While the men’s basketball team was not able to capitalize on what they were hoping would be a winning season that took them to the postseason, the team has not lost hope that they will end up where they want to be.

The Mustangs finished with an overall record of 16-12 and a conference record of 10-12. The Mustangs finished 11th place in the Lone Star Conference, which was only one place higher than the previous season placing. Ironically, the overall record from last season and the overall record for this season was reversed.

At the beginning of the season, head coach Justin Leslie switched up his offense as well as his defense. Will Shepherd, business finance junior, said that the defense they played was one of the team’s biggest strengths.

“Our zone. That was a strength of ours. Like the teams a lot of times couldn’t figure out how to beat our zone. And whenever we actually played hard, and flew around, and talked, our zone was really hard to play against,” Sheppard said.

Playing as a team was a big factor in the outcome of the season. At the beginning, the Mustangs took a trip to Taiwan, where they took part in a tournament. This tournament allowed for the team bond to strengthen. Mason Gibson, business management junior, said when the team played together, and for each other, they saw success on the court.

“I think when we just started playing together,” Gibson said.

Shepherd echoed those thoughts.

“It made us trust each other more. We built that relationship that allows you to put it all out there for everyone, on the court,” Shepherd said.

Amaechi Chukwu, business marketing senior, said one big factor in the success the team saw was being able to play at home. While at home, the Mustangs had the support and the motivation to play harder and win.

“Something that worked well for us, really just playing at home, being able to play here, brought a different energy to us playing here. Just trying to protect the home court. I feel like that helped, how we were always able to like come together at home. We always found a way to kind of have a fight, so I feel like that was really good,” Chukwu said.

On the road, the Mustangs record was 4-8 while their home record was 12-4. Chukwu had thoughts about how the Mustangs could take the energy and fight they played with at home and transfer it to their away games.

“I feel like at away games we have to have more fight. It’s an away game, so really the odds are going to be stacked against you, you are at someone else’s home court, their hometown, your traveling, you know you have all the excuses, just to kind of play off on a road game, but you just kind of have to fight through that, and continue to just fight,” Chukwu said. 

While the team had many more strengths, there were weaknesses that played a part in the outcome of the season.

Similar to the women’s team, a few of the guys mentioned the communication on the court needed to improve. When the team communicated with one another, they saw results on the court. Although Shepherd was a bit more specific in where exactly the team needed to be more vocal.

“Not talking on ball screens, so like you don’t know what to do or when the screen is coming, or where it is coming from. So me and the other leaders next year we have to be better about communicating and being vocal,” Shepherd said.

While communication is a big weakness the team would like to improve, there was also an issue

One big thing the team missed this season was not making it into the postseason. The way the team navigates the off season is going to focus more on building the team up so they can make it into the postseason.

“One big thing we missed this season was not making it into the postseason. You know coming off of last year, we didn’t have a lot of roster turnover, we had a lot of new guys. So bringing them into the fold. Just finding guys who are just going to fit in at Midwestern and just be good representatives of the community, our campus, we succeeded there, we were in the games with all of the good teams, we just had a few where we lost in close ones, we had a bit of adversity,” Leslie said.

Going into the postseason the Mustangs are looking to better themselves as a team and as players. 

“Just to get better, have a better season next year, we didn’t finish the way we wanted too and the coaches have been on us about that, so we want to work hard every day, you know. Finish at the end of march, early april next year,” Gibson said.

Chukwu echoed Gibson’s thoughts on what the desire of the team is, going forward into the offseason and into next season.

“I feel like the main motivator we have is just the desire to get better. The way this season this year ended we kind of saw what we needed to get better at as a team and as a player. Just try and build off of that,” Chukwu said.

Looking back at how the 2023-2024 season ended the Mustangs are taking with them the weaknesses and strengths they had and using them to grow and become a better team for the 2024-2025 season.

Going into the next season Leslie is focused on having an upper-class heavy team and continues to build off this last season.

“I am really encouraged that we are going to have a very upper-class heavy tea, and I think that is going to serve us well. So we can continue building off the things that we learned, the areas where we fell short this year. We aren’t going to hide from it or make excuses, but rather learn from it,” Leslie said.

From a recruiting standpoint, Leslie has a set plan in the type of player he is looking to recruit.

“We will have a couple of holes we will need to fill. Not to say that it is minor, we need to get two impact players. Specifically we need to get someone at the wing that can defend. One of the places that we were deficient, this year was a lot of the top teams had those 6 ‘4, 6’ 5 athletic wings, and we didn’t have a great match up for them. We need to address that in the transfor portal,” Leslie said. 

Throughout the season injuries put the team in a bind at times. At the beginning of the season Chukwu was injured. With injuries in mind as well as the transfor portal Leslie is looking for a player who can score down low.

“There was a glaring deficiency there. So we need to recruit someone else who can score in the interior, in the post. Just to have a little bit of redundancy in the roster to protect ourselves, whether it is injuries, foul trouble. Those two things is what we are focusing on in this transfer cycle,” Leslie said.

The team has already begun preparing for the next season. Having started workouts and getting in that extra practice during the off season, the team is looking to improve and focus on what can be done to better the team for next season.

“Making it more about process. You know just daily and being present, and being engaged, and doing what they can to improve and grow. That is the focus. It’s a long offseason and there is a lot to be done,” Leslie said