Last spring, the Case Western Reserve University men’s basketball concluded an outstanding 2023-2024 season with their third consecutive NCAA appearance. The team finished their campaign 23-5, which broke the previous season’s program record of 22 wins in a season. In UAA play, the Spartans went 10-4, tied with New York University for the league title and won an automatic bid for the NCAA, where they were seeded sixth.
CWRU hosted the first round of the NCAA Championships, where they beat both Mary Baldwin University and No. 22-ranked Hope College. During the Round of 16, the Spartans fell to No. 11-ranked University of Wisconsin-Platteville 75-95, and with the finish, the Spartans matched the best finish in program history. They also ended the season with a program highest final ranking of 11th in the D3hoops.com Top 25. Another outstanding accomplishment by the team was going undefeated at home for the first time in program history. The Spartans will look to defend its second consecutive UAA Championship title.
With the graduation of graduate students Anthony Mazzeo, Colin Kahl, Preston Maccoux and Richie Manigault, as well as fourth-year Luke Thorburn, the squad will look to fill their shoes. Mazzeo was named UAA Athlete of the Week five times during the 2023-2024 season, finishing the campaign with an average of 19.5 points per game and a new school record of 545 total points in a season. Kahl led the team in rebounds with 7.5 and 27 total blocks, and he has signed to play professionally for the Carrick Cruisers in Ireland. Both Maccoux and Manigault played in all 28 games, averaging 9.3 and 6.8 points, and 2.7 and 2.2 rebounds, respectively. Thorburn was one of the three players to start all 28 games and contributed an average of 3.2 points and 4.8 rebounds.
However, the team still has some key players from the 2023-2024 season returning to the court, including fourth-year forward Umar Rashid, who contributed to the team’s strong defense. He led the team with 1.46 blocks per contest and averaged 8.9 points with 7.0 rebounds per game. Fourth-year guard Sam Trunley aided offensively with the third-highest points per game with 13.0 and a 43.8% overall shooting percentage.
The squad also welcomes more than half its total of 21 players, including seven first-years: forward Nolan Demski and guards Eli Teslovich, Matthew Ellis, Stylianos Marios Martzoukos, Jeremiah Lepp, Henry Stowell and Musa Ndow. Four graduate students will also be joining and playing for the Spartans: guard Wade Jackson who played for Hamilton College, guard Christian McDaniel who played for Loyola Marymount University and Belmont Abbey College, guard Nicholas Schiavello who played for Wheaton College and guard Andy Barba who played for Duquesne University (DI).
The team also welcomes new Assistant Coach Brandon Staley alongside Head Coach Todd McGuinness as he begins his eighth season with the team.
The men’s basketball team will kick off the season on Nov. 8 with the annual Bill Sudeck Tournament. The Spartans will host SUNY Brockport, SUNY Canton and Penn State Altoona in Horsburgh Gymnasium, where the squad will take on Penn State Altoona at 7 p.m.