The University of Mary Washington men’s basketball team won 15 games all of last season.
With just over a month left in the 2025-26 regular season, the Eagles already matched that win total.
Monday afternoon’s 96-49 blowout victory over visiting Mary Baldwin University improved UMW’s record to 15-1. The Eagles entered the week ranked No. 6 in NCAA Division III, according to D3hoops.com’s top 25.
UMW head coach Marcus Kahn and his players attribute the squad’s success to an approach they adopted late last season: process over outcome.
“I was too focused on the wrong stuff early last year,” Kahn said. “And so a big change I’ve made is to not focus as much on the outcome as what goes into it. So it’s one practice at a time, and then one possession at a time during the game. We do those things and just let the scoreboard take care of itself.”
That strategy enabled the Eagles to win the Coast-to-Coast (C2C) Athletic Conference tournament and make a run to the NCAA Sweet 16 a year ago after going just 11-14 during the regular season. They carried that momentum over to this season, starting off 9-0 before suffering a 64-55 loss to No. 14 St. Thomas (Texas) on Dec. 20.
During its six-game winning streak since that setback, UMW has outscored its opponents by an average of 27.3 points per contest.
“It’s really just taking it day by day and attacking each day as it comes,” sophomore guard Kye Robinson said. “We’ve all embraced that philosophy, and it’s paid dividends.”
“I think the fact that we’re all so close with one another has allowed us to embrace the [process],” junior forward Jay Randall added. “We’re all pulling for each other in practice and in games. … No one cares who the high scorer is, as long as we’re succeeding as a whole.”
Robinson and Randall have formed a potent 1-2 scoring punch for the Eagles. Robinson is averaging a team-high 23.9 points per game, while Randall is second at 12.2.
“We have sort of a unique roster makeup in that we don’t have any seniors,” Kahn said. “Kye and Jay really play as if they have more experience than they actually do. But those guys are like seniors because of the experience they gained during that Sweet 16 run last year.”
Three other players who saw significant action last season have also been key contributors for UMW this winter. Sophomore guard Ulysses Young is scoring 10 points per outing, while junior guards Jadon Burgess and Kaden Bates are averaging 9.5 and 8.7, respectively.
Burgess sank four 3-pointers on his way to a team-high 18 points in Monday’s win over Mary Baldwin.
“While we have talent up and down the roster, I think it’s the drive of these returnees to get back to the NCAA tournament and go further than last year that’s propelled us,” Kahn said. “And they realize that by taking it one possession and one game at a time, they can put us in a better position come tournament time so that we don’t have to go on the road for multiple games at a time.”
The Eagles’ torrid start to the 2025-26 campaign has also led to a significant milestone for Kahn. Last Saturday’s 84-58 victory over Regent gave the veteran bench boss his 400th career win.
“I didn’t even know until about two weeks ago that I was close to that many,” said Kahn, who was the head coach at Pitt-Greensburg and Cabrini (Pa.) University before taking the reins at UMW in 2014. “It’s a great milestone to reach, and I hope that one day I will have the time to properly reflect on it.
“But while you’re still doing this, you aren’t focused on individual accomplishments as much as you are developing young men. I can say that the [milestone] means I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of very good players and teams, and I’ve been fortunate to work with some great coaches.”
