The Emory men’s and women’s basketball teams squared off against Brandeis University (Mass.) on Jan. 28 before facing New York University (NYU) on Jan. 30 at the University Athletic Association doubleheader. The men’s back-to-back victories helped them secure first place in the UAA standings, while the women remained in the second-place slot after going 1-1.
Men’s Basketball
Against Brandeis, the men’s team raced to an 8-0 lead in the first two minutes of the game and forced a Brandeis timeout when they extended the lead to 15-4 at the 15:18 mark. The teams exchanged baskets for a stretch before an Emory scoring lull allowed Brandeis to close the gap to 24-21, with eight and a half minutes left to play. Five consecutive points from fifth year guard Matthew Schner helped extend the Eagles’ lead to 33-25 with 3:39 left to play. With just under a minute to go in the half, fifth-year guard Nick Stuck’s layup put Emory ahead 44-32, but a layup from Brandeis’ sophomore guard Ryan Power and a buzzer-beater three-pointer from his teammate, fifth-year guard Collin Sawyer, closed the gap to 44-37 at the end of the half.
Schner poured in nine points in the opening six and a half minutes of the second half en route to an Eagles’ 60-44 advantage. However, Brandeis fought back, outscoring the Eagles 15-5 to bring the tally to 65-59 with 7:46 left to play. Two free throws from Stuck followed by back-to-back three-pointers from junior guard Max Fried and Schner put the Eagles up 73-63 at the five-minute mark. Despite 10 straight points from Sawyer, Brandeis couldn’t take the lead and the Eagles walked away with an 83-75 victory.
Schner played the entire game and finished with 31 points on 13-20 shooting. Fried added 13 points and a team-high three steals, while Stuck chipped in 11 points and eight assists. Although the Eagles shot just over 29% from three-point range, they forced 17 turnovers and outscored Brandeis 12-0 in fastbreak points.
In the second match of the weekend against NYU, the two teams traded baskets for the majority of the first half until freshman forward Logan Shanahan came off the bench and scored 10 points in four minutes to spur an Emory run. The Eagles made up for their poor three-point shooting against Brandeis, as freshman guard Albert Fallas, freshman forward Cale Martens, Schner, Shanahan, senior guard Romin Williams and sophomore guard Matteo Whelton collectively poured in nine three-pointers in the first half. Schner capped off the half with a buzzer-beater foul line jumper to stretch the Eagles’ lead to 57-36 at the half.
Emory rattled off seven unanswered points to kick off the second half, extending the lead to 64-36 at the 18:53 mark. Bolstered by nine points from Schner and eight from Stuck, the Eagles held a commanding 92-68 lead with just 6:34 left to play. A three-pointer from Whelton put the Eagles’ tally past the 100 point mark with 3:51 remaining, and Emory walked away with a resounding 104-82 victory. Shanahan shot a perfect 6-6 from the floor, including 4-4 from three-point range, en route to an 18-point performance. Schner added 22 points, and Stuck accrued his first career double-double with 20 points and 10 assists. The Eagles forced 17 turnovers, shot 62% from the floor and made 16 three-pointers.
The Eagles are now in sole possession of first place since the previous frontrunner, the University of Washington in St. Louis (Mo.), dropped both of their contests this weekend. However, head coach Jason Zimerman said that he encourages the team not to focus too intently on their ranking, as they are only halfway through conference play and will face plenty of tough competition in the remaining weeks of the regular season.
“We don’t really talk much about [the standings],” Zimmerman said. “We watch other games, we’re aware of what’s going on, but as soon as you start thinking about something you can’t control, then you’re not getting better.”
While he was pleased with his players’ offensive performance this weekend, Zimmerman said tightening up their defense in the home stretch of UAA play will be the key to remaining on the top of the UAA standings.
“Our connectedness defensively and our communication has been pretty good,” Zimmerman said. “I don’t think we’ve guarded quite as well as we had in the week past, and we need to get back to that this weekend on the road if we want to get a win.”
Leaning on the experience of upperclassmen such as Schner, Stuck and Williams has been critical of the Eagles success thus far, and Zimmerman said their leadership will continue to prepare the underclassmen to play selfless, team-oriented basketball.
“We have really good players who really care about Emory basketball,” Zimmerman said. “They’re willing to do whatever it takes for us to try to win the UAA and get to the NCAA tournament.”
Women’s Basketball
The Eagles looked strong against Brandeis Judges. The game started with the teams taking turns making baskets until Emory settled into a rhythm, going on a 13-5 run to pull ahead. At the end of the first quarter, the Eagles led 21-15. Junior guard Mariane Auza suffered an ankle injury within the first minute of the second quarter, but she returned with less than three minutes remaining in the half. During her absence the team continued to put up points, bringing the score up to 35-22 before Brandeis called their first timeout. The Eagles led 40-26 going into halftime.
The Judges went into the third quarter with renewed energy and made key layups in an attempt to chip away at Emory’s growing lead. Both teams scored 13 points during the third quarter, keeping the score gap even at 53-39. The Eagles dominated the final quarter of the game. Auza and senior forward Anna Arato rounded out the final score with their 12 points and 11 points throughout the game, respectively. Emory only allowed the Judges to score four points in the fourth quarter while putting up 16 points, driving the final score up to 69-43. The Eagles capitalized on the Judges’ 20 turnovers, scoring 18 points from them. While Emory struggled to make three-pointers, their field percentage was significantly higher at 40.3%.
Arato attributed the win to her teammates’ energy and control of the game from the first basket.
“I don't think we were too confident, but I think we're really good at exploiting other teams weaknesses, especially when we start out really strong,” Arato said. “Then the rest of the game kind of took care of itself.”
This win, and NYU’s loss on Jan. 28, brought Emory to a tie for first place in the UAA conference. Emory’s second game in the weekend was a fight to maintain their now five-game winning streak and to take the first place spot in the conference from NYU.
Arato started the game with a swift three-pointer only 35 seconds into the game. This could have set the tone for the game, but NYU recovered quickly and dominated the first quarter. The Eagles had plenty of scoring opportunities, but they failed to capitalize on them and only scored 18.8% of their shots. The Violets led after shooting 67% in the first quarter, driving the score up to 25-7. The Eagles seemed to recover slightly in the second half, scoring 11 points, but NYU held them off with 15 points of their own. At the half, the Eagles still trailed 40-18.
NYU’s ferocity on the court caught Arato and her teammates off guard. The Eagles struggled to regain their confidence and the fluidity seen in the Brandeis game.
“Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong…I think we came out flat and didn't really have enough energy to carry us through the first quarter. Then after the first quarter, it was hard to come back after that,” Arato said.
The third quarter did not offer any solace at first, with Emory stuck in a scoreless rut for 12:45 minutes that started in the second quarter. Unfortunately only the Eagles were plagued by missed baskets, as the Violets went on a 22-point run during this time. Once Emory got on the board, they put up 11 points for the quarter. NYU maintained their large lead at 64-29. The Eagles outscored the Violets 15-13 in the fourth quarter, with freshman forward Erin Martin and freshman guard Daniella Aronsky contributing a three-pointer each. The game ended with NYU winning 77-44 and settling into first place of the UAA standings.
The Eagles will face NYU again on Feb. 6, and Arato is confident that Emory will walk off the court with a win. She wants her team to channel their frustration about the game in a positive direction.
“We can definitely beat them,” Arato said. “We made them look a lot better than they actually are. I know we all want it really badly, we have to learn it by executing and doing everything we're supposed to do on the court.”
