While most students were either sipping pina coladas in Miami or hiding from the winter weather at home, the men’s and women’s basketball teams continued play through the break. Now that everyone is back in sub-freezing temperatures, here is a look at what you may have missed.

Senior Luke Silverman-Lloyd looks to make a pass during the Bears’ Feb. 1, 2014 game against Case. This season, the men’s basketball team is 10-4 and will take on Brandeis and New York University at home this weekend.

Men’s

Overall Record: 10-4

Winter Break: 4-2

Key game: Jan. 9, 2016

Washington University 69 vs. No. 16 University of Chicago 70

In the headline game of their winter break schedule, the Bears’ chance at an upset was foiled thanks to a Maroon three with 11 seconds left in the game.

In Wash. U.’s first University Athletic Association game of the season, the Red and Green fell behind by as much at 18 but were able to erase the deficit thanks to 14 second-half points from sophomore guard Jake Knupp. Knupp would finish with a career-high 18 points in just 25 minutes.

With the Bears and Maroons trading leads with fewer than 30 seconds to play, Knupp came up with a steal and sophomore Matt Highsmith was fouled in the bonus. Up 68-67 and given a chance to at least preserve an overtime, Highsmith, a career 64.2 percent free throw shooter, missed his first shot, leaving the door open for the Maroons to pull ahead in the final seconds.

In addition to Knupp’s performance, Highsmith also enjoyed an economical afternoon, scoring 15 points and shooting 7-10. Sophomore center David Schmelter also chipped in a career-high 11 boards, helping the Bears to a plus-nine rebound advantage, tied for their second-highest this season.

The disappointing nature of the game appeared to have no lingering effects, as the Bears went on to dominate UAA opponents Case Western Reserve University and Carnegie Mellon University by scores of 96-80 and 92-84, respectively, the next weekend. The Bears will continue UAA play with an east coast trip to Brandeis University on Friday and to New York University on Sunday.

Key stat:
83 percent: senior guard Luke Silverman-Lloyd’s three-point field goal percentage over the past two games.

After shooting 25 percent from behind the arc in the Bears’ consecutive losses against Wittenberg College and Chicago, Silverman-Lloyd caught fire from range against the Spartans and Tartans. Against Case Western, he scored a career-high 24 points, which included 7-8 from behind the three-point line, and he followed that performance up with a quiet, but economical, 15, going 3-4, against Carnegie. As the Bears’ primary threat from three-point range, Silverman-Lloyd had been mired in a small slump, shooting 27.8 percent from behind the arc since Dec. 12’s game against No.1 Augustana College, well below his career average of 44.7 pct. Normally a well-above .500 team, the Bears went 2-3 over that span. When Silverman-Lloyd shoots over 40 percent from the field, however, the Bears are 21-2, over the past two years. Given the consistently strong inside play thanks to the emergence of sophomore forward Andrew Sanders, a return to form by Silverman-Lloyd would go a long way in stretching the court and unlocking the full potential of the Bears offense.

Women’s

Overall Record: 12-2

Winter Break: 4-1

Key game: Dec. 31, 2015

No. 7 Washington University 71 vs. Loras College 80

The Bears ended 2015 with a rare defensive lull when they surrendered a season high 80 points to Loras, which entered the game at 5-4. After dismantling opposing offenses to the tune of 49.1 points per game all season, the Eagles overwhelmed the Red and Green with a 57.1 shooting percentage, the highest by an opponent since at least the year 2000. Loras also went 26-30 from the charity stripe, outpacing the Bears by 22 points in that category.

While the Eagles enjoy a healthy 68.7 points per game on 43 percent from the field, they also surrender 66.6 points per game against primarily unranked competition. Still, the normally efficient Bears shot 38.2 percent from the field. The starting frontcourt of senior Amanda Martinez and juniors Lily Sarros and Zoe Vernon mustered just 19 points cumulatively.

While the majority of Bears struggled from the field, sophomore guard Natalie Orr enjoyed a strong day with 18 points on 7-13 shooting, going 4-9 from the range.

Wash. U.’s surprising drop in defensive performance proved to be an aberration. In 2016, the Bears proceeded to hold UAA opponents Chicago, Case Western and Carnegie to 0.386, 0.385 and 0.327 respectively on their way to three straight wins.

Key stat:
53.8 percent: Natalie Orr’s three-point field goal percentage over the past four games.

Just like the men’s team, the women’s basketball team can benefit from strong perimeter play. And just like her male counterpart, Silverman-Lloyd, Orr enjoyed a return to relevance after an extended lull in the middle of the season. Since the Loras game, Orr has scored 18, 13, 9 and a career high 20 against No. 21 Carnegie Mellon. This corresponds with an uptick in minutes, with Orr playing as many as 33 against Loras. After the departure of Maddy Scheppers (Class of 2015), who ranks third all time in three-pointers made, Orr represents the next potential threat for the Bears.