Since the last game of theirs that we covered, the men’s basketball team has played in six University Athletic Association (UAA) games. Like the women’s basketball team, they traveled for the first four of these games, and then returned home to host the most recent two competitions. In this six-game series, the Judges faced the Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) Spartans and the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Tartans each once, and then they faced the Washington University of St. Louis (WashU) Bears and the University of Chicago (UChicago) Maroons twice each. The Judges came away from this streak having won three and lost three games. In the UAA conference, the games are played round-robin style, meaning that each team faces each other twice a season, once at home and once away. Though the Judges may have lost three of these games, they will have another chance to win against these teams later on in the season.
In their first away game of their road-trip, the Judges traveled to Cleveland, OH, to face the CWRU Spartans. The Judges seemed to have gotten off the plane invigorated as they opened up the first half of the game out-scoring the Spartans 57-35. This dominance by the Judges put five separate players in the double-digits in point-scoring, leading themselves to a 101-93 win against CWRU. The players that scored in the double-digits for the Judges were Toby Harris ’25, Elias Rodl ’26, Ethan Edwards ’26, Matthew Cagogan ’26 and Sam Adusei (GRAD). This was a big win for the Judges to gain confidence in their roster moving deeper into their in-conference games.
Next, the Judges traveled to Pittsburgh, PA, to face the CMU Tartans. This was a monumental game for the Judges’ own Toby Harris ’25 because he became the 36th player in Judges history to reach 1,000 career points scored. He earned his 1,000th point off of a free-throw with 21 seconds left in the game. In celebration of this milestone, the Judges also won with a final score of 92-76. The Judges started the game off fine, finishing the first half just one point ahead of the Tartans, but they really opened things up in the second half when they scored 43 points to the Tartans’ 28. This was a pivotal road win for the Judges, with momentum that they hoped to maintain the following weekend.
The following weekend, the Judges were on the road again. They first traveled to face the WashU Bears in their first competition of two in a two-week period. Like the women, the Judges were not on their game this night against the Bears. They were quiet on the floor and subsequently lost 83-58 against the Bears. Despite this, remember how the women bounced back? Just wait until you hear what the men did just one week later when they faced the Bears again, but at home. The game of basketball is all about living and dying by the three. This night was one of those off-games for the Judges where they were quiet as far as points-scored.
Two days later, the Judges were in Chicago, IL to face the #22-ranked UChicago Maroons. This was another sluggish game for the men’s basketball team as they lost their second consecutive road-game, this time 76-59 against the Maroons. The Judges played this game without Harris ’25 and that seemingly had its impact. With Toby being a senior, it will be important for the Judges to prepare for when he is no longer on the team. If they want to keep up the remarkable play they have displayed this season, they will need to learn how to improve without their key-starter.
This is similar to how former Philadelphia Eagles’ center, Jason Kelce retired. The center in football is arguably more important than the quarterback as they dictate much of the play. After Kelce’s retirement, the Eagles had a rocky start, but you can see how hard work and making up for the hole that Kelce left, paid off; they are your 2025 Super Bowl Champions! I am not here to say that our men’s basketball team will be NCAA DIII National Champions next year, but I am saying that losing one key play-maker will not be the end of the world. Though, Toby will certainly be missed.
Anyways, more recently, the Judges hosted the #10-ranked WashU Bears in their second meeting of the season. This game was a part of the Brandeis Athlete Ally Chapters Pride Night Celebration, and the basketball teams certainly did not disappoint. Remember what I said about waiting to hear how the Judges bounced back after their previous loss against the Bears? Well, they too came into this game with a vengeance and did not falter.
The dynamic duo of Harris ’25 and Rodl ’26 came out and showed out during this game as they scored a combined 49 points and earned the Judges an 86-79 win against the 10th-best men’s DIII basketball team in the nation. This game was entertaining from the beginning as the threes were hitting left and right for the Judges.
In their most recent game, the Judges hosted the UChicago Maroons in a home game this past Sunday. Coming off the high of beating WashU, the Judges were hopeful of carrying over their momentum into this game against the #24-ranked team; however, sadly that did not come to fruition. The Judges started off quite slow, but found their footing with perhaps too little time left in the game to make a full come-back. They did cut a 19-point halftime deficit to three with about two minutes left in the game, but they could not score enough points to capture the win, allowing the Maroons to break away with the 75-69 win against the Judges.
Looking ahead, the Judges will be on the road again for the final time this season to face the University of Rochester Yellowjackets, and then the Emory University Eagles. Which is coincidentally where our Swim & Dive team is currently competing in their UAA Championship Meet! Make sure to stay up to date with the men’s basketball team through the Judges’ Athletics websites and social media pages to ensure you don’t miss out! Go Judges!
