From running through the Boston Common to sprinting between sidelines, the Emerson men’s basketball team is ready for the 2025-26 season.

Head coach Bill Curley believes the last couple months of practices have been “very competitive.”

“The guys are working hard. They have their good days and bad days,” he said. “Honestly, they’re making it tough on us coaches. Unfortunately, there [are] only so many minutes we can play.”

He added that those tough decisions are a “testament” to the group’s hard work and camaraderie, though they still need some players to get back to full strength.

“At the end of the day, we’re trying to win as many games as we can, and we need everybody that’s on that floor—even the guys that have been hurt,” said Curley. “Once we get back to full strength, it’s going to be more interesting.”

Junior forward Guillermo Gasset Ruiz said the team’s mentality revolves around winning, especially for a group of seniors gearing up for their last dance with Emerson basketball.

“It’s a win-now mentality for sure,” he said. “We have a lot of freshmen from last year that have developed [and] are gonna have a big role.”

Consistency and effort are among the key lessons from last year heading into this season, according to Curley.

“They got through a tremendous start, and then they just fell off a cliff for a bit,” he said, referring to a rough patch that saw the Lions go 2-8 in January. “To their credit, they found a way to battle and get better and improve as we got going.”

The Lions’ top opponents this year include Tufts University (Nov. 20), Div. I UMass-Lowell (Nov. 29), and several NEWMAC heavyweights in Babson College (Jan. 17) and WPI (Jan. 20).

“We have a really tough schedule ahead of us, so we’re going to be challenged, and they’re going to earn everything they get,” Curley said.

Another lesson the Lions are bringing in is a sense of being “the underdog,” according to Gasset Ruiz.

“Even if we’re seen as the better team, we want to go in with the underdog mentality,” he said. “To not prove others wrong, but prove ourselves right. And to stay with 100% intensity every game.”

The Lions are welcoming four new faces: first-year guard Nick Cozzolino and three transfers in junior guard BJ McNeil, graduate forward Otto Luessenhop and junior center LJ Glover.

“[Nick] has been a little bit behind in terms of the pace of practice and the terminology we’re using and what’s expected every day,” Curley said of Cozzolino. “But we think he has a really bright future.”

As for the transfers, Curley said they will be “very big assets” but will also need to get the rust off and gel with the rest of the group.

“We have a strong nucleus that [has] been here, been battle tested,” he added. “So it’s [about] how do they get into there and still be their individual [selves] that they bring to the table?” 

The veteran Lions have “all come back in better shape with better knowledge,” according to Curley. However, he reiterated that their improved decision-making will be a major factor for success this season.

Gasset Ruiz and Curley believe that the team’s size is one of their strengths, with coaches working to put players in positions to best utilize their respective skill sets. However, the junior forward also cited the group’s need to stay on the same page, which makes their constant review of concepts all the more important.

“Sometimes, we have different reads, and that just happens since we haven’t played with each other for as long [and] we have new guys, new roles,” he added. “Once we play more and focus on the details, then we’ll be good.”

Although Curley believes the team has a “high ceiling,” he emphasized that the players must prove themselves daily, which he says will be crucial to playing for championships and avoiding losing skids that affected them the last couple of seasons.

“We’re trying to aim high, and the only way to do that is every day, you [have] to come out and prove it,” he said. “I believe we have the potential to be really good, but it doesn’t matter what I believe. They have to show us.”

That proof came in the pudding of a Halloween practice, where the Lions reinforced key concepts over a two-hour stretch, including attention to detail on defense and improving their shooting and finishing on offense. The energy and encouragement were evident throughout the gym, including a transition drill ending with a dunk by sophomore forward Brendan Taylor, and junior forward Caden Zurek asking for—and scoring on—lobs off the backboard.

The sense of brotherhood, according to Gasset Ruiz, has been a key habit imparted to the new Lions from the returners.

“When one of us falls, when one of us needs something, we have 18, 19 players that are there for each other on and off the court,” he said. “That’s definitely something that we all work for, and make sure the new guys coming in feel it and also adapt into it once they’re [on] the team.”

The Lions kick off the 2025-26 season at home on the Hank Smith Court against Salem State University on Nov. 11 at 12 p.m. Gasset Ruiz believes fans can expect an entertaining season.

“We’re going to be good this year, we’re going to compete with some great teams, and we’re going to go out, have fun, [and] win,” he said.