Lehigh men’s basketball intent on finishing regular season strong

The Lehigh men’s basketball team has traded wins and losses this season, but there’s still a chance to end on a high note. 

With injuries and close games, this season has contained many ups and downs. But, in the eyes of the Mountain Hawks, it’s not how you start; it’s how you finish. 

Last season, Lehigh entered the Patriot League Tournament as the sixth seed. The team got hot at the right time, upsetting Lafayette College and Boston University on the road to secure a berth in the championship game. The team’s Cinderella run eventually ended at the hands of Colgate University, the top team in the conference.

Depending on the conclusion of this season, the team has a chance to earn a top-six seed and a first-round bye in the Patriot League Tournament.  

Sophomore point guard Cam Gillus has been a key member in the team’s development. He said forming strong bonds has allowed the team to transition from an individual mindset to a unified force. 

“Starting league play, we had some injuries, which led to guys filling roles they didn’t before league play started,” Gillus said. “Guys are starting to know their roles and starting to play better in those roles.”

Gillus said moving forward, the team is remaining disciplined and striving toward its ultimate goal of winning.

He also said the team needs to focus on what they can control rather than what’s out of its hands, which includes being more physical and playing harder to move forward. 

“If we keep reminding guys of those messages, whether it’s the coaches or players, we will continue to play hard,” Gillus said. 

The team has been more physical since their last two conference wins against College of the Holy Cross and Colgate. Against top-seeded team American University on Feb. 8 and Navy on Feb. 12, the team battled in close one-score games.

Senior guard Tyler Whitney-Sidney also stressed the importance of putting in hard work. He said as a senior, he not only has to focus on his game but also has to learn how to be a role model for the younger players on the team. 

Whitney-Sidney said he’s focused on instilling the team’s hard-working culture into the younger players’ mindsets and throughout the team as a whole.

“The adjustment in practice was messaging every single day that working hard is not a choice,” Whitney-Sidney said. “It is something we are trying to get the younger guys to understand that everyday hard work has to be mandatory. We come in on scholarship for a reason, so we need to come in every day and play as hard as we can.”

This commitment to improvement was echoed by sophomore shooting guard Josh Ingram, who said the team needs to learn from their mistakes and focus on improvement instead of harping on previous losses. 

“Earlier in the league, it was about closing out games, and (we’re) still struggling on that and mental errors,” Ingram said. “So, if we could be prepared and execute better, we would have been able to get more wins earlier in the league.”

Ingram said he is confident the team will be able to win more games down the line after cleaning up the mistakes.

The team has limited their errors, winning the turnover margin in their past five conference games.

Nothing gave the Mountain Hawks the will to win more than playing their rival team, Lafayette, and having the crowd cheer in the stands. After a six-game losing streak this season, the team routed Lafayette on Jan. 25, which Ingram said was a turning point and a confidence booster. 

“We had a lot of fans and students coming, which started our push to get a nice win streak and have a good push for the later part of the season,” Ingram said.

With four games left in the regular season, Ingram said he has felt a desire for victory from his entire team, which hopes to avoid ranking lower in the league.