IU Columbus’ Owen Law looks to take the ball to the basket against IU Kokomo Feb. 18 at Nexus Park.
The Republic file photo
After going 2-26 in its first season of men’s college basketball, the second season is shaping up to be much more promising for IU Columbus.
The Crimson Pride have added a wealth of talent and athleticism that figures to lead to an exciting brand of basketball, and if they can mesh together, more victories.
“We did bring in a lot of talent, guys that are going to put us in position to be a lot more competitive that last year,” IUC coach James Adams said. “Last year was obviously our birth year, so this year, we’re going to show some folks where we can go. I think we were very competitive all year long. We just didn’t have the necessary tools to be able to finish out games due to lack of height or lack of talent, but I think that we’ve solved some of those problems going into this year, and we do have a very solid nucleus of guys to really go out there and win some more basketball games than two.”
One of those two wins for the Crimson Pride came in their final game of the season, a 90-88 victory against IU Southeast that served as their first River States Conference victory.
“I think it gives us a ton of confidence,” said Owen Law, who hit the winning shot in the closing seconds of that game. “We saw it this summer.”
“Winning the last game just helped give us an identity with our team and just knowing how to win as a whole. I think that was probably one of our main struggles last year — just trying how to win as a team — and last year, that last game, we were able to get that,” Damontae Thompson added.
Law, a junior from Jennings County, led IUC with 16.7 points and 4.3 rebounds a game last year. Thompson, a sophomore from Madison, Wisconsin, added 11.1 points and led the Crimson Pride with 3.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game.
IU Columbus’ Damontae Thompson drives to the basket during a game against Saint Francis Oct. 29, 2024, at Nexus Park.
The Republic file photo
Deylon Johnson joined the team after Christmas last year and averaged 11.5 points in six games. Bobby Wonnell (8.3 ppg), a junior from Taylor; Nathan Pickett (5.4 ppg), a senior from Atlanta; and Jack Fischvogt (3.1 ppg), a sophomore from Columbus East; also saw extensive action last season.
“I’m just excited for the main core that we have and the camaraderie that we’re building night-in-night-out in practices and just the competition level that we’re able to bring,” Thompson said.
“I’m mostly excited about the new guys that really can get on the rim,” Law added. “Last year, we didn’t have many high flyers, and I think it’s going to be a whole new level this year.”
Included in that group of new players are several transfers, including Trevin Lieck (senior, Verona, Wisconsin); Jermayn Baxter (junior, Decatur Central); Derald Blackmon (junior, Detroit); Shauntez Cain (junior, Detroit); Kyan Reichhoff (junior, Portage, Wisconsin) and Jayden Broadnax (junior, Garrett).
The 6-foot-8 Lieck, a graduate student who played the past four years at Western Colorado, played AAU basketball for Adams in Wisconsin. He will give the Crimson Pride a height element that they did not have last year.
“I’m looking to have some fun with these guys and get some wins,” Lieck said. “I think we have a good team here, and I think we’re going to do some great things.”
“I feel like we got a lot better in the recruiting that coach Adams has done, and I also think we maintained the core basketball players we needed to maintain for the season,” IUC athletics director Zach McClellan added. “At the end of the day, this year is about progress.”
IUC has a total of 29 players on the roster and will field a JV team that will play against junior colleges and other NAIA programs mostly on Wednesday nights.
The varsity team opens its season at noon Tuesday against East-West University at Nexus Park.
“To win games is the No. 1 goal, but at the very beginning when you start the season off, it’s to try build community with the team,” Adams said. “You can bring all the talent in the world, but if you can’t get these guys to play on the same wavelength, it’s tough. That’s the No. 1 goal — to get these guys on the same wavelength and playing together. We can dunk and do all these different, fun things that the crowd loves to see, but we still have to play as a team, and that’s probably the most difficult part about coaching. But I do have those goals, and I have goals that we can potentially have an opportunity to play in the conference tournament this year. I think our preseason schedule will prepare us for the conference.”
The Crimson Pride were picked 12th out of 12 teams in the RSC preseason poll.
“They didn’t do us any justice with the preseason polls, but we want to play like underdogs, and we’re going to fight like underdogs,” Adams said.
Adams said his team will play up-tempo again this season.
“We’re a fast-paced team,” Adams said. “We want to get up and down as much as possible, but we also want to be organized. We are a cutting team, we are a sharing team, we’re a selfless team, but we do have guys that can compete on the floor and make plays. We have so many different weapons that we can hit you with this year than we did last year.
“I’m just excited,” he added. “We want to bring the community a very exciting style of basketball. We have guys that are all over the rim. We’re much more athletic than we last year. We want to bring exciting basketball to the community of Columbus.”
