Northwestern State University’s men’s basketball is currently on a four-game win streak this 2024-25 season with an overall record of 15-15.
Love Bettis is a graduate pursuing sports administration and plays guard for NSU’s men’s basketball team. Bettis believes that what sets NSU’s basketball team apart from other schools is the team chemistry. “We all have one goal. We don’t have any selfishness. We all play together and we all play hard,” Bettis said.
Landyn Jumawan is a junior general studies major who plays guard on the team. Jumawan’s favorite memories from this season have been celebrating their wins in the locker room afterwards. “After a hard week of preparation and practice, you know it shows that our hard work is paying off. Every time after a win, we’re going crazy playing music and celebrating,” Junawan said.
One way the team builds connections with one another is by attending church together. “A lot of us go to church at Kingdom Hearts Ministry. I feel that just brings us together in our faith,” Junawan said. “Praying together, growing together, it’s been helping and is showing up on the court. I think that’s what really has been bringing us even more together.”
Chris Mubira, a sophomore psychology major who plays guard on the team, also enjoys the time spent at church with his teammates. “My favorite moment is probably us bonding by going to church together. The majority of us go to the same church, so we’re able to bond and grow in our faith,” Mubira said.
Mubira decided to play basketball at NSU after an injury resulted in many of his college offers being dropped. “I went from having a lot of offers to none,” Mubira said. “Coach Rick decided to believe in me when nobody else really did at the time.”
This bond formed between player and coach has proved to be essential to the team’s success. The team’s biggest challenge this year has been their offense, but with help from the coaches, they’ve been starting to see an improvement. “We’ve been recently just trusting our coach with the offense that he’s putting us in and it’s been helping us recently. We’ve been scoring more points,” Mubira said.
The coaches not only help the players on the court but off it as well, especially when it comes to players trying to juggle being student athletes. “I feel like our coaches do a good job in making us prioritize the things we need to prioritize in terms of keeping us in study hall right after practice instead of giving us time off to go to sleep,” Mubira said.
The men’s basketball team has seen improvements to their performance throughout this season and hopes to continue this trajectory as they head into their conference. What shapes the basketball team at NSU is the community and the bonds they share. “We all get along, and there’s no animosity on the team. Nobody has any hidden agendas,” Mubira said. “Everybody gets along pretty well, and you don’t see that on most teams.”
