Big West Basketball: Ranking of 25 best players from last decade (2013-23)

13. Elijah Pepper

A full-time starter for the last four seasons, Pepper is a 6’4 guard from Selah, Washington who traveled down the coast to star at UC Davis. He began with the Aggies back in 2019 and has had a significant role in the program ever since, starting all but two of the 105 games he’s played to this point in his career.

It’s no shock that Pepper’s production has increased as he’s gotten more experienced, but he’s turned into a major factor in the Big West. He had decent numbers as a freshman but was already averaging 14.7 points a game as a sophomore. After comparable production the following season, he really emerged this past season. Pepper averaged 22.5 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, including a multitude of 30-point efforts for the Aggies.

Pepper was the conference’s top scorer as a senior and actually earned All-Big West honors for three straight seasons, finally getting on the First Team this year. He was among the conference’s leaders in steals in all four seasons and has had a major role in UC Davis’s recent success. What’s even better is that Pepper will be back next season for a fifth and final collegiate season, hopeful to put an even brighter bow on his college career before all is said and done.