Junior George Gale goes for a layup in the Bears’ season-opening victory. (Ben Ganz | Staff Photographer)

The No. 5 WashU men’s basketball team opened its season with a convincing, yet closer-than-expected, 90-78 victory over Carroll University.  

Coming into their season opener after a long postseason run ending in the Final Four in 2024-25, the No. 5-ranked Bears looked to assert their dominance early in the 2025-26 season and set the tone for what they hope will be another deep postseason run. Several players are expected to step into leadership positions vacated by last year’s graduating seniors. After an early lead and weathering a comeback by Carroll, the Bears dug in to regain a lead they would never relinquish early in the second half and pulled out the win.

The game started off with the Bears showing a little bit of offseason rust, going scoreless in the first few minutes of the contest. Senior center Calvin Kapral put an end to the drought with an offensive rebound, followed by a slick dish to senior guard Will Grudzinski for a layup, scoring the first points of the season for the Bears. 

WashU struggled to deal with Carroll’s full-court press early on, with the Pioneers’ 93-foot defense unrelenting for most of the contest. The absence of senior guard Yogi Oliff due to injury, who is typically in the starting lineup, caused some lack of readiness for the press for the Bears players, forcing head coach Pat Juckem to start first-year guard Josh Kim in his first career game. 

“[Oliff]’s close [to returning],” Juckem said. “It’s game one of at least 25, and hopefully more than that, so we just wanted to be a little more cautious.”

A late run to close the opening half poised the Bears to put the game to bed early. However, Carroll stayed resilient and gave the Bears their first test of the young season.

Coming out of the locker room at the half, WashU’s momentum stiffened, and Carroll clawed their way back into the game with a 10-2 run. The game became tense for the Bears, as they had lost the lead for the first time since the opening minutes. In danger of letting the game get away, WashU responded.

“To play against a full-court press right out of the gate and doing it without our senior point guard there, you could tell that we missed him,” Juckem said. “But I thought we settled in nicely. … Our guys were just steely and poised. I’m really proud of how they responded.”

The Bears answered similarly to how they did in the first half, with different players stepping up and nailing key shots. This time, it would be sophomore forward Anthony Przybilla and junior guard Ryan Cohen hitting a pair of layups in the post and a much-needed three, respectively. 

Carroll hung with WashU until around the nine-minute mark of the second half, where sophomore forward Connor May would once again take over, scoring seven straight buckets to maintain the Bears’ lead. Cohen capped off the fierce run with a pull-up three, bringing WashU’s lead to 7 and forcing the Pioneers into a timeout. At the final buzzer, the Bears were on top, 90-78.

A clear strength that shone through was the depth of this WashU team. The Bears believed they had a deep bench through preseason practices, and it showed in the win. Twelve players got playing time, with nine different players reaching double-digit minutes, crucial to help the Bears weather a few key injuries.

“We have a lot of good basketball players,” Juckem said. ”Our job as coaches really is to find how those [players] are going to fit together. … The college basketball season is very demanding, and you need to have roster program depth to make it through because there’s just going to be stuff that comes up.”

May led the Bears in scoring with 18 points, followed by Grudzinski and Cohen, with 14 apiece. Kapral recorded an efficient double-double, with 13 points and 12 rebounds of his own. 

“We grinded it out,” May said after the game. “It wasn’t pretty, but we got the win. We won because we played together and trusted one another.”

Another highlight of the game was Kim’s collegiate debut, where he left his mark with gritty defense and impressive playmaking.

“I didn’t know [if I was starting] until right before the game,” Kim said. “It’s great having the guys and coaches trusting me. I’m taking it one day at a time, improving wherever I can.” 

With the season opener behind them, the Bears will look to build off their early momentum and tighten up their execution as they prepare to host the Lopata Classic tournament on Nov. 14 and 15. WashU will face Eureka College on Nov. 14 and either the University of St. Thomas or the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater on Nov. 15.