On Nov. 1, Carleton men’s basketball rookie Lloyd Pandi scored 18 points and led all Carleton starters with 22 minutes played in the Ravens’ 110-54 victory over Waterloo.
This victory signalled the start of the regular season for Carleton and the start of Pandi’s accoladed first season as a Raven. Preparing for the games ahead, like the one against Waterloo, had been ongoing since summer.
“What I did [in summer] was ask a lot of questions, watch a lot of film. Making sure that I was comfortable with the system, making sure that I was comfortable with the position — my teammates helped me a lot,” said Pandi. “They gave me the confidence to go out there and just play, perform and help this team.”
Going into the season Pandi expected to be coming off the bench. However, he started 17 games—a rare occurrence for a rookie in Carleton’s deep program.
“I didn’t think I was gonna play a lot of minutes until one of our seniors Yasiin Joseph came into the locker room and talked to me,” said Pandi. “He told me, ‘Be ready because you’re going to have a big role this year’ and I thought he was joking around because we joke a lot amongst each other.
“But then when the coaches brought me in the one-on-one meeting they told me I was going to start and I said, ‘Oh, he wasn’t joking.’”
Pandi led Carleton in scoring this season, averaging 16 points per game–the highest any Carleton player has averaged since the 2016-17 season. He also averaged the most minutes per game (22.8) and was U Sports’ most efficient shooter, hitting 66 per cent of his field goal attempts.
“You know the production, it was mainly just because of my teammates having the confidence in me, going out there and just making plays and just putting me in the most comfortable situation possible,” he said.
The rookie also proved to be solid on the defensive end, leading the team in rebounds and had the second most blocks. All of this culminated in Pandi being named to the all rookie all-star team, the second all Canadian all star team and being named the U Sports Men’s Rookie of the Year. He was also drafted by the Ottawa Blackjacks in the 2020 Canadian Elite Basketball League U Sports draft.
Despite tremendous individual success Pandi puts the success of the team, which includes this season’s OUA and U Sports titles, before himself.
“It was just a surreal season having the ability to win those achievements individually, but it wouldn’t have as much without winning the ultimate goal which was the championship at the end of the year,” he said.
Being successful on the court means Pandi and his teammates have to make sacrifices off the court.
“It takes a lot of discipline knowing that you need to focus on your priorities first. That you have practice, that you have homework, that you have classes, lectures. So sometimes socializing—you’re going to have to sacrifice that. Sacrificing just hanging out with your friends, going to parties, doing all that stuff,” said Pandi.
“But at the end of the day knowing that winning is your best reward because of course winning the championship made it worth it with all the sacrifices that we’ve taken.”
Alongside the accomplishments, he says the honour of playing for his local university team adds to his experience.
“Growing up in this city, seeing the prestigious program Carleton has been, all the championships they’ve won, playing here is just something real special. Knowing that I have my family behind me, coming to games, my parents come to every home game and always following my career is a blessing,” he said.
Considering what Pandi was able to do as a rookie, basketball fans should be excited to see what he can bring next season.
Feature image by Tim Austen.
