Pepper's impact has Senators hottest ticket in town

Coach Andrew Cooper knew to expect big things from Perth Wildcats guard Elijah Pepper in the NBL1 West, but his impact is going on beyond the 49.8 points he's averaging making the Warwick Senators the hottest ticket in town.

Cooper always knew the sort of impact Pepper could have coming in to join the Senators for the 2025 season even if he didn't quite imagine three 50-point outbursts already to be averaging 49.8 points in their first four wins to open the campaign.

However, it's about a lot more than just the spectacular performances of one man and what he is doing is creating a tremendous buzz not only about the Senators this season, but the NBL1 West season as a whole.

That has seen packed houses for the home games at Warwick Stadium with over 1000 people filling the stands while there was more than 2000 people for the Easter Thursday Battle of Joondalup with the Joondalup Wolves at Arena Joondalup.

It goes beyond that too with Cooper now having taken leave from his job with WA Police to work full-time with the Senators and he is seeing the excitement for all the youngsters in the community to get to see Pepper and his Senators teammates beyond game day.

"They're an exciting group and adding Mitch in now just adds a different element to what we can do, but the effect that the team is having with the whole club and community and people coming to watch is the most exciting part," Cooper said.

"Obviously with Pepper's performances he is drawing crowds across the league now and our home games have been packed, and it's great. That's probably the most exciting thing and yes, it's great to coach this team and to be winning the games like we have been.

"But seeing what it's doing for our club and getting all these people in and the kids coming just to watch Pepper, or to attend programs and clinics to be around Pepper and Todd, and now Mitch as well. The excitement goes beyond just winning the games on the court."

Scintillating Pepper form

What Pepper has done over the first four games of the NBL1 West season in wins for the Senators against the Lakeside Lightning, Rockingham Flames, Joondalup Wolves and Perth Redbacks has been simply phenomenal.

Over four games he is now averaging 49.8 points, 6.5 assists and 6.3 rebounds while shooting at 54 per cent from the field, 45 per cent three-point range and he's also going at 89 per cent at the foul line on almost 12 free-throw attempts a game.

It has Pepper as the hottest player in the country but for Cooper it's about more than just what the numbers are that he's putting up.

"Offensively he's next level, there's no doubt about that and I certainly don't want to play down what he's achieving as a scorer, but the other things he brings is also just as important," Cooper said.

"That's things like the competitiveness at training that lifts everyone else around him and also the ability to absorb pressure and things like that.

"I haven’t seen many players able to do that at this level before, but in fairness to the rest of the group they are helping him get to where he is as well and that's probably the best encouraging thing from our perspective anyway."

Cooper isn't surprised that Pepper has been able to deliver 50-point performances in the NBL1, but he perhaps didn’t expect three of his first four games all to see him reach that barrier including a best of 51 against Rockingham in what was a spectacular 134-109 win.

"I would say he has surprised me to a certain extent and I did mention coming into the season to a couple of people that I thought he would tear the league up offensively there's no doubt about it because he's just a shot maker and has done it his whole career at college," he said.

"I did say he would have some 50-point games, I maybe didn’t think he would have this many so early, so yes and no in regards to if he surprised me or not."

High octane style of play

While Pepper has been remarkable in the four wins so far this season for the Senators, it has been anything but a one man show at the same time.

After all, while Pepper is averaging 49.8 points a game, the Senators are going at a league best 118 across the four wins so there's almost another 60 points that his teammates are delivering and that's with Mitch Clarke still to come in and Cody Ellis to return from a calf injury.

It's been a spectacular first four games all over from Warwick with the 118 points they are scoring coming at shooting 52 per cent as a team and 44 per cent from downtown on the back of getting up 48 three-point attempts.

Cooper has always enjoyed his teams playing at a rapid pace offensively whether it be at NBL1 level or in his state teams where he had remarkable success leading Western Australia teams to national titles.

"It's always sort of been my philosophy offensively anyway to play this style and at NBL1 level we get the ability to recruit to fit your style," Cooper said.

