It’s a new era of Carleton Ravens men’s basketball. Lloyd Pandi, the reigning U Sports men’s basketball Player of the Year, and Alain Louis, the 2022 championship MVP, have both moved on to start professional careers.
The absence of those key players, in addition to a series of injuries and eligibility issues for returning players, required the Ravens to turn to younger players on Saturday, when they lost 104-91 to the Northeastern Huskies of Boston Mass. in a preseason game at the Ravens Nest.
Fifth-year forward Grant Shephard has to sort out his course load at Carleton before he can play. Guard Emmanuel Ugbah underwent knee surgery in the off-season and suffered a setback. Forward Elliot Bailey had a ruptured spleen.
In their place, forward Reginald Jean Seraphin, in his first year of eligibility after walking on to the team last season, played 30 minutes. Forward Bradley Louidon played 23 minutes. Guard Marjok Okado played 24.
“The good news is that there’s a lot of potential,” Carleton head coach Taffe Charles said. “The bad news is if you have a young team, you’re gonna give up a pile of points, because there’s a lot of little things we know we need to do and they just don’t know how to do it.”
The Ravens started strong, outsourcing the Huskies 25-20 in the first quarter. But Northeastern took a 44-40 lead by halftime and surged ahead in the fourth quarter, stretching the lead to 15 points with seconds left on the clock.
Carleton committed 20 turnovers to Northeastern’s eight.
For a team that prides itself on lockdown defence, allowing 104 points in a game means the Ravens have “a lot of learning to do,” guard Aiden Warnholtz said. Warnholtz scored a team-leading 22 points in the loss.
As one of the leaders, Warnholtz said his role on the court changes as the team shifts younger.
“Guys like Connor [Vreeken], [Wazir Latiff] who have been here for a couple years, we gotta make sure that our presence is felt out there and it’s not the younger guys having to think about a million things,” Warnholtz said. “We can help get them on the right page and kind of be the vocal leaders out there.”
The 104 points Northeastern scored is the most Carleton has allowed to an NCAA team in program history. The only other NCAA team the Ravens have allowed 100-plus points to is Cornell University in 2002—before the first of Carleton’s 16 national championships.
The last time Carleton allowed 100-plus points against any team in the preseason, regular season or playoffs was in 2013 against the University of Ottawa.
“I don’t even know how to explain [104 points allowed],” Charles said. “It’s the weirdest scorecard I’ve seen for a Carleton Ravens basketball team.”
Despite the loss, Charles said Carleton’s young players will benefit from the experience.
“The time that they used here today will prove to be valuable,” he said. “It sucks to lose, but at the end of the day, it’s part of the process.”
Carleton isn’t unique in its reliance on youth this season. The Huskies, coming off a season in which they won just two of 18 regular-season games, brought six freshmen and a red-shirt junior to face Carleton.
They’ve had only 10 practices with the team and are playing together for the first time on Northeastern’s three-game trip to Canada.
“Their energy and enthusiasm, blended in with some of our experienced older guys, really made for a good mix,” Huskies head coach Bill Coen said.
For Coen, who has led the Huskies since 2006, Saturday was his fourth career matchup against the Ravens. Northeastern had lost every game before then.
“Each and every time, we learn something new about ourselves,” Coen said. “These trips are not only a cultural experience for our guys, but a chance to get out and compete against some of the best programs in North America. When you compete against the best, you get better—win or lose.”
The Ravens have two more NCAA matchups on the calendar. The team will travel to the Bahamas to face Kentucky on Aug. 13 and then wrap up the Can-Am Shootout on Aug. 23 against the Oregon Ducks at Ravens Nest.
While Carleton’s health and eligibility issues likely won’t be resolved for any of those games, Charles said the experience is still valuable.
“This is probably the toughest [preseason] schedule that Carleton’s ever had,” he said. “It’s a tough time to have a team that’s a little bit inexperienced, but those are the games you don’t turn down.”
Featured image by Spencer Colby
