Fighting illnesses, No. 5 men’s basketball falls to UChicago

| Junior Sports Editor

Senior Drake Kindsvater goes up for a contested layup against UChicago on Jan. 12 (Sam Powers | Managing Photo Editor)

The No. 5 WashU men’s basketball fell to The University of Chicago 66-71 in the Bears’ first  University Athletic Association (UAA) game of the season. With the loss, the Bears are now 10-2 this season.

During winter break, WashU ended their nine-game winning streak against then No. 9 Illinois Wesleyan University, losing 68-84 on Dec. 19. The loss dropped the Bears’ ranking from No. 2 to No. 5. However, they fought hard on Jan. 4, beating Wabash College in Indiana 68-60. WashU hoped to bring back the winning streak, but sickness befell the team prior to their matchup against the Chicago Maroons. 

The Bears were scheduled to play the Maroons in the Field House on Saturday, Jan. 11; however, with most of the team suffering from food poisoning, the game was postponed to the next day. 

“We probably had about five healthy guys, if we were to play on Saturday,” senior Drake Kindsvater said. 

After a day of rest and receiving IVs, the Bears were ready to hit the court. Due to the team’s health, coach Pat Juckem approached the game a bit differently, subbing players more frequently.  

“I’m really proud of our guys … We were not healthy at all, but we’d make no excuses,” Juckem said. “I think today just revealed a lot about our team and its character… and we’ll be stronger because of it.”

After going down 10-0 in the first few minutes, sophomore Jake Davis put the Bears on the board with a free throw. Within the first five minutes of the game, Juckem had called two timeouts to reaffirm fundamentals.

“We began sluggishly,” Juckem said. “[The timeouts] were really just to settle and … to take a breath.”

Despite initially being down by double digits, WashU closed the score difference by five a few times — the smallest difference of the first half. 

“We knew that [UChicago] was a team that crashed the glass pretty hard, and to see the start of the game go [the way that it did] was definitely pretty frustrating,” Kindsvater said. 

Despite leading in rebounds, the Bears were down 28-24 at the half and had missed all nine of their three-point shots. 

“We were in really good shape at halftime, down six, and we felt pretty good about our position,” Juckem said. 

During halftime, bench captains junior Yogi Oliff and senior Kyle Beedon suggested three ways the Bears could improve during the second half, such as finishing plays, getting Chicago off the glass, and strengthening the offense. 

“We talked about moving the ball … and swinging the ball several times to get the defense out of position so we can attack it better,” Kindsvater said. 

Entering the second half, the Bears looked refreshed and more cohesive. Despite ultimately losing, WashU had more points (38-37), especially fastbreak points (15-12); more defensive rebounds (9-8); and a higher three-point percentage (57.15-50.0%).

“Especially against a very good team, the margin for error is quite small,” Juckem said. “Had we been in full health, that’s all hypothetical. You play as you are.”

Sickness or no sickness, in 31 minutes, Kindsvater had 23 points, a new season high. Kindsvater attributes part of his success to his ability to attack the basket and get fouled by his slower opponents.   

“I know I’m a little bit quicker than some of those guys, so I just wanted to attack them and make them try to foul me, and it worked out pretty well,” Kindsvater said. 

WashU will continue UAA play in St. Louis against Case Western Reserve University and No. 24 Carnegie Mellon University on Jan. 17 and 19.

Before next week’s matchup, the healthy Bears squad hopes to focus on transitions and attack defenses early.

“A big focus for [the upcoming] two games is getting the ball up and transition[s] … our offense is the best whenever we’re attacking early and the defense isn’t set,” Kindsvater said. “I can already tell [that] Juckem is going to be talking about finishing plays … and rebounding and being physical.”

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