GREEN BAY (WLUK) — It’s been over 10 years since Keifer Sykes played his final collegiate game for Green Bay men’s basketball.
Prior to the Phoenix’s scrimmage against Bradley, Sykes was reminded of the memorable moments during his four years playing for Green Bay.
While standing in the center of the Kress Center next two his two children, Sykes stared up at the video board, watching a video montage of highlights and people congratulating him. People like his former head coach Brian Wardle, who watched the entire video.
Once the video finished, it was time for the big moment.
Sykes turned around, looked up and the countdown began: “3, 2, 1!”
A black drape was lifted, unveiling Syke’s No. 24 jersey hanging in the rafters.
Sykes became the sixth former Green Bay men’s basketball player to have his jersey retired, joining fellow Phoenix standouts Tony Bennett, Jeff Nordgaard, Dennis Woelffer, Tom Anderson and Ron Ripley.
“It’s very special. Feels surreal. I just feel overwhelmed with love, overwhelmed with joy,” Sykes said. “It means a lot for my family. It means a lot for the community here. I feel like I always wanted to be like a hero up here, for the youth, for the city, so to get this accomplishment, to get this moment, it means a lot to me.”
Keifer Sykes had just two division one basketball programs offer him a scholarship: Eastern Illinois and UW-Green Bay.
The Chicago native chose to play for the Phoenix, doing so from 2011 to 2015.
Sykes was Green Bay’s starting point guard the first game of his true freshman season. When his time with the Phoenix ended, he was–and still is–the program’s second all-time leading scorer behind Tony Bennett.
“The landscape of sports is harder to recruit guys straight out of high school unless you’re like a four star, a five star. I don’t know if I was even a one star, a two star,” Sykes said. “I was very young, the youngest freshman in the country at 17. I just tell them [kids] to do things to help them stand out in front of coaches, have high character, be able to communicate the little things, have the intangibles. I just tell them to put their best foot forward and then obviously be focused on their performance.” and getting better each and every day.
Sykes was announced as Green Bay men’s basketball’s general manager in August, a role that he says allows him the chance to give back to his alma mater.
“Especially now with NIL we’re recruiting, even hiring the coaches. I’ve been trying to just help see and get involved,” Sykes said. “I reached out and we had a great group here with Josh [Moon] and Chancellor Mike [Alexander]. They let me be the general manager of the team to help recruit, bring alumni together and help mentor the players. I think it’s very important right now with these players figuring out what they wanna do with being able to transfer and all the NCAA rules. I just wanna help and give back and have some influence.”
Sykes was a two-time Horizon League Player of the Year and fell one win shy of leading Green Bay to the NCAA Tournament his senior season.
There are many honors Sykes achieved during his time playing college basketball, both for Green Bay and the Horizon League. But one thing he never envisioned was having his jersey number retired.
“I feel like I always had a quiet confidence and big dreams and goals that I held to myself. I held that standard, which made me reach those goals,” Sykes said. “I feel like I visualized a lot of things, I manifested a lot of things, but this is something that was definitely unimaginable and something that I didn’t see, so it makes it feel that much better.”