The 2023-24 Case Western Reserve University men's basketball team etched its name in the program's record books during the campaign, setting a new school record for wins in a season, winning the University Athletic Association Championship for the second-straight year, reaching the NCAA Division III Championship for the third-consecutive season, and matching its best national finish in the program's history.
The Spartans finished the year with a 23-5 overall record, passing the previous program record mark of 22 wins set just a year prior, and went 10-4 in UAA contests to tie for the league title and earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship tournament for the second-straight year. CWRU went on to host the first weekend of the tournament, defeating Mary Baldwin 66-51 in the first round and 22nd-ranked Hope 97-79 in the round of 32 behind a 30-point effort from graduate student guard Anthony Mazzeo and 29 points from junior guard Sam Trunley. However, the Spartans saw their NCAA tournament run come to an end the following weekend in Angola, Indiana with a 95-75 loss to 11th-ranked Wisconsin-Platteville.
CWRU ended the year ranked 11th in the D3hoops.com Top 25, the highest ranking in the website's final top 25 in program history. During the year, the Spartans were ranked as high as second, reaching the mark in the fourth poll of the year, and were ranked in each poll during the season for the first time in program history. CWRU finished the year 5-3 against teams ranked in the top 25 at the time of the game and 4-3 against teams ranked in the D3hoops.com final top 25.
The Spartans also went undefeated at home for the first time in program history, going 13-0 in games played inside Horsburgh Gymnasium, and were 8-4 against teams that qualified for the NCAA tournament.
CWRU was one of the top offensive teams in the country during the 2023-24 season, averaging 84.8 points per game, the most among UAA teams and 19th among all Division III squads. The Spartans ranked eighth in Division III in three-pointers per game (10.7), 17th in assist/turnover ratio (1.47), and 21st in blocks per game (4.9). CWRU shot 47.0% from the floor, including 37.0% from behind the three-point arc, while allowing 76.5 points per contest. The squad set program records during the year for points (2,375), field goals made (840), and three-point field goals made (299).
Mazzeo, who joined the Spartan squad in 2023-24 after playing his undergraduate career at Baldwin Wallace, immediately emerged as one of the top players in Division III. He was named to the D3hoops.com All-America Fifth Team, becoming the second player in program history to secure All-America honors from the organization. He finished the year averaging a team-high 19.5 points per game and his 545 total points during the campaign set a new school record. Mazzeo also dished out a team-high 4.7 assists per game, the third-most among UAA players, while adding 4.1 rebounds per contest and shooting 45.9% from the floor and 39.0% from three-point range during the year. He was named the UAA Athlete of the Week on five occasions, and to the D3hoops.com Team of the Week once while also appearing on the watch lists for both the Bevo Francis Award and the Trevor Hudgins Award, and is a top-10 finalist for the Jostens Trophy. Mazzeo was also selected to the D3hoops.com and NABC All-Region First Teams and the All-UAA First Team.
The Spartans' roster featured three other graduate students who had a strong impact on the team during the campaign. Forward Colin Kahl earned all-region and All-UAA honors during the campaign after scoring 15.0 points per contest with a team-high 7.5 rebounds and 27 blocks and secured a spot in the NABC All-Star Game following the season. Guard Preston Maccoux played in all 28 games and scored 9.3 points per contest with 2.7 rebounds and led the team with a 43.2% mark from behind the three-point line. Guard Richie Manigault started 25 games and played in all 28, adding 6.8 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists.
Among the returning players, Trunley provided a key spark off the bench for the team, finishing the year third on the squad with 13.0 points per contest on 43.8% shooting overall, 35.6% from long range, and 88.6% from the free throw line, the best mark among qualifying UAA players during the year and the 26th-best in Division III. Junior forward Umar Rashid was a force defensively, leading the team with 1.46 blocks per game and scoring 8.9 points with 7.0 rebounds per game. Senior guard Luke Thorburn was one of three players to start all 28 games during the season, averaging 3.2 points and 4.8 rebounds, and senior forward Ian Elam shot a team-high 59.5% from the floor during the year, coming off the bench to score 4.2 points with 3.9 rebounds.
The Spartans went a perfect 11-0 in non-conference regular season play during the year to extend their streak to 31 straight non-conference regular season wins, dating back to the 2021-22 campaign. CWRU's 11-0 start to the year matched the best start in the program's history and was just one game shy of the team's longest winning streak ever. The Spartans began the year with wins over Pitt.-Bradford and Eastern to win the Bill Sudeck Tournament for the second-straight year, as Kahl (secured the tournament's Most Valuable Player honor and was joined on the All-Tournament team by senior forward Hunter Drenth.
Seven wins later, CWRU traveled to Las Vegas for the 2023 D3hoops.com Classic, where the team claimed wins over fourth-ranked Oswego State and Clark. Mazzeo was named the Most Valuable Player of the D3hoops.com Classic after averaging 28.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 7.0 assists over the two contests. Following the tournament, the Spartans rose to second in the D3hoops.com rankings.
CWRU dropped its first game of the season in its UAA opener at Carnegie Mellon but went on to win its next four games in a row, including victories against fourth-ranked NYU at home, 94-76, and 22nd-ranked Emory on the road, 90-86. Trunley scored 33 points in the win over Emory, the seventh-most points scored in a game by a Spartan in program history, while matching a program record with eight made three-point shots. After back-to-back road losses to Chicago and then 22nd-ranked WashU, the Spartans went on to win six of their final seven regular season games to lock up the conference title and NCAA bid. During the season-ending stretch, CWRU bested WashU (ranked 17th at the time) 74-59, and clinched a share of the UAA Championship with a 76-75 win at home against Carnegie Mellon on the final day of the campaign. CWRU secured the conference's automatic bid to the tournament by a tiebreaker over NYU (CWRU held a 1-1 record against Carnegie Mellon, the third-place team, while NYU was 0-2 against the Tartans).
In addition to their success on the court, seven members of the team – sophomore guard Anand Dharmarajan, Drenth, junior guard Diego Echavarria, Elam, Rashid, Thorburn, and Trunley – received UAA All-Academic recognition following the campaign for their achievements in the classroom. Mazzeo was also named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-America First Team, while Mazzeo, Rashid, Thorburn, and Tunley each claimed Academic All-District honors.
Spartan players earned the following honors during the 2023-24 season:
The following were the CWRU team leaders during the 2023-24 season:
