Bearcats to Start Men's Basketball Season against Evergreen State on Friday
By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
SALEM, Ore. -- The 2023-24 regular season for the Willamette University men's basketball team begins on Friday, Nov. 10 when the Bearcats host Evergreen State College. Game time at Cone Field House is set for 7 p.m. PST. It will be Willamette's first regular season contest under new Head Coach Michael Lenahan.
Leading the list of returning Bearcats is Jack Boydell (Grad., W, Sonoma, CA/Sonoma Valley HS), who was named Honorable Mention All-Northwest Conference last season. He also earned Second Team Academic All-America honors from the College Sports Communicators (CSC) and was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court for his succes in the classroom.
On the court, Boydell averaged 18.7 points and 5.1 rebounds per game in 2022-23. He played in 24 games with 22 starts and scored 448 points while shooting 50.3% from the field (153 of 304, 40.4% on 3-point attempts (57 of 141), and hitting 87.6% of his free throws (85 of 97). He scored a career-high 34 points against Multnomah University on Nov. 15, 2022.
Boydell begins the season with 1,070 career points to go along with 322 rebounds, 147 assists, 71 steals, and 18 blocked shots. He has scored on 134 career 3-point shots for fifth place all-time at Willamette. He is an 82.2% career free throw shooter (152 of 185).
Josiah Frank (Jr., G, Turlock, CA/John H. Pitman HS) returns after averaging 12.9 points per game last season. He grabbed 4.6 rebounds per game and supplied teammates with 2.7 assists per contest. He tallied a career-high 28 points at Linfield University in a 98-95 overtime win on Jan. 3, 2023.
Also returning as a top scorer is Ryder Hsiung (Jr., G, Honolulu, HI/Punahou School). Last year, Hsiung averaged 12.5 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. He led the Bearcats with 50 three-point baskets while shooting 43.1% from behind the arc. He also connected on 81.7% of his free throw attempts (58 of 71). Hsuing registered a career-high 30 points against West Coast Baptist College (Calif.).
The Bearcats averaged 80.5 points per game and earned 38.0 rebounds per contest. Willamette scored on 10.1 three-point shots per game. The Bearcats converted 72.1% of their free throws.
Returning players who joined Boydell on the NABC Honors Court for academic success last season were Paul McSlarrow (Sr., W, Sandy, UT/The Waterford School) and Gavin Rippere (Sr., F, Salinas, CA/Salinas HS/Clark College). McSlarrow and Dylan Green (Jr., F, Lakewood, CO/Green Mountain HS) earned Academic All-District recognition from the CSC.
Coach Lenahan has previous experience coaching a Northwest Conference team. He was an assistant coach at Whitman College in 2014-15 and in 2019-20. He was the head men's basketball coach at Bard College (N.Y.) in 2021-22 and 2022-23.