Recruiting Report: Peyton Riggs (2018)
Peyton Riggs is a six foot guard from Sioux Falls Roosevelt that has one more year to go as the Rough Rider ball handler.
To prepare for his final season Peyton played with the talented South Dakota Attack team that had players from South Dakota and Iowa.
“I think I grew the most with the Force in learning different roles and how to excel in different positions,” Riggs said. “Normally I’m just a point guard but this summer I had to play 1-4 sometimes and I think that made me a more versatile player.
“Playing with the South Dakota Attack and utilizing their partnership with Warwick Workouts really benefitted with that.
“The experiences that I’ll take away were the friendships I made playing with this team. From the first practice we all meshed extremely well and being able to play together and trust each other from the get go was really cool to experience.
“Also playing teams like “Team Rush” was really cool not only because of the talent level they are at but the coaches that were watching those player.”
Peyton grew but also learned about himself. Playing at the 17u level shows a player where he excels plus where he needs to improve.
“The most important aspects of my game I feel like I want to improve on are becoming a more consistent outside shooter and being able to control the pace of the game,” Riggs said.
“I feel like I’m streaky at times and need to be more consistent behind the arc. And as a point guard I’ve always had a good feel for the game, but this year I want to be able to play fast, but under control.”
When it comes to the high level of AAU play as well as the solid schedule that the Attack has for it’s team, Peyton learned about how to beat a talented player in the chess match that is each individual match-up.
“The biggest challenge the AAU level gave me was adjusting to the ball pressure,” Riggs said. “In high school the ball pressure isn’t always full court and the guys aren’t always as quick. In AAU certain moves don’t work.
“I learned to perfect one move and then have a backup if that doesn’t work. Being able to apply this to my high school game has made harder to guard and more comfortable with having tight ball pressure.”
The six foot, 165 pound Riggs has one scholarship offer to play at the next level but several schools are calling him.
“My dream since I was younger has been to play college basketball. Right now the options I’ve been looking at are Mount Marty, University of Sioux Falls, and most of the other NAIA schools that are close to Sioux Falls (Dakota State, Northwestern, Briar Cliff).
“Right now Mount Marty is my only offer I hold. I’m very interested in Mount Marty and also USF. Other schools that have my attention are the local NAIA schools such as DSU, Northwestern, and DWU.”
As a senior Peyton wants to excel on the court and in the classroom.
“In the next year my biggest goal is to win a state title but the other goals I’ve set for myself are to play in the state tournament, achieve academic all state, and to commit somewhere to play college basketball.” Peyton said.
The Rough Riders had a tough 2016-17 but they should be better this winter.
“After a challenging season last year our whole team worked really hard this summer and we feel like our group has meshed well,” Riggs said of his Roosevelt squad.
“We have a very comfortable feeling of playing with each other and everyone is really unselfish. Our outlook this year is to prove some people wrong about what happened last year and to show that this is a whole different team with a different identity.”