Traivar Jackson
He isn’t a miner, but Pima Community College men’s basketball head coach Brian Peabody of Arizona has struck gold in Alaska.
Twice.
In 2018, Jeremiah Bailey of Fairbanks helped Pima reach the NJCAA Division II national title game and Bailey was named to the all-tournament team.
This year, Traivar Jackson of Anchorage was named Second Team NJCAA Division II All-American, the sixth player under Peabody to earn All-American honors.
The Pima Pipeline flows from Alaska to Arizona.
“Tucson is a huge basketball town,” Jackson said. “I would just be out and people would ask me if I played and where because of my height. Also, my people back home who like or show love to my posts or other posts about me.”
There was plenty of reason to get excited about the 6-foot-7 Jackson, who went from Second Team All-State in Alaska to Second Team All-American in the NJCAA.
“This happened because all the people who helped me and encouraged me to keep going,” Jackson said. “It really helped me push through the year and accomplish these things.”
The former West High star posted 14 double-doubles in 30 games and averaged 19.9 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.8 steals and 2.8 blocks per game.
“A season like this hopefully would be seen by coaches and just get me exposure,” Jackson said.
The everyday starter for the Aztecs and reached double figures in scoring in 29 of the 30 games. He also shot 63.1 percent from the field.
Pima (17-13) made the NJCAA Region I, Division II playoffs but fell at Scottsdale Community College in the semifinals.
He plans to return to Pima for his sophomore season.
“It feels great to be an All-American for my freshmen year but I wish I could have got First Team,” Jackson said. “That just means more fuel for me.”
Check out these four fabulous scoring games Jackson put up between Jan. 15 and Feb. 12:
Points / FGs
32 / 13-18
33 / 14-17
37 / 16-22
36 / 15-23
“The most I improved to me would be my confidence and my touch around the rim,” Jackson said. “Confidence is really the most important thing in basketball, but I still have to get more confident.”
He also had 17 rebounds in a game. And eight blocked shots in another.
Coming out of high school, Jackson was being recruited by four schools – Pima, Eastern Arizona, UAA and UAF.
“My view of JCs while I was a senior were that JCs are where people go to get to the NCAA Division I level,” he said. “I thought that JC schools had a bunch of kids who all wanted to go to the next level very badly and that’s where all the competition be at.”