The NYU men’s and women’s basketball teams wrapped up their regular season home games this past weekend with immense success. Both teams won the UAA Championship outright this weekend, and anticipate promising results in the post-season NCAA tournament March 7-22. 

Last weekend, the top-ranked women’s basketball squad — still undefeated 55 games later — earned the UAA conference title, for the fourth consecutive year. This season, the Violets record the longest enduring winning streak in the NCAA, including both men’s and women’s teams across all three divisions. 

In front of a home crowd against Carnegie Mellon University, the women clinched a Friday night victory with a dominating 83-52 final score. Graduate student and forward Natalie Bruns, who was recently named Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association Player of the Week, hit two game-highs with 21 points and 10 rebounds to help the Violets secure the win. 

The men’s team also had a successful 77-61 win Friday night against Carnegie Mellon, pushing its record to 22-1 overall. Hampton Sanders was a prominent offensive force as always, leading the team with 18 points. Tristan How, a graduate student transfer in his first year with the Violets, was forceful below the rim with another team-high of eight rebounds. 

“NYU has some die-hard supporters, so it’s always fun to come out here and put on a show,” How told WSN. “My whole family is here supporting, and the gym was crazy packed tonight. We only lost once at home, and I apologize about that. But, I mean, playing in New York — it can’t get much better than that.” 

Friday night was not just one of big wins, but it was also NYU Athletics’ Pride Night and Tandon Night. The NYU Athletics LGBTQ+ affinity group hosted Pride Night, recognizing and celebrating NYU’s student-athlete queer community. 

The affinity group tabled with rainbow ribbon, pronoun pins and VIOLET PRIDE shirts, and held a raffle for Broadway tickets. The Tandon School of Engineering honored alumni student-athletes for their “incredible contributions and achievements.”

“We had a great turnout and got to talk about pride and queer rights with so many attendees,” LGBTQ+ affinity group president Bryce Chan told WSN. “People we never would’ve imagined cared so deeply about queer youth or trans rights were coming to share their worries, fears and aspirations for the future. It was an incredible night full of energy and community.”

As if the Violets’ successes couldn’t be further solidified, Sunday afternoon’s games generated another big win for both the men’s and women’s basketball teams. The women defeated Case Western Reserve University 86-62, aptly celebrating their Senior Day. Graduate students Jamie Behar and Natalie Bruns were honored alongside seniors Mary Kate Fahey, Belle Pellecchia and Chloe Teter in their annual pre-game ceremony — a group which head coach Meg Barber claims to have “transcended NYU Basketball.” 

“This was for our seniors,” Barber told NYU Athletics. “We wanted to make sure they enjoyed this Senior Weekend, and there’s no better way than with a UAA Championship.” 

The men’s graduating class consists of a core nine: Kawika Akina, Zach Brooker, Zay Freeney, Tristan How, Josh Menard, Emmanuel Onuama, Chuma Oyigbo, Brock Susko and Jack Stone. Prominent offensive and team leaders Freeney, How and Susko are among this year’s graduating class — a group that has risen to immense success under the guidance of head coach Dave Klatsky, who is just in his third season at NYU. 

“This team’s energy — all year — has been so together,” Klatsky told WSN. “Just watching these guys play with and for each other is so rewarding for a coach.”

Akina and Freeney have been with Klatsky for the entirety of his time at NYU these past three years, and have witnessed the program redefine itself. Prior to Klatsky’s arrival, during the 2021-2022 season, the Violets went 4-10 in conference play, missing the playoffs with a significant losing record. In the wake of Klatsky’s arrival, the numbers began to soar as the program exceedingly rebuilt itself  — with records jumping from 7-7 to 10-4 to the current record of 12-1 in conference. 

“I think of a guy like Zay Freeney, who, as soon as I got this job, I went to his house and sat down with his family,” Klatsky said. “We talked about what could be. And I’ll be honest, I don’t think either him or me thought this is what could be at the end of his career. I’m just so happy to have gone through it with him, watching him grow as a person and a player.”

The cheer and dance teams celebrated Senior Day as well, and members told WSN the energy felt like a culmination of the teams’ hard work on the court and on the sidelines.

“We have the front-row seat for the season,” Carolina Liu, a senior on the cheer team, said. “We’ve been super lucky to be able to interact with them that way. I’m very proud of them and very excited for what they’re gonna do this year at NCAAs.” 

Sunday’s games also honored the New York Dance Marathon chapter at NYU, an effort to raise awareness and money for childhood cancer. Greek life on campus partners with the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation to adopt “heroes,” or children suffering from cancer who join fraternities and sororities as honorary members.

Heroes ran on the court at halftime along with their brothers and sisters in Greek life and had the chance to meet and get autographs from the Violets.

“We thought it’d be a great collaboration because NYDM has over 1,000 people signed up on the website,” Co-Executive Director of NYDM Miranda Watson told WSN. “Why not bring a bunch of people to a game and bring the heroes to have them be honored during halftime? That was the original intention.”

NYDM had over 200 members of Greek life register to come to the game, packing the student section for the women’s game. The organization supplied snacks for the students, cultivating an environment for the heroes to feel safe and important at the games.

“We’re here to honor the sports teams and give our heroes a moment to shine,” Watson said.

Both teams will officially close out their regular season on Saturday, March 1, in Waltham, MA to compete against Brandeis University in the last UAA contest. The following weekend, NYU will host the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight.