The men’s basketball team’s season came to an abrupt end on March 7 with a loss against Wesleyan University in the second round of the Division III NCAA Basketball Championship. Though they advanced past the first round with a strong 65-53 victory against Gettysburg College, NYU’s path to another title game was cut short, and they ended the season 18-9 and fourth in the UAA.
“I would consider it a successful season,” head coach Waleed Farid told WSN. “I do think that we had the potential to go further but the team showed a ton of resilience throughout the season.”
The Violets finished the regular season with a 76-69 win against Brandeis that helped bolster the team’s national standings. Despite not winning the UAA title in the regular season, the team qualified for this year’s NCAAs off an at-large bid.
However, with 11 players graduating, NYU will lose foundational members who helped bridge last year’s roster with the incoming transfers, like senior Quinn Clark. There is one bright spot: Senior Bryan Moussako, who started his career as a walk-on in 2023, will be staying for his final year of eligibility. Newcomers Darren Rubin, a graduate student who contributed 44 points across two NCAA tournament games, and Carnegie Johnson, a junior transfer who averaged 15.2 points per game, were also valuable pieces in NYU’s offense.
“I think the big thing is going to be figuring out how we can introduce a pretty large set of new players back to the lineup, back to this team, without dropping off some of the standards and culture that we really put in place this year,” Farid said.
The team will have to experience yet another period of transition after last year’s shakeup — a new coach and numerous transfers. They had to quickly develop teamwork, learning from each other and themselves as a cohesive unit to attempt to reach the Final Four again.
Despite going out in the second round, the Violets are already preparing for next year with their eyes set on going even further in the NCAA tournament.
“It was really tough for us having a completely new team, a bunch of new faces and guys who had never played together,” Rubin said. “But we’ve built a really great team culture throughout the season and become really close, and that led to us having success on the court.”
The season was not without its obstacles — especially injuries, as the team lost its starting center, graduate student David Petrusev, in the first five minutes of the year’s opening game. First-year Zach Kolaja was out the whole season after tearing his ACL, and throughout the season, Clark was recovering from a serious ankle injury.
“Coming back from having an ankle surgery last year and not being able to play, I was unsure about my role in the team, especially with a new coach,” Clark said. “But I feel like I did what I needed to do for the team to be successful.”
As Farid continues to establish his footprint on NYU, the transfers and new players, the team hopes to redevelop its identity in the new year. The Violets want to carry the momentum and frustration from a season where their hopes fell short to a comeback in the fall.
“Keep an eye out for us next year,” Clark said. “We got a lot of young guys who are going to be really good, so expect greater things from us.”
Contact Sayako Ikeda at [email protected].