Student Athlete of the Week Archer Buckbee

With a quick draw and release, Archer Buckbee has been hitting his mark often this season for the Niwot High School boys basketball team.

Through Jan. 24, the fearless shooter leads the Cougars with 16 made 3-pointers, including four in one game, as a valuable threat off the bench. Buckbee shared that his confidence stems from the support he has around him.

"All my teammates trust me that I can make the shots and my coaches have been encouraging me to shoot a lot, so that's been really helpful," the junior guard said.

However, like many other NHS student-athletes this winter, Buckbee has battled illnesses that have kept him off the court. In addition, Niwot is 4-11 (through Jan. 29) with only eight regular season games remaining, leading Buckbee to describe his junior year as "up and down."

Despite Niwot's recent struggles, Buckbee remains confident that the Cougars are capable of playing better basketball down the stretch.

"On the team level, it's been a little bit disappointing because I feel like we're a lot better than our record shows," Buckbee said. "We've lost some hard games and haven't been showing what we need to do."

Buckbee's best shooting performance of the season came at Roosevelt High School on Dec. 5. While Niwot lost the game, 48-40, Buckbee went 4-for-6 from beyond the arc and also pulled down a season-high three rebounds.

"I honestly wasn't really thinking," Buckbee said of his performance. "I was just shooting confident, sprinting off screens, looking for the ball. It was a fun game for sure."

More recently, Buckbee drilled three 3-pointers in back-to-back games against Northridge on Jan. 20 and Mountain View on Jan. 22. He then followed that up with two made 3s vs. Roosevelt on Jan. 24.

"When I hit one, I normally hit a few more," Buckbee said. "It just gives me the confidence to keep shooting and [yields] energy on defense, too. It's just a great feeling."

Buckbee's focus on the court goes well beyond his 3-point shooting, though. As someone who typically comes off the bench, he aims to be a "spark plug guy" who plays physical defense. Buckbee has also worked hard to take better care of the basketball. After averaging 3.2 turnovers per game in December, he committed only seven total turnovers in Niwot's first five games of January - an average of 1.4 per contest.

"I've always been looked at as more of a high-turnover guy on Niwot, and I feel like I've been doing a better job taking care of the ball recently," Buckbee said.

With the regular season entering its final stretch, Buckbee's newest goal is to ensure that his senior teammates enjoy their final high school games.

"I just want to make sure our seniors, Brighton (Langenegger) and Jackson (Carano), get all their opportunities because I know Brighton wants to play in college," Buckbee said. "I also want to just go out and win some games."