Nov. 10).
- Scored 539 points on the season, a sophomore program-record.
2011-12 Season (Freshman)
- Selected to the Horizon League All-Newcomer Team.
- Averaged 11.2 points, 3.4 assists per game.
- Led the league in points, assists and assist-to-turnover ratio among freshman.
- Posted a season-best 27 points, 6 assists at UIC on Feb. 25.
You’ve collected four Horizon League Player of the Week honors through the first nine weeks of the season and Green Bay is off to a 12-3 start (2-0 Horizon League). Could you envision a better start to your junior season?
I feel like right now we’re halfway to where we want to be as a team. First of all, with the chemistry and how well everyone is doing top to bottom, I think we do a good job of trying to push each other to do well and compete within the team. As far as competition as a team we could easily say we could have won two, or maybe all three games we lost. Overall, we have to take it as it is right now but we’re happy with where we’re sitting.
Has there been a teammate that has come on as a surprise?
I’m really excited with the way our freshman are playing—Tevin Findlay, Turner Botz and I think Kenneth Lowe has been the biggest surprise of anyone. The way he has adapted to the college level so fast and the minutes he has played against big schools like Wisconsin and Virgina has been very helpful for us and will be very helpful down the stretch.
When fans watch a Green Bay game they’re often left wondering how a 5-foot-11 guard dunks with such ease. Here's your time to answer it, how do you do it?
(Laughs). I actually don’t know where it came from, probably from doing a lot of running and running stairs and calisthenics at Marshall High School. We shared the gym with our girls team so for about an hour, hour and a half every day we spent time running the hallways and running in the gym so I think that’s probably where it came from.
From your freshman season until today, where has your game progressed the most?
Probably my decision making skills and feeling guys out on the team and seeing where their spots are at. Guys like Alec Brown where he can shoot it and Greg (Mays) that can jump really high and Carrington Love who can shoot the ball, it’s just a matter of getting those guys in the right spots and getting them into the flow of the game, so I think that’s where I’ve adapted best from freshman year until now.
The last time Green Bay appeared in the NCAA Tournament was during the 1995-96 season. Is this the season the Phoenix will breakthrough and qualify for the coveted NCAA Tournament?
Well that’s the ultimate goal and we felt like we had a chance last year and went down the stretch at Valpo and it was taken away from us from that big shot by Ryan Broekhoff. I think we have to take it one game at a time because you never know with the strength of the league, anyone could finish first and anyone at the top could finish last. At this point you just have to try and win every game and don’t drop one early.
Coach Jimmie Foster tore his Achilles tendon during a rebounding drill in practice in early December. Has coach Foster caught some grief from the team?
A little bit. His main focus is we haven’t been rebounding like we did last year and that’s his emphasis with the post and the guards rebounding down, so that’s where we miss him the most—his energy and technique of getting us to rebound the basketball. As far as the standpoint as a coach he’s still been in the flow of things through text and calls and a lot of the guys go visit him so he hasn’t missed a beat.
Hailing from Chicago, Ill. and attending college in Green Bay, Wis., have you become a Green Bay Packer fan?
(Laughs). I don’t think I can comment on that right now. I’m going to leave that one up in the air.
Where is your favorite place in Green Bay to get a meal?
Overall, Lambeau Field is pretty nice. There are a few food spots in there and just being in a historic stadium is pretty cool.
In your time at Green Bay have you had a favorite professor or class you’ve taken?
I’m a communications major and my communications teacher Phil Clampitt does a good job with getting everybody in his department in a flow of things and it’s not even his classes, just him as a teacher is interesting—he’s one of the best here at Green Bay.
What’s one thing Horizon League hoops fans can expect from Green Bay this season?
We’re pretty fun to watch. Me being 5-foot-11 and being able to dunk and we have a lot of guys that can play above the rim. Then you have guys like Alec Brown who can stretch out and shoot 3s at 7-foot and then you have guys like Jordan Fouse that makes you appreciate the things that he can do rather than what he can’t do on the court as far as his instincts and his feel for the game. Then you go down to our freshman and the way they came in with confidence and the way they play together—if you go to a game it will be worth the admission.
Tags: Green Bay - Men's Basketball
