Mt. Pleasant, IA- Mount Pleasant is becoming a factory for collegiate basketball talent as Payton Hagans signed on to join the Owls of William Woods University in the fall. Hagans is currently undecided when it comes to his major but is leaning towards business.
It has been an incredible career for Hagans, who has been seeing time on the court since his freshman season. His senior season was arguably his best season as he averaged a conference best 22.8 points per game—24th in the state of Iowa—and 2.3 steals per game, which culminated in him taking home SEC Player of the Year.
Nevertheless, Hagans was also a two-time All-Conference First Team member and two-time All-State selection to go along with an All-Conference Second Team honor for his sophomore season.
He and head coach Eric Rawson helped navigate the Panthers to back-to-back winning seasons and conference titles. Hagans talked about how influential Rawson has been to his development,
“[Rawson]Has definitely helped a lot. I respect coach Rawson a lot because he’s taught me a lot. He came my freshman year, so having the same coach all four years, being able to build a relationship that helps a lot and it helps develop a player a lot.”
Fulton, Missouri is certainly getting its fair share of Mt. Pleasant influence as Hagans joins former Iowa Wesleyan head coach and current Owls’ head coach Jordan Ashton and his former guard mate in Aaiden Ashton.
Hagans also worked out often with former Tigers that transferred to William Woods, which helped him make the decision,
“Obviously, the head coach and then I know people from down there, they brought a lot of Wesleyan kids down there, so I already got relationships with them. Relationship with Aaiden as you said and then the coach. So, it’s just good relationships and it was a good environment when I went down there on the visit. So, that went into the decision a lot.”
The Owls will attempt to improve upon their 12-16 overall record last season where they experienced a ton of conference success, winning over 70% of those contests.