JONESBORO, Ark. — Arkansas State guard Izzy Higginbottom has emerged as one of the best players in the country, but that's not too surprising to those who know her.
"I've never seen someone work as hard as she works. She's one of those players that doesn't come around too often," said Arkansas State head coach Destinee Rogers. "That's how special she is. She's gonna be your hardest worker on the floor. She's gonna be first on the floor and going to be the last to leave."
That hard work is a sentiment that Higginbottom herself agrees with.
"I think it just speaks a lot to the hard work I've put in growing up. It's never been about the results. It's never been about the accolades or the achievements," Higginbottom said. "It's just been about the love for the game and the love for the process of getting better and becoming a master at my craft."
The Batesville, Arkansas native is eighth in the country with 22.6 points per game. She also leads the Sun Belt Conference in points per game.
Higginbottom went to Batesville High School and was the 97th overall recruit nationally. She led the Pioneers to a state title in 2019.
After graduating in 2021, she started her collegiate career at Mizzou but ended up transferring to Arkansas State for her sophomore year.
Being back home in the Natural State is something that Higginbottom said means a lot to her.
"I'm an Arkansas kid so being back home in Arkansas means a lot for me," Higginbottom said. "I also have a close connection to Coach [Rogers] as I played with her sister so that family is really like a second family to me. So that influenced my decision a lot and I'm blessed to be here."
Despite all the honors she's earned, Higginbottom said above all that she just wants her team to do well.
"We're focused on taking it one game at a time and finishing out our regular season. We know we want to be the conference tournament champions," Higginbottom said.
It's that team-first mentality and mental toughness that Coach Rogers said makes Higginbottom such a special player.
"Izzy played last week with the broken finger and she's still playing through that right now. So that lets you know the level of toughness that she has," Coach Rogers said. "We had available 80 minutes last week and she played 77 minutes with a broken finger and she's doing whatever her team needs of her."
Up next the Red Wolves will host Troy on Wednesday.
