Latest Title A True Triumph for Colgate

When the Raiders came away with a 67-62 win over Lafayette on Monday, the team had pulled off a remarkable feat.

Not only did the team extend its win streak to 12 games, but it also secured the program’s fifth consecutive regular season title.

After winning the Patriot League championship in each of the last three seasons, big things were expected of Colgate once again. But the team at the start of the regular season was not the same team of old. And the challenges that lay ahead were new and, perhaps, greater.

Unlike previous teams, the 2023-24 Raiders had to do battle with six new faces on the roster, five of them first-years. That’s a significant sum on a squad of 15.

The 2023-24 Raiders also had a few massive holes in the starting lineup at the beginning of the regular season, thanks to the departure of Tucker Richardson and Oliver Lynch-Daniels. 

Richardson, the team’s leading scorer last season, was one of the most decorated Raiders to ever wear the maroon-and-white uniform.  Lynch-Daniels, meanwhile, was a key starter and major weapon from the three-point line.

The 2023-24 Raiders, however, found ways to adjust. And now, when the Patriot League playoffs begin on March 7, Cotterell Court will once again be the site of the tournament.

Colgate has not tasted defeat since Jan. 10, when the Leopards handed the Raiders their first home loss to a conference opponent in nearly three years, snapping a streak that spanned more than 1,000 days.

The Raiders dropped to 8-8 on the season following the loss. Faced with an uphill battle, adjustments were made to the lineup, and the Raiders focused on a commitment to team-first basketball, a crucial part of the program’s success in recent years.

Colgate would go on to win its next 12 games — the second longest win streak in the nation at the moment. In the process, the team found itself, and now looks far different than the team in early January. 

“You never want to lose a conference game, but sometimes a loss like that can be beneficial,” said Ryan Moffatt, a fifth-year senior and forward. “It shows that anybody could come in here and beat us on any night. It showed me that we still have a lot of work to do.”

While the veterans on the team are well familiar with the challenges of conference play, the Jan. 10 loss provided lessons that were especially important for younger members of the team.

“We have a target on our backs because of our success from previous years,” Moffatt said. “That’s hard to realize when half our team wasn’t here last year. But since that loss, we started playing harder and playing to our strength, and this year our strength is defense.”

Indeed, one major reason for the winning streak is the team’s ability to shut down opponents and get crucial stops.

Keegan Records, a fifth-year senior and center, said defense has become the team’s identity. 

“We realized this year that we could be a really good defensive team,” he said. “Turning defense into offense has been huge for us. It took a while to find our identity, but the process of finding it has been beneficial for us because you learn things about each other. Even if it came with some losses, in the long run, it is worth it.”

Injuries and illnesses at times have hampered Colgate, forcing lineup changes and some student-athletes to take on new roles. But the team has recovered, and at the perfect time. 

As the Raiders improved with each game, so did first-years like Jalen Cox and Parker Jones, who have seen their minutes grow. 

Records said the contributions from the newer Raiders have impressed him the most about the team.

“It has been a different experience this year than in the past with the amount of new guys on the team,” Records said. “We have six new guys, five of them freshmen who have done a great job of buying into what the older guys and coaches have told them.

“They have done a great job of being focused on the team and getting better every day.”

Others throughout the lineup have also been huge for Colgate. Sophomore point guard Braeden Smith, one of the top rookies last season, has helped win games by hitting clutch shots and making key stops. Senior Sam Thomson has played valuable minutes in a serve role. 

There’s also sophomore Brady Cummins and seniors Chandler Baker and Nicolas Louis-Jacques, who have earned extended minutes this season with their strong play.

Head Coach Matt Langel said this year’s roster is bigger than those from previous years, giving Colgate more depth.

“The depth of the roster is significant,” Langel said. “The number of guys who have contributed in different fashions is significant.

“The experience of the team for a long stretch has been in the back court. Now, the experience in terms of years and games played is more on the front court. It certainly has been different.”

Langel praised Cox and Jones for their play on the court. But he also applauded the other newcomers, like Kyle Carlesimo, Sam Wright, Cooper Wright, and Julian Scott, for helping the team in other ways despite limited playing time.

“They have been welcome additions to our program in terms of what they add to our roster in personality and character and determination and work ethic,” Langel said. “In that sense, there are a lot of new pieces learning a lot of new things.

“But I have been really pleased with how willing they are to learn and not just from the coaches but from their teammates who have been there, and the progress they’ve made in adding to and adapting to what is Colgate Basketball.”

One important element to the success of the program during its run of multiple championships has been committing to a team-first mentality. And that element has certainly been on display through the 2023-24 season.

“We have been playing unselfishly,” Moffatt said. “Nobody cares who gets the credit on any single night, which is important.”

Earning another regular season crown is just one goal among others for Colgate. The team wants another conference championship and another opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament. 

“It’s great to clinch with three games left,” Moffatt said. But for this team, for our program, it’s not our only goal. It’s great and it’s important to everyone, but the ultimate goal is still ahead of us. It’s something we continue to strive for. We have to keep it on our minds at all times.”