It's not every year that a Division I men's basketball star transfers to Division II UAA.
Last summer, Suki Wiggs decided to take his talents to UAA from Division I Idaho, where he would have been the leading returning scorer for the Vandals after averaging 11.5 points per game during the 2014-15 season.
"I felt like at U of I, one of the biggest problems I had was evolving and becoming better and just strengthening my game," Wiggs said. "I felt when I was at U of I, although it's a great, wonderful place, my game was not evolving in the way that I wanted to."
It appears he made the right move. Wiggs, a 6-foot-4 guard, leads UAA and the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in scoring with 23.7 points per game. He is UAA's leading playmaker with 4.2 assists per game and its second-leading rebounder with 7.3 per game.
Wiggs said playing fast-paced basketball and having the freedom to make his own decisions on the court are aspects he likes about UAA. He said he also wanted to get away from home but not be too far away from his friends and family in Seattle, where he went to O'Dea High School.
The chance to play right away sealed the deal for Wiggs to become a Seawolf. Because he transferred from Division I to Division II, NCAA rules didn't require that he sit out a year before hitting the court.
"The whole sitting-out-a-year thing was really bothering me, because I definitely wanted to play right away," Wiggs said.
He said UAA coach Rusty Osborne and assistant coach Cameron Turner "really had my back through it all and they were talking to me a lot and just telling me how much they wanted me as a player and how much they could make me better," he said. "That really clicked for me."
Osborne said Wiggs got a bad rap when he left Idaho, but it didn't come from his former coaches and teammates.
"When we asked about him, we heard nothing but glowing terms from their coaching staff, to their training staff, to their administrative staff, to his teammates -- and everything has been true," Osborne said. "He'll come out and he does everything we ask him to do.
"He's a good teammate, he cares about his teammates and he's a special talent for us."
Wiggs' journey to Anchorage goes back further than Moscow, Idaho. After graduating from O'Dea, he played a year at Kingdom Prep Academy in Columbus, Georgia, where he led his team to a National Association of Christian Athletes Division III national title in 2013.
Including college and high school, Wiggs has played competitive basketball in four different states and two different corners of the country.
"Just having a love for the sport of basketball could really take you anywhere and everywhere," Wiggs said. "This game is great to where you can play anywhere you want."
Wiggs isn't the only transfer to end up at UAA this season. Joining him are five junior college transfers — 6-9 forward Tayler Thompson of Cuesta College, 6-6 forward Corey Hammell of Santa Rosa Junior College, 6-4 guard Drew Peterson of San Diego Miramar College, 6-4 guard Spencer Svejcar of Laramie County Community College and 6-1 guard Diante Mitchell of Western Nebraska Community College.
Wiggs said the young team is starting to find its groove this season. UAA's 6-3 record includes a five-game winning streak that ended in the team's final game before the Shootout.
"I feel like whenever a lot of new players get together and just have to adapt to the new philosophy, it's hard at first because you're still getting used to it and used to each other,"
"But," Wiggs said, "as (the season) starts to move you start to progress. I feel like this team is really starting to progress with each other on the court."
Svejcar said the progress is evident in practice, where Wiggs can use his Division I experience to help the team.
"Obviously him playing at the level that he played at, sometimes he knows a little bit more about the game than some of us," Svejcar said. "He's just very helpful, I would say. I know he has been with me and to just about everybody — he's very helpful. Just a fun-loving kid."