For Isiah Umipig, his focus on basketball started in high school and he started to get offers to attend college and pursue his passion for basketball during his sophomore year. College became a serious option “when they started offering to pay for it,” he remembers with a laugh.
Fast forward five years and the Federal Way native decided to return to his home state after playing his first two seasons at Cal State Fullerton.
“I wanted to come home and play in front of my friends and family. Coach Dollar was a big reason too.”
Never regretting his decision, the move certainly paid off at the end of his senior season as the team advanced to the Western Athletic Conference title game and found a place in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI), the program’s first Division I postseason tournament berth since decades before Umipig and his teammates were born – March 1969.
“Going into the WAC tournament, I knew it was my last one so I just wanted to leave everything on the court. I really played that way, just played from the heart through the whole [postseason]. We came up a little bit short but at the end of the day, I can say I tried my hardest and left it all out there.”
Falling just short of the CBI title game, the Redhawks created significant buzz along the way. As their home, KeyArena, played host to the NCAA Tournament, it was decided the first two games would be held at the Connolly Center on campus just prior to the gym’s reconstruction project during summer 2015.
First up for the Redhawks – Pepperdine University on March 18. Umipig hit five three’s for 24 total points while Jarell Flora also surpassed the 20 point mark and SU cruised to a 62-45 win.
Surmounting a formidable West Coast Conference opponent in the Waves, the Redhawks turned their sights to Colorado. A Pac-12 postseason showdown to take place at the Connolly Center, a first.
“Our whole goal in the tournament was to compete and we were really determined to win,” Umipig remembers.
Colorado led by as many as seven two different times in the first half in front of a packed house on March 23. The Redhawks cut it to three at halftime but the Buffaloes increased their lead nearly to double digits early in the second half as the story started to go as many outside spectators might’ve thought.
“I think it was really good for our program and when we played at the Connolly Center, there was just something about having everyone there, the intensity, it was big time. It’s one of the experiences I’ll always remember – playing the Pac-12 at the Connolly Center and beating them. It was fun, I wish I could relive it.”
But Seattle U responded with a 12-6 run to take a one-point lead just under the seven minute mark and took the lead for what would prove to be for good with five and a half minutes until the buzzer, leading by as many as 11 down the stretch en route to a 72-65 win.
Umipig never let up, even when some might’ve felt certain the win was imminent.
“I was just in the moment,” he remembers, “because it was kind of close even at the end. When it got under about seven seconds, I felt a little more comfortable.”
The remarkable milestone is not lost on Umipig.
“I feel like we’ve gotten really close to being Washington a couple years, but we’ve just let it slip up right at the end and we couldn’t come back all the way. So it felt really good to have that kind of win under my belt against a great conference before I graduated.”
Setting the top two marks in Seattle U’s single season three point records, Umipig also finished second in the program’s career three-pointer list in just two years with the Redhawks. No wonder he was named one of two Bill Fenton Male Athletes of the Year.
“It’s just an honor and at the same time, it feels good to have all my hard work that I’ve put in over the years be seen and recognized among my peers. It pays tribute to all the extra time I’ve put in the gym, studying film, and all that. It’s a bunch of things that go into it that people don’t really see so it feels good that I finally get recognition for that.”
At Seattle U, he’s learned the importance of “using all your resources. There are a lot of people here to help you, so just take advantage of that. And just enjoy life because it goes so fast. It’s gone by so much faster than I would’ve originally thought when I got here.”
Umipig recently signed with an agent and plans to play professionally as long as he can before hopefully going into coaching.
“It was funny, the other day I was talking to someone and they’re like ‘You’re probably going to be in basketball your whole life.’ And I don’t know why not, I love it.”
Through the rest of his life, the memories made with teammates on and off the court will be the biggest takeaway from his collegiate career.
“I have a ton of memories that I’ll always remember, that I shared with my teammates and times I’ve spent with them that I’m just thankful for. There’s nothing like being on a team and hanging out with your teammates. I’m always going to remember that.”