Long before senior Keith Higgins was an all-conference guard on the Lehigh men’s basketball team, his toughest competition was at home.
At 16, Keith Higgins got regular minutes at Chaminade High School, one of the top preparatory schools in Los Angeles. By the end of his sophomore season, Division I programs across the country developed an interest in the then 6-foot-1 shooting guard.
Despite this, he still couldn’t beat his sister.
At the time, Valerie Higgins, four years older, was blossoming into a star guard at the University of the Pacific. She was eventually drafted in the third round of the 2021 WNBA Draft to the New York Liberty, and she now coaches the women’s basketball team at her alma mater.
Keith Higgins said he knew a challenge awaited every time he played her.
“She’s an incredible defender,” Keith Higgins said. “All the moves I’d probably use on anyone else wouldn’t work. I just had to try to be creative and try to add more fakes in there.”
Their backyard playing surface was a confined space. Keith Higgins said he could barely get an open shot without his sister standing in his way.
Watching closely was their dad, Keith Higgins Sr., who works as the head men’s basketball coach at Moorpark College.
Valerie Higgins often won in the backyard growing up, but Keith Higgins Sr. said he always knew his son would be a late bloomer.
“He was seeing what his sister was doing at such a high level, and he learned from that,” Keith Higgins Sr. said.
Keith Higgins grew to 6-foot-3 during his junior year of high school, and interest from colleges quickly intensified. He had eight Division I offers, including some from programs he had family ties to.
Both of his parents played at California State University, Northridge, one of the first schools to jump on Keith Higgins’ recruitment.
Having already seen Valerie Higgins’ success on their women’s team, Pacific also jumped in the race.
Valerie Higgins, having transferred to Pacific from the University of Southern California after one year, offered herself as a resource to Keith Higgins as he searched for the ideal school.
“I knew what I liked and didn’t like about the college experience,” Valerie Higgins said. “I always just preached to him that it’s always about the people.”
Recruiting conversations intensified in the spring of 2020. Keith Higgins said he couldn’t physically check out schools, and the onset of COVID-19 put an end to all official visits.
He instead had to rely on phone calls.
“It was challenging to build meaningful relationships with staff and players,” Keith Higgins said. “Reaching out and seeing what the culture was, that ultimately helped my decision.”
By the time Lehigh coach Brett Reed first reached out to Keith Higgins, he had already received most of his offers.
Enticed by his scoring ability and background, Reed said he talked at length to Keith Higgins about what he valued to be a key incentive about playing for Lehigh: the academics.
“Even for a kid who’s coming from the other side of the country, they’re willing to fly over a whole bunch of other schools,” Reed said. “This is a destination type of place that changes futures.”
It was not until July 2020 when Reed pulled the trigger on offering Keith Higgins. Impressed with what he heard, Keith Higgins committed to Lehigh just nine days later.
“(Lehigh) is just a family culture,” Keith Higgins said. “My teammates, they are my teammates, but they’re really brothers, and it goes beyond basketball.”
While Valerie Higgins stayed in their home state, Keith Higgins got ready to move across the country. It was a decision she said she fully supported.
Valerie Higgins’ decision to stay in-state at USC and Pacific was in part due to her desire to watch Keith Higgins’ high school games, pick him up from school and be a presence in his life.
That said, Valerie Higgins wanted the best for her brother and said she believed he could find that at Lehigh.
Packing up his bags, Keith Higgins moved east.
Once he arrived, he learned from his teammates. He said players like Evan Taylor, ‘23, and Jeameril Wilson, ‘22, helped him adjust during summer practices, which was his first time stepping on Lehigh’s campus.
What the recruitment highlight reels didn’t show Reed was Keith Higgins’ stoic, level-headed and sometimes even quiet demeanor.
It wasn’t until Keith Higgins arrived at Lehigh that Reed said he realized he had a player who had unique leadership qualities.
“He has a smoldering competitiveness,” Reed said. “He might not be the guy who’s going ‘rah-rah’ all the time or be as expressive, but when you look into his eyes, you know he’s ready to compete.”
Keith Higgins was moved to point guard to start his freshman year. Even in a new spot on the court, he performed immediately.
Unleashed for a stretch of nine double-digit games in December 2021 and January 2022, his scoring touch landed him a spot on the Patriot League’s all-rookie team.