"I think by adding the pieces that we have this year with moving Cooper (Creek) in as well as another guy who can shoot from the perimeter, my biggest thing is that I would like to have any player that's on the floor being able to score the ball offensively in some way shape or form.

"Defending the ball is the hardest thing to do so if we can keep putting pressure on at the offensive it just makes our life up the other end a bit easier."

Creek gives Senators another weapon

Another new face for the Senators in 2025 is Cooper Creek who has returned home to WA following his college career with Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts.

He is the son of 312-game Goldfields Giants great Wayne Creek and Cooper long had his eyes on wanting to coach him, and continues to be blown away by the work ethic of the shooting big man who is averaging 13.8 points and 7.8 rebounds on shooting 40 per cent from three.

"Cooper's been great and the thing with him is that not only is he a great fit for the team, he's just an amazing fit for the club as well," Cooper said.

"As a human being, he is your typical country boy who says hello to everyone, everybody loves him around the club and he has fitted in perfectly with all the players. But his playing style also suits us and he works on his game every day.

"He's working out every day and he just wants to get better and better all the time, and for us moving forward and for him, that's a big, big bonus. We'd love to keep him forever and whether that works or not remains to be seen, but he's a big asset for us."

Finally getting to coach Mitch

The scary part for the rest of the league is that there's every chance the Senators will only continue to get better with the arrival of two-time championship winning point guard Mitch Clarke.

Having previously played 137 games at the Perry Lakes Hawks since he was a teenager while also having two seasons in the NBL1 South at the Bendigo Braves, being a Perth Wildcats development player and recently completing a season at the Reading Rockets, he is back in town.

Fresh off that season in the United Kingdom, Clarke will be on board for the Senators' double this weekend away to the East Perth Eagles and at home to the Mandurah Magic, and Cooper has been waiting for years for this chance to coach him.

"I've been chasing Mitch for years to try and get him to play in the teams that I've coached, and my philosophy has been more of a pass first, facilitating point guard that can still score at times and defend the ball," Cooper said.

"We've seen it with Seva Chan when I was at Cockburn and having Mitch he brings that youth while also being experienced. His ability to control the tempo and defend as well is something we are looking forward having.

"He'll never get outworked by anyone who defends and that's in any position even if he's outsized. He will anchor our defensive end as well and he's another one who is just going to bring that leadership and intensity to training to lift everybody else around him."

Working in basketball full-time

Going back a couple of years and Cooper went through a personal tragedy you wouldn’t wish upon anybody when he lost his wife and mother to their two daughters, Vanessa, to cancer.

It was at that time where Cooper felt it might be now or never to bite the bullet and try to find a full-time role in basketball having always previously combined his coaching with working with the police.

After making the move from the Cockburn Cougars to coach at Warwick in 2024, he is now on board full-time at the Senators at Talent Manager as well as coaching the NBL1 men's team.

He had always wanted the chance to experience full-time life in basketball and now he is using 2025 to find out if it's something he wants to continue with, or if going back to work with the police in some form and combining it with basketball works best.

"It has sort of opened my eyes a bit to the other side of what is involved from a club level and that is getting out into the community and working with the kids, and working with schools and things like that," Cooper said.

"The on court stuff is the easy part with the players, but I'm enjoying it for sure and I'm adjusting to having my own schedule instead of being told every day like had been for 35 years.

"The club's been great and the staff involved here at Warwick have welcomed me in and helped me through everything. Their support has been awesome so hopefully it's the start of a long career in this role and we'll see how it goes over the next 12 months."

Staying close with daughters

Nothing brings a father closer to his daughters than what they went through a couple of years ago and Cooper couldn’t be more proud of the young women Tahnee and Jesni continue to become.

That's going to include a trip in a couple of weeks to be there when Jesni graduates from Menlo College in Atherton, California.

"Jesni graduates in a couple of weeks so I'll be off spending some time with them for that and both of them are going good," Cooper said.

"They've adjusted to life as it is now and Jesni is going to finish her college career with a psychology degree and my other daughter is doing great work in her field as well, but they are still bleeding my money dry. That hasn’t changed."