After starting the season with just four wins to six losses, SNHU men’s basketball went on to win seven in an eight-game stretch, including six consecutive wins. Multiple players received awards for their performances within the university and the NE10 conference.
Guard Ethan Okwuosa (‘25) was awarded SNHU Student Athlete of the Week the week of December 12, 2022. He spoke on what this award means and how his experience with SNHU basketball has been thus far.
“I think it’s an overall testament to who we are, our team culture…I feel like everyone does well in their own area,” said Okwuosa. “What I like about this team is we all come from different [programs and cultures] so we all just learn from each other.”
He continued to explain what a practice entails and the type of work that the team puts in every day.
“It’s a lot of preparation and competitive drills to sharpen up our skills as far as transition defense…[A lot] of tuning up, a lot of shooting, but as far as skill-work, that’s on us,” said Okwuosa.
He concluded by discussing how he thinks this team has capitalized on recent momentum despite its inconsistent start to the season.
“If only you could have seen how we were at the beginning of the year. We had all the pieces, we just couldn’t put it together. It was [a tough start]. Not as far as how we were playing, but as far as within ourselves,” said Okwuosa. “We started to trust each other, play off of one another, compliment each other, and things like that are showing.”
Teammate and fellow guard Matt Becht (‘24) won NE10 Player of the Week the week of December 5, 2022. He also received SNHU Student Athlete of the Week honors the same week.
Becht spoke on how awards tie into the team dynamic, and what the season has been like thus far.
“I feel like it’s a testament to hard work and the environment that we have. We’ve got a lot of guys who want each other to succeed and I think it’s not about one person’s recognition…All the individual awards are great, but I think it just shows what a good group of guys we have,” said Becht.
He spoke on the team dynamic and the chemistry that exists between teammates, as well as on the aspect of intrasquad rivalry.
“We definitely compete with each other…Guys want to be great, and sometimes that clashes, which is a good thing,” said Becht.
He went on to discuss what this season means to him and how he looks at what it can be.
“We have used the mantra ‘play for each other.’ I think at the beginning of the year it was kind of visible that we weren’t playing for each other…Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve handled a lot of adversity and I think we have stuck together,” said Becht. “If we stick together, [winning a championship] can become a reality.”
