Basketball season is back, and Mike Lenahan now steps onto the Bearcat stage for his second year as head coach of the men’s team. This go-round, he lacks Jack Boydell (ʼ24), who scored over 1,000 points in his collegiate career and was honored as the J.H. Booth student-athlete of the 24-25 school year.
Lenahan has brought on 10 new recruits to make the biggest roster the team has seen since ʼ15-ʼ16. Before Lenahan, the Cats were a one-win team. In a single season, he brought them to 9-7 in conference, knocking on the door of the tournament. According to him, the team was also No. 10 in the country in scoring last year, and he expects that this year’s youngsters will continue to be competitive offensive players.
In preseason the Bearcats cleaned up, taking impressive wins against California schools like Chapman and Whittier. Without Boydell’s dominance, there are several players contributing to early successes and competing for the spotlight. Lenahan explained, “We have eight or nine guys scoring over eight points a game. Every game a different guy might be the one to step up.” The proof is in the pudding. In their game against Whittier on Nov. 22, Ryder Hsiung managed to land 10 3s, breaking the school record for 3-point shots. In the next two games, first-year Kai Brown (ʼ28) showed up as the top point scorer and helped to snag impressive wins over Chapman and Caltech. Josiah Frank (’25), DJ Jones (’27), Caleb Moore (’26) and Kahiau Bruhn (’27) have all shown up as other stat leaders.
Despite the promise of the preseason, on Dec. 6, in their conference opener, the ʼCats fell behind Lewis & Clark in the second half, losing to the Pios 55-76. Lewis and Clark was projected in the coaches’ poll to take last place in the conference.
As the squad hunkers down for their winter-break games, they remain a question mark, making every show-down a marquee match-up.
“Shoot, we're fun to watch so come out and see us play when we get back at home in January and February,” said Lenahan.
Conference play resumes Jan. 3 at George Fox.