Junior Will Grudzinski dribbles past a Carnegie Mellon player on Jan. 19. (Ella Giere | Photo Editor)

The No. 11 WashU men’s basketball team traveled along the East Coast this past weekend, beating the University of Rochester 99-82 on Jan. 24 and No. 2 Emory University 81-63 on Jan 26. The win over the Emory Eagles marks the first victory for the Bears against a Top 10 team this season. The Bears are now on a four-game winning streak and improve to a record of 14-2 overall and 7-1 in University Athletic Association (UAA) play. 

“We’re excited about getting two really quality road wins,” head coach Pat Juckem said. “It’s tough to win games in UAA, and in particular on the road, so that requires a great focus and toughness.” 

The road trip this past weekend demanded a great deal of travel time, as the trip spanned over 2,000 miles. 

“Big picture, [we’re] pleased with not only the wins, but really the quality of play,” Juckem said. “I thought we executed our plan pretty well in both games, a variety of contributions from across our players.” 

Throughout the  Rochester game, WashU led from start to finish, a lead that went up to 20 points twice in the second half. However, with six minutes left in the game, the Bears’ lead decreased to 10, forcing Juckem to call a timeout to tell the team to stop fouling. 

“The biggest issue was fouling — that’s what kept them in the game for most of the night,” junior Will Grudzinksi wrote in a statement to Student Life. “Down the stretch, our focus was on defending without fouling, staying disciplined, and making sure we closed the game the right way.” 

Grudzinksi, who set a new season high with 20 points — seven more than his previous high-score this season set on Jan. 4 — brought WashU’s lead back up to 20 with a dunk with just over two minutes left in the game. 

“First half was slow for me offensively. I was also playing on two early fouls,” Grudzinksi wrote. “It was when my teammates and coaches started signaling for me to shoot the ball, that changed my mindset — I started looking at the basket first. In the second half, the court opened up a lot more in transition, and the confidence from my teammates and coaches really got me going.”

Grudzinski finished the game with a field-goal percentage of 70 and a three-point percentage of 75. Senior Hayden Doyle matched his season high score of points scored — which was set on Jan. 19 against Carnegie Mellon University — with 26 points in 32 minutes. 

During the Rochester game, junior Yogi Oliff checked in for the first time since December, now fully recovered from a fractured hand. Despite only being cleared for one practice before the four-day road trip, Oliff played 16 minutes against Rochester and 22 minutes against Emory, scoring a total of 15 points this weekend. 

“I think [that] anytime I get to play, I’m very happy — but especially when [coming] back from an injury [spending] time on the sideline,” Oliff said. “It’s just really fun being on the court and competing with my teammates.” 

In Sunday’s game at Emory, the Bears and the Eagles were neck-and-neck for the majority of the game. Going into halftime, the Bears were up 36-33 — it was any man’s game.

“We withstood the early punches [Emory] threw, and hung in there and assimilated to the pace of the game,” Juckem said. “[Emory is] physical, and they’re a terrific rebounding team, and so if you don’t meet their physicality, you know you’re in trouble.” 

In the second half, WashU outplayed Emory, amassing more steals and rebounds. With less than seven minutes left in the game, the Bears led 59-55 and went on to a 12-0 run. 

“I think at the end of the day, it came down to defensive stops,” Oliff said. “We just got stop after stop.” 

Oliff also stressed that both on and off the court, every player played a part in this weekend’s wins. For example, first-year Connor May contributed off of the bench in Atlanta, with 21 points and 13 rebounds — new personal season high scores — in 29 minutes. 

The Bears will face Brandeis University and No. 6 New York University at the Field House on Jan. 31 and Feb. 2, respectively. 

“Like in tennis, it’s really important to hold your serve — it’s really important to get [our] home win,” Oliff said. “We take a lot of pride in winning at home … When [we’re] able to be at home … [we] have to really take advantage of that.” 

While every home game is important to win, Friday’s game against Brandeis will recognize the life and legacy of Justin Hardy, a WashU student who played with Stage 4 stomach cancer before passing away in May of 2022. This year’s game will be especially important, as it will be the last HardyStrong game with WashU players who were Hardy’s teammates.

“We only have a few home games left, so I would just encourage our Washington community to come on out and support [the men’s and women’s basketball] teams,” Juckem said.