The boys basketball program has improved at UCA since its days of only offering open gyms on Wednesdays. Now, the dedicated boys team is looking forward to a season slate of 28 games.
Coach Brian Mazique, who’s led the boys program from the start, says this year’s team is the “most talented group overall” that he’s had in four years of the program.
Year one of Phoenix basketball was little more than pick-up games in the UCA gym. Year two saw UCA match up against local club teams. Year three was UCA’s first as an IHSA-official team, and the boys ended with an 8-6 record, including a win at our first-ever homecoming game.
This year, as part of the Metro Prep Conference, Mazique is hopeful his squad of about a dozen will take their game to the next level yet again.
“We’ve got two seniors on the team who have legitimate aspirations to play college basketball next year,” Mazique said, referring to Shemar Coleman and Kenyun Mazique, his son.
Although the team struggled with feelings of illegitimacy early on, UCA’s growing program has caught the eye of at least one potential student, Mazique said, who is considering joining the UCA community because of the basketball program.
Mazique remembers a moment last season that proves the kind of culture UCA Boys Basketball is building. A previously-injured senior who had spent most of the year as the team’s manager had the chance to play on senior night, and he made at least one three-pointer in the game.
“Getting him a shot on senior night was not lost on my boys. They understood and they knew this was the only IHSA game that Marc-Andy was going to play,” Mazique said. “The thing that I love the most about our team beyond wins and everything is how much we take care of each other.”
That kind of culture has continued this year as well, Mazique said, as evidenced by a conversation he had with a parent of a freshman: “She said this is the best basketball experience he has had. [Her son] came home and said this team feels like his brothers.”
Led by Mazique and assistant coach CJ Cross, the Phoenix will tip off their season in late November.