Robbed of a state tournament run, Paducah's Jackson Sivills is back in Rupp Arena with Wofford

As a Kentucky Mr. Basketball finalist and the best player on the McCracken County boys’ basketball team in 2020, Jackson Sivills, like many across the state, was robbed of his last shot of playing in the Sweet 16 state tournament.

After compiling a 30-5 record en route to winning the 1st Region Championship by one point over Marshall County, Sivills and McCracken County locked up a spot to play in Rupp Arena. But a global pandemic had other plans, ending Sivills high school career (as the school’s all-time leading scorer at just under 2,000 points) before he even knew it was over.

It was supposed to be his second trip to Rupp after making it to the tournament as a sophomore a couple of years prior — a shot at redemption for the team that bowed out in the first round. Sivills recalls winning the region “and then the next day, I think, was when Rudy Gobert touched the (microphones)… and they shut everything down.”

Life has a funny way of coming full circle though. Five years after his time as a high school hooper came to an end, Sivills, who was born and raised in Paducah, KY, finds himself playing inside Rupp Arena again, this time on an even bigger stage.

“It was rough. It took me a little bit to get over it,” Sivills told KSR about COVID-19 taking away his last chance at playing in the Sweet 16. “But God works in mysterious ways, man. And I’m back here and I don’t know what this experience may tell. We might go on a little run, but regardless I’m just here to enjoy it.”

A 6-foot-6 fifth-year senior for Wofford, coached by former Wildcat Dwight Perry, Sivills and the Terriers earned a 15-seed in the NCAA Tournament after winning the Southern Conference Tournament. Wofford will take on 2-seed Tennessee in the first round in Lexington on Thursday night (6:50 p.m. ET on ESPN). Sivills, who started his college journey at Murray State for two seasons before transferring to Wofford for the last three, is fifth on the team in scoring at 9.3 points and 3.8 rebounds per outing with a 34.7 percent shooting clip from long range.

Jackson Sivills had a huge week in Asheville for Wofford, going 11-17 from 3 (64.7%) over 3 games and averaging 15.3 PPG.

20 points on 4-7 from deep in tonight’s SoCon Championship win over Furman.@JacksonSivills @Sivills5 @mid_madness https://t.co/AnnkfWRa6L pic.twitter.com/MYwzcRlQ67

— Trent Markwith (@TMarkwith14) March 11, 2025

Sivills says his entire immediate family will make the trip from western Kentucky to Lexington for today’s tournament game, along with some of his former McCracken County coaches. Although his dad played at Murray State, which turned him into a huge fan of the Racers growing up, he’s also a fan of the Wildcats. His coach played at Kentucky. His brother attended (and played basketball for) Transylvania not far down the road from UK.

“Obviously I watched every Kentucky game,” Sivills, who vividly remembers cheering on the ‘Cats and Anthony Davis in the 2012 national championship, said. “I would call myself a fan. Definitely not as much as other people in Kentucky, but for sure.”

Which means he has plenty of memories of watching Tennessee, his next opponent, play basketball, as well.

“I think my first memory of Tennessee was when Scotty Hopson was there,” Sivills added. “He’s from (University Heights Academy) in Hoptown. So I’ve watched a lot of games, I’ve watched them a lot this year as well. Great program. Looking forward to it.”

This wasn’t the path Sivills expected to take out of high school. The plan was to follow in his father’s footsteps and spend his career at Murray State. That worked out for a couple of seasons, but playing time didn’t come with it. Following a coaching change, Sivills entered his name into the transfer portal after the 2021-22 season. It was Coach Perry who quickly reached out first. After missing out on Sivills’ recruitment the first time around, he wasn’t going to strike out the second time.

“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,” Perry told reporters Wednesday. “But we saw a guy that could not only shoot the ball and was really skilled, but 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…

“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.”

In an unexpected twist, Sivills might still be able to have his Rupp Arena moment after all.