Coming off dual losses in the Patriot League quarterfinals, the men’s and women’s basketball teams are opening up their out-of-conference slates, looking to ramp up for conference play and replace key contributors.
For the men, the Leopards come off a 13-20 season, including a 7-11 conference record defined by one-possession games, a mark the team carried 1-5 against Patriot League opponents.
“A bounce or two goes the other way, and we’re in the semifinals,” head coach Mike McGarvey said, referring to the team’s nail-biting 71-69 playoff loss against American University.
Looking to fend off the two-seeded Eagles, the Leopards were led by then-senior center Justin Vander Baan, the conference’s defensive player of the year, and then-freshman Alex Chaikin, who put up 29 points on a blistering 10-13 shooting. The Maroon and White have since graduated Vander Baan and lost Chaikin to the University of California, San Diego.
With the team previously relying on Vander Baan as a playmaking hub from the high-post, McGarvey said that the new big-man rotation of junior center Misha Bednostin and freshman forwards Luke Bevilacqua and Shareef Jackson would help the Leopards develop a greater low-post presence.
“They gonna be a force down there,” sophomore guard Caleb Williams said of the frontcourt.
Williams was the second leading scorer last year, behind only Chaikin, and now looks to shoulder more offensive responsibilities alongside junior guard Mark Butler.
He also raved about junior guard Andrew Phillips’ three-point range, calling him “one of the best shooters in the Patriot League.”
Defensively, the Maroon and White will be challenged to shift away from their reliance on Vander Baan’s robust rim protection, with the 7-footer placing third in the NCAA in blocks per game last year.
“It’s gonna be a very different style of play,” McGarvey said. “I think we’re gonna have to rotate faster. I think we’re going to have to be more aggressive in how we switch one through four.”
The men’s season opens on the road against St. Joseph’s University on Monday at 7 p.m., looking to outperform their seventh-place ranking in the Patriot League Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll.
For the women, the Leopards come off a 10-21 season, going 6-12 in conference play. After blowing out American University in the opening round of the postseason, the Maroon and White blew a first-half lead against Navy, giving up 23 offensive rebounds en route to the 55-40 loss.
“We have more size and more height, but at the same time, it’s not any good to you unless it’s tough and rugged,” head coach Kia Damon-Olson said.
Similar to the men, the women look to navigate a future without All-Patriot League Third Team member Abby Antognoli, the senior guard who led the Leopards in points last season.
While the Leopards may tinker with lineups throughout the non-conference slate, the team has looked at guards sophomore Talia Zurinskas and freshman Haley Poser to fill the void.
“Being a young point guard is a difficult spot to be in,” junior guard Teresa Kiewiet said. “They’ve looked really solid in our scrimmages and practices, so I’m confident that we’ll be able to fill Abby’s role, even though they’re big shoes to fill.”
Kiewiet emerged as a primary scoring option for the Maroon and White as the season progressed, finishing the year as the second leading scorer.
“Teresa has really come back this year with the same vengeance that she ended last year with,” Damon-Olson said.
Defensively, Damon-Olson said that the team was prioritizing not getting put in rotation as much as last year, looking to “guard our person straight up and not ignite the help.”
“The help is there, much like on an airplane, should you need the oxygen mask — you shouldn’t need it every play,” Damon-Olson said.
The women’s season tips off at Villanova University on Monday at 7 p.m.
A previous version of this article misspelled the surname of women’s basketball head coach Kia Damon-Olson.
