LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates men's basketball team is headed to the Windy City to start the 2024-25 campaign, and head coach Jon Furbush '05 is looking forward to seeing what his team can accomplish this year, as the Bobcats enter the season with a renewed focus on defense. Bates takes on the University of Chicago Saturday at 1 p.m. eastern time / noon central. 

"I've been talking with the UChicago coach for many years about doing this tournament and the scheduling hasn't worked out," Furbush said. "But I committed to it last summer at a recruiting event when I saw him. So it is a great opportunity for us to get out of the region and play some really competitive teams early on in the season."

Sophomore guard Marc Begin II (Carlsbad, Calif.) is the reigning NESCAC Men's Basketball Rookie of the Year, having ranked sixth in the conference in scoring a year ago at 16.6 points per game. The backcourt gets a boost this year by the return of junior guard Jahmir Primer (Hempstead, N.Y.), who took a leave of absence last year but averaged 11.5 points per game two seasons ago. 

"Marc and Jahmir's aggression and their ability to get downhill is their strength," Furbush said. "It's really important that we take care of the basketball when they have it in their hands, and they've shown some flashes in practice of being able to play together at a high level, and so hopefully that continues to develop." 

Bates returns six of their seven leading scorers from last season, which saw an impressive rookie campaign from forward Babacar Pouye (Carpinteria, Calif.), who averaged eight points and five rebounds per game. He is joined in the frontcourt by junior forward Chiwer Mayen (Lewiston, Maine), who has shown intriguing flashes each of the last two years.

"As guard heavy as we are, we are making an emphasis of getting the ball to the interior once Babacar and Chiwer roll into space," Furbush said. "We want to play through those guys, but we're asking both of them to kind of start away from the basket and then make their way in there." 

A host of guards, including junior Brady Coyne (Falmouth, Maine), junior captain Elliott Cravitz (Denver, Colo.), junior Peter Psyhogeos (Yarmouth, Maine), and versatile senior captain swingman Grant Nadeau (Gorham, Maine) gives Furbush plenty to work with this season on offense. But for him, it all comes back to how the team is able to defend.

"We've made an emphasis to really clean up our man-to-man defense," Furbush said. "Last year, I had to punt and go to zone, which is not something I really wanted to do, but we've really got back to what I would call Bobcat basketball and playing defense the way that we should have been playing for a couple of years now."

Last season didn't go as planned for Bates, but with three talented first-years joining an experienced roster, the Bobcats are hoping to finish games better this season, as they often went toe-to-toe with opponents last year only to see the opposition pull away down the stretch.

"That's something that is in the back of my mind constantly," Furbush said. "And when I reflect on really the last two seasons of those moments, we've had a variety of injuries and illnesses that once the season began, there was limited time for the same five to practice together and get into a flow. So there were a lot of possessions late in games where the group on the floor hadn't played together a whole lot because the previous day in practice was the first day they actually were on the same five.

"So what we've done this preseason is really mix the teams up quite a bit so that if we have to shift our lineups, there's a continuity between one through 12." 

Furbush loves the talent this year's team brings to the table, now it's about putting it all together on the floor.

"Basketball players generally rely on their ability to shoot and score to build confidence," Furbush said. "But we're trying to get them to really focus on how their value is actually based on their ability to guard and play defense. So that puts less pressure on shot making and offensive creativity. If you're not making shots, you can still impact the game by getting stops and keeping your man in front. These guys have shown some really great flashes the first two weeks of practice and I wouldn't be surprised if we go to Chicago and play with a ton of confidence like we've done it before. So I'm really excited to see what we can do."