Men's Basketball | Sports
No. 11 men’s basketball dominates Case Western and No. 23 Carnegie Mellon

Junior Will Grudzinski dribbles past a Carnegie Mellon player on Jan. 19. (Ella Giere | Photo Editor)
The No. 11 WashU men’s basketball team defeated Case Western Reserve University 104-66 and No. 23 Carnegie Mellon University 99-74 on Jan. 17 and 19, respectively. With these wins, the Bears are now 2-1 in University Athletic Association (UAA) play.
“I thought we played quality basketball,” head coach Pat Juckem said about the Bears’ performance over the weekend. “Regardless of the score we really want to be focused on our process and we saw growth and improvement.”
Coming off a loss to No. 24 The University of Chicago to open conference play, the team was motivated to play with “an edge” according to senior guard Hayden Doyle.
“When you lose it, I mean, obviously it humbles you, and I think we just, we played with an edge this weekend … which is kind of what you have to do in conference play,” he said. “A lot of the time it comes down to who has the edge and who’s playing harder. And Coach was telling us to always have the mentality that we’re coming off a loss because typically when you come off a loss you’re just a little bit more locked in in practice, your attention to detail is a little bit better and I think that’s what we leaned into this weekend and it definitely worked for us.”
Throughout the weekend, the Bears played what Juckem described as efficient and conceptual basketball. The WashU coaching staff rates the teams’ shots from gold (most efficient) to bronze (least efficient), and in Friday’s game against Case Western, the Bears tallied up the highest number of gold and silver shots in the last two years.
“Obviously, we want to shoot majority gold[s] and silvers,” Juckem said. “And this weekend we did. In fact, we had our high for the last two years on Friday night in terms of gold/silver.”
WashU v. Case Western Reserve University
Against the Case Western team that stunned previously ranked Carnegie Mellon in their first UAA game, WashU showed off their depth in their second 100-point win of the season and their first in conference or championship play since the Bears’ 2020 win in the NCAA Tournament against Bethany Lutheran.
The Bears’ victory was an entire-team effort — starters and bench alike. WashU’s starters only totaled 62 minutes on the court. Senior Drake Kindsvater, who led the team in points (17) and assists (four), played for just 18 minutes. 15 of the Bears’ 18 players checked-in during the game, including all five first-years, who collectively scored 31 points.
“Sometimes the offense just really gets in a great flow,” Kindsvater said. “I love seeing the younger guys come in and just play their hearts out.”
Juckem also praised the younger players, saying he thought they were “terrific,” not just in the game but also in practice this week.
Despite WashU’s almost 40-point victory, the team entered the week with the goal of regaining their health after the team came down with food poisoning and had to postpone their matchup against The University of Chicago by a day.
“Number one this week was to recover and get our health back,” Juckem said. “We were really sick. We had a bunch of guys that probably shouldn’t have played on Sunday, and they’re tough and they’re competitive. There’s a game to play and they’re going to play.”
WashU v. Carnegie Mellon University
Two days after defeating Case Western, the Bears took to the Field House again to face off against the nationally ranked Carnegie Mellon, which has one of the best players in Division III — first-year Justin Allen, who has averaged nearly 27 points per game this season. In their wire-to-wire victory, WashU held Allen to 18 points with only one 3-pointer.
In their first possession of the game, junior Clavin Kapral scored a layup to put the Bears up 2-0. Carnegie’s RJ Holmes responded, tying the game 2-2. This was the only time Carnegie and WashU would be tied. The Bears followed Holmes’ shot with 11 unanswered shots in less than three minutes, setting the tone for their 25-point victory.
Doyle led WashU’s dominant offensive effort with a season-high 26 points but it was more important, per Juckem, that Doyle had four rebounds and only one turnover.
“What I would look at outside of the scoring is four assists and only one turnover,” Juckem said. “He’s got the ability, because he draws so much attention from an opponent, [to] create offense for others, too, and he’s taken that to heart. I thought he was a really active defender off the ball, and played a complete game.”
Doyle credited his teammates for helping him reach a season-high shooting number against a conference opponent.
“I haven’t been getting to the rim as much, and so definitely, there was some good cutting opportunities,” he said. “And a lot of credit goes to my teammates. I just had a lot of good screens off the ball for me that freed me up and once you see a few shots or easy looks, go in early. It gives you confidence, and then you get rolling a little bit.”
Kindsvater, who played just 18 minutes on Friday due to a rolled ankle, was second on both the scoring and rebounding chart with 19 and 7, respectively. Connor May, a first-year who has played in every game this season, led WashU with 12 rebounds.
Alongside May, all four other first-years saw the court once again. Juckem credited the first-year class with impacting the team, while learning a more complex style of play and adjusting to life at WashU.
“They’re just so important to us,” Juckem said. “Maybe right now, they’re not the statistical leaders but if you ask anyone, our older guys on our team, we’re not where we are without them.”
The Bears dominated in almost every statistical category in Sunday’s game, generating 19 points off turnovers to the Tartans’ 10, scoring 10 fast break points to their 8, and completing 16 more points in the paint.
Even though the team had a successful weekend, the Bears are still missing a key piece of their squad. Junior guard Yogi Oliff hasn’t been in the rotation since Dec. 7 due to a hand injury. While WashU was successful in pushing the ball in transition this game, Juckem still mentioned the importance of their point guard.“When you can get stops, you can get out and run,” Juckem said. “It requires someone who’s passing the ball ahead, and we’re missing our point guard right now. Yogi is really exceptional at that. Hopefully when we get him back, we’re even better.”
With the two wins, the Bears will face off against the University of Rochester and No. 2 Emory University on Jan. 24 and 26. The weekend will be a challenging road test in one of D-III’s most competitive conferences due to both teams’ strength and their nearly 1,000 mile distance from each other.
Going into the weekend the team is focused on controlling the controllables, including their effort on defense, according to Doyle.
“You just got to start on the defensive end when it comes to road games, because that’s what you can control,” he said. “You can control how hard you play, how locked in we are, and you know the opponents scout and understanding. You know what they do well and how we can try to limit that. And then obviously, just you go over there, and you got to play with a lot of confidence and a lot of swag.”