The Case Western Reserve University men’s basketball team will be playing their first game of the season on Nov. 10 at Horsburgh Gymnasium against the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. Spartan fans are excited to see what this team has to offer this upcoming season.
Last season, the Spartans brought us great gameplay and broke multiple school records. They were the first team in program history to finish their non-conference play undefeated and the first to win their bracket going into the conference play. Their NCAA Tournament appearance in 2023 was a follow up from 2022 where the team ended up in the sweet 16. Their performance these past seasons got the team an invitation to the D3hoops.com Classic in Las Vegas in late December, another first in program history. CWRU is also ranked #13 in D3hoops.com men’s top 25 for the 2023-24 preseason.
Last season we witnessed alumni Cole Frilling, a fourth-year forward in spring 2023, and Danny Frauenheim, a previous graduate student guard, achieve 1,000 career points. Frilling completed his 1,000 points in 63 games, the second fastest in program history. Third-year forward Umar Rashid broke the program record for blocks in a game in the team’s first game against the Washington University in St. Louis with 9 blocked shots. We also saw returning fourth-years Ian Elam, a forward, Luke Thorburn, a guard, and returning third-years Sam Trunley, a guard, and Rashid win the 2022-23 CSC Academic All-District award for their academic achievements. The team also made great strides on the offensive end, achieving their second highest 3-point accuracy in the game against Brandeis University and scoring over 100 points in two games, the first time since 1997 and fifth time in all of program history.
With Frauenheim, graduate student guard Mitch Prendergast and Frilling having graduated, we expect to see new players on the field this season. Fourth-year forward Hunter Drenth will be returning after being out last season due to an injury. The team has also added graduate student guards Anthony Mazzeo, Richie Manigault and Preston Maccoux as well as graduate student forwards Jaylan Hewitt and Colin Kahl and third-year forward transfer student Andrew Fox.
The team will be led by head Coach Todd McGuinness, who is returning for his eighth year as head coach. Coach McGuinness’ .549 career winning percentage is the best by a head coach in program history. Bryan Wickliffe and Brian Murphy are both returning as assistant coaches for their second season at CWRU.
This team brought a lot of excitement to the court for fans over the last couple of years, and we hope to see the same energy and success during the 2023-24 season.