The UChicago men’s basketball team finished another double-game weekend with a loss to Emory University and a win over the University of Rochester. The team traveled to Atlanta for the Friday game, then made a quick turnaround to New York for their second game on Sunday. The Maroons now have a record of 8–10 overall and 4–3 in the UAA conference. 

The Emory game showed a strong start for UChicago, who opened the game with a quick 15–4 lead finished by a three-pointer by third-year Justin Jackson. Third-year Noah Karras and fourth-year Jake Fenlon each added a three-pointer, but Emory made a quick comeback to decrease the Maroons’ lead to two points, 28–26. Just as Emory began to catch up, however, Fenlon scored five straight points to end the first half with a 33–26 lead. 

The second half began with a layup by first-year Dominic Laravie, boosting the score to 45–32 and giving UChicago its biggest lead of the game, 13 points. Emory was not giving up easily. The opponents caught up to 47–42 for the Maroons. Another set of back-to-back three-pointers by Karras increased UChicago’s score to 53–44, but soon, the score was tied 53–53. After three minutes without a basket, second-year Jordan Baum made a triple, but Emory soon took the lead for the first time, with just over three minutes left in the game. A Fenlon layup gave UChicago the lead, but the opponents soon took it back for the remainder of the game, eventually coming out on top over UChicago 71–66. 

The Maroons fared better in New York against Rochester on Sunday, holding the lead for the entire game. UChicago took control from the beginning, with the first of Fenlon’s six three-pointers starting a 15–0 run for the Maroons. Karras, Fenlon, Baum, and third-year Ryan Jacobsen added points, leaving Rochester scoreless seven minutes into the half. However, the opponents made a comeback, cutting UChicago’s lead to five points, 32–27, by the end of the first half. 

Rochester scored a quick four points to come within one point of UChicago, but fourth-year Collin Barthel brought the Maroons back with a jumper and Fenlon made two more three-pointers. In the middle of the second half, UChicago led by 12 points, 51–39, due to another three-pointer by Fenlon. Rochester never touched the Maroons, and the game finished with a 72–65 win for the away team.  

“We started off really strong in both games, playing tough defense in the first half of both games and making the other team adjust to our style of play,” said second-year Mattia Colangelo. “Against Emory we couldn’t sustain it for the full 40 minutes and ended up losing by five, after they made some really tough shots down the stretch. We learned from our loss and bounced back against Rochester, jumping out to an early 15–0 lead and never trailing once. The team is definitely improving as the year goes on and we’re currently tied for third in the UAA. We play Emory and Rochester again this weekend at home and hopefully go 2–0 and cement ourselves as UAA contenders.”