The Maroons men’s basketball team opened this weekend with a pair of victories against the Rose-Hulman Fightin’ Engineers and the Trinity Trolls.

The Maroons began against the Fightin’ Engineers, and a balanced attack helped lead them to victory. Fourth-year Jake Fenlon (15 points), second-year Jordan Baum (13 points), and third-years Justin Jackson (12 points) and Noah Karras (11 points) all scored in double figures for the South Siders. Rose-Hulman kept the game close in the first half, holding their largest lead at 19–12 before the Maroons retook the lead 34–29 at the break and never looked back, winning 89–76. The balanced effort showed in the stats, as the Maroons had 26 assists to the Fightin’ Engineers’ 6. The Maroons also led 17–0 in fast break points. 

Sunday was another good day for UChicago, as the South Siders defeated Trinity 79–67. Fenlon led the Maroons, scoring 31 points with nine three-pointers out of 20 attempts. In the second half, Fenlon helped the Maroons, who only shot 29.9 percent overall from the field. The Maroons out-rebounded the Trolls 53–35, and also led them in second chance points by a 14-point margin. 

Baum commented on the fast start to the season. “We’re feeling good coming off these two hard-fought wins. We rebounded well today [against Trinity] which is going to be big for us as a team. Once we start to finish more around the rim, we are going to be a scary team offensively.”

The Maroons will play at North Park University today.

Baum said about the rest of the year, “If we keep working and getting better defensively, this could be a really special team. As we continue to get more in-game experience, we will improve on a lot of the little things that we haven’t been doing great thus far. As long as we do those things, it’s going to be a really fun year.”