Mens basketball ends at 12 wins, 19 losses

Another season of basketball at IVCC came to an end as they played their last playoff game Thursday at regionals, losing 92-87 against Waubonsee Community College.

With a season ending record of 12 wins and 19 losses, their total 31 games saw five sophomore players finish their season on the men’s Eagles. The players being honored are Aj Lee, DeAndre Votex, Jalen Brown Killeen, Dakota Deverteuil and Abraham Pantoja. 

The men’s team finished the season with a positive record of nine wins and eight loses at home. Their away record was three wins to 10 losses at the end of the regular season. It is at the end of their regular season that the team really shined, finishing with eight wins and two loses. 

Their field goal percentage at the end of the season was solid, at 41.5% throughout the year. Average points scored by the IVCC team totaled 72.1 per game. This is relatively good considering they finished the year with a 29.4% three-point percentage. Added to the 72.1 points per game, is the teams free-throw percentage of 68.2%. The team totaled a standout 35.4 rebounds a game, a number that lines up in accordance with certain NBA teams. 

An important figure of the men’s basketball team was Vijay Wallace. He had a great season, finishing with 15.8 points per game, and an impressive free-throw percentage of 74.8. At 6’5 Vijay was a huge part of their 2022-2023 run. He was also nominated to play at the All Region 4 Division II, Midwest District A game.

Vijay will be playing for the second team All American basketball consisting of: Mason Johnson, Shelton Williams-Dryden, Jalen Houston, Vijay Wallace, and Bryce Baez. During the season, he started 21 games playing a total of 779 minutes, or 26.9 minutes a game.

IVCC Eagles Hoops, the official IVCC basketball team Twitter honors his contribution tweeting, “Congratulations Vijay! Was really hitting stride down stretch. Bright Future!”

In the end, the men’s team had an overall good year, with acceptable statistics. Passion was shown during every game, and players performed at a competitive level all year. In a tough conference, an 8-2 record is great and the team had an average record throughout the season.

The coaches acknowledged the season on Twitter stating that “freshmen must learn from mistakes.” The basketball team hopes to rebound and come back stronger next year for the 2023-2024 season.