Keith Higgins said this was mostly thanks to his signature shot, the elbow jumper.
Shooting from the elbow, the ball doesn’t leave his hands until after he elevates more than a foot off the ground. His vertical and release point combine to give him a shot that can clear taller defenders effortlessly.
It’s a shot that’s gone mostly out of style.
According to stats from the NBA’s website, in the 2007-2008 season, the average NBA team attempted over 25 mid-range shots per game. Now, most don’t clear the single digits. Lower percentage than a layup but less points than a 3-pointer, many teams avoid it altogether.
In his backyard, Keith Higgins said, he couldn’t run around his sister’s defense, but his high-arching jumper allowed him to shoot over her.
“In between my sophomore and junior seasons of high school, it just became natural to me,” Keith Higgins said. “Analysts like to say it’s not a really good shot, but for me it’s very good.”
However, as Keith Higgins rose up the scouting reports and opponents prepared to see that move, he said getting to the elbow got harder.
In response, he found other ways to score.
Attempting more 3-pointers in his junior year allowed him to space out defenses. By January, he was leading the Patriot League in points per game. ESPN had him in the running for conference Player of the Year.
In a January 2024 game against Loyola-Maryland, Lehigh was fighting for their first conference road win of the year.
Two minutes into the game, Keith Higgins received a pass just a couple feet behind his signature spot on the elbow. A defender quickly closed down. He looked backward to pass to a teammate. As he turned around, he fell to the ground in pain, grabbing his right leg.
Keith Higgins sprained his achilles. The injury left him out for seven games as Lehigh plummeted to the bottom of the league’s standings.
“Sitting on the bench was a challenge for me,” Keith Higgins said. “During that time I was injured, I had to focus on my leadership role and making sure guys were prepared.”
A game away from last place, Lehigh took on Army Feb. 7, 2024. Keith Higgins said he told his coaches he wanted to play as he shot around with the team pregame, but Reed wouldn’t budge.
“It’s really tough for any athlete to deal with an injury that has them out for that amount of time,” Reed said. “As a coach, you want to make sure you preserve and never put anybody at risk to injure themselves further.”
Without Keith Higgins, Lehigh lost again. But in the next game, Keith Higgins got his chance to return.
Despite having a minutes restriction, Keith Higgins came off the bench during a double overtime game against rivals Lafayette.
He scored 14 points as Lehigh came back from down 21 to win 94-90.
Jumping into a crowd of fans who ran on the court after the game, Keith Higgins was back.
“I think Stabler (Arena) was just terrific,” Keith Higgins said. “It was just the showing that we had from the community, the students. There was a lot of energy in there.”
Lehigh won seven of their next nine games after his return, including two tournament games against Lafayette and Boston University. The only game remaining was the championship game against the three-time reigning champions, Colgate.
For Valerie Higgins, the two days prior to the game was a long 48 hours.
She said after Pacific lost their West Coast Conference semi-final game, she boarded a five-hour flight from Las Vegas to Syracuse, New York to meet up with her mom and dad.
Pacific accepted an invite to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament, so she had to be back in California the next day. But Valerie Higgins said a cross-country flight wouldn’t get in the way of being there to support her brother.
Lehigh lost 74-55 in the championship game. Keith Higgins had a rough night from the field, only shooting 3 for 11.
“I obviously wasn’t satisfied with the result,” Keith Higgins said. “But I’m proud of the season that our guys had and how we started clicking at the right times.”
After his junior season was nearly derailed by injury, Keith Higgins said he shot around on his own in Taylor Gym, practicing shots from the elbow, under the basket and the 3-point range.
The practice paid off, as Keith Higgins became an even deadlier threat from beyond the arc. In 12 appearances in the 2025 season, Keith Higgins increased his points per game total to 17.9 and is shooting 43% from beyond the arc.
What was shaping out to be a career season was cut short. Keith Higgins suffered another injury and was ruled out for the season. His last appearance was against Bucknell on Jan. 2.
Despite the adversity, Reed said he expects big things from Keith Higgins as a leader, especially from what he showed the previous year.
“Keith by nature is a little bit more of a quiet guy,” Reed said. “I felt like (last season), he felt empowered. He felt prepared to be able to guide and lead the team.”
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