Another basketball season at John Brown University is in the books. After picking up opening round wins at Bill George Arena in the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament, both the JBU men and women were defeated in the quarterfinal rounds, ending their seasons. The JBU women lost a heartbreaker to Texas Wesleyan in Fort Worth, Texas, on Friday, Feb. 25 (61-58), while the JBU men were handed their second loss against Wayland Baptist in Plainview, Texas, on Saturday, Feb. 26 (74-61).
JBU women finish at .500, miss NAIA tournament
For the JBU women, the quarterfinal loss ushered in the conclusion of a season that’s seen its share of highs and lows. It placed their record on the season at 16-16 overall. While that stands as their best mark since the 2018-19 season, it was not enough to clinch a spot in the NAIA tournament, which they missed for a fifth straight season. The team also finished right at .500 in conference play, holding an 11-11 record.
The team was unable to play three games in January due to COVID-19 issues within the program, and those three games were counted in their win-loss record as losses via COVID-19 forfeit. Meanwhile, their quarterfinal loss to Texas Wesleyan was only one of numerous nail-biters that didn’t go JBU’s way, as the Golden Eagles lost five games by three points or less.
While the end result was not what the team was looking for, JBU head women’s basketball coach Jeff Soderquist still finds many positives from this season, particularly when looking at the defensive end.
“I think we guarded very well this year. We were one of the best defensive teams in the nation,” Soderquist said, adding that offensively, “We were much closer than we have been in the past two years with a balanced attack from the outside and the inside.”
Leading the way for John Brown’s offensive attack was junior Tarrah Stephens. Stephens provided yet another strong campaign for the Golden Eagles, leading the team in scoring (16.9 PPG) and rebounding (6.4 RPG) as well as steals (1.7 SPG). Stephens was named to the SAC All-Conference Second Team for the second consecutive season.
The Golden Eagles also possessed the SAC’s two most efficient long-range scorers in Smith and Altman. Smith finished with the highest three-point percentage in the conference (44.3%), while finishing second on the team in scoring overall (14.2 PPG). Smith’s breakout season culminated in an SAC All-Conference Third Team selection. Altman finished with the league’s second-highest three-point percentage (42%), while also leading the team in assists (4.8 APG). Altman was selected as an SAC All-Conference Honorable Mention. Redshirt freshman Emily Sanders was also recognized by the SAC, being selected for the All-Freshman team.
JBU men fall on the wrong side of NAIA bubble
The JBU men entered the SAC tournament with a lot on the line. With an 18-12 record, the Golden Eagles were firmly on the bubble when evaluating their chances at a spot in the NAIA tournament. All things considered, JBU was in need of, at least, a couple of wins in the conference tournament to put themselves in a good position to make it to the next level. A first-round win over Langston (89-73) only helped matters for JBU, though their loss to Wayland Baptist placed their final record at 19-13. Ultimately, it was not good enough to secure a spot in the NAIA tournament, as the Golden Eagles missed the cut for the second straight season.
When looking at what might have led to this result, there are many what-ifs. JBU was on the losing end of more than a couple of close contests this season, losing five games by five points or less. The Golden Eagles were also dealt massive blows in January in the form of losing starting big men Brenton Toussaint and Densier Carnes, who, at the time, led the team in scoring. As a result, JBU leaned on junior Nemanja Obradovic and senior Braden Bayless — who combined for only one start during their collegiate careers prior to this season — for more minutes in the frontcourt, while operating primarily with smaller lineups overall. In addition to these developments, the three-point shot, which the JBU men strongly relied upon all season, was not as kind to them during their SAC slate. During conference play, JBU finished second in the SAC in three-point attempts, yet their three-point percentage (32.3%) placed in the bottom half of the conference.
Despite that, there were still plenty of bright spots. Senior Luke Harper led the team in scoring for a third consecutive season (16 PPG) and put together an especially strong string of performances in the last two weeks of his college basketball career, scoring at least 20 points in the last five games of the season. Harper was an SAC All-Conference Second Team selection for the second consecutive season.
Densier Carnes was arguably the team’s most dominant player in the first half of the season before going down with a season-ending injury, as he averaged 15.9 PPG and 8.2 RPG. His efforts were recognized with an SAC All-Conference Honorable Mention selection. Senior Ira Perrier was also an SAC All-Conference Honorable Mention selection, in addition to being named to the SAC’s All-Defensive Team. Junior Payton Guiot, in his first season with the program, immediately established himself as one of the conference’s top long-range scoring threats, finishing in the top ten in the SAC in three-point percentage (39%) while finishing third on the team in scoring (12.1 PPG). Guiot also finished second in the conference in steals per game (1.9).
When looking at the results this season, JBU head men’s basketball coach Jason Beschta feels that, despite missing the tournament, there are still good things to extract from their 2021-22 performance.
“After losing two of our key players for the second semester, we were forced to make some changes within what we did and establish a new identity, which is really difficult that late in the season. But, we had so many different guys step up into bigger roles than they had previously been asked to play,” Besctha said. “We had some really big wins like beating SAGU and taking down Texas Wesleyan on our senior night. I’m not sure if I’ve ever experienced a season like this where, even though we didn’t reach our ultimate goal of making the national tournament, it was such an enjoyable experience because of the special group we had.”
Looking ahead
The JBU women will enter next season with their NAIA postseason drought still intact. Fortunately for John Brown, most of this season’s impact players will be back in Siloam Springs. As of now, senior Marta Matamala is the only player that has been confirmed to be departing the program. Having such a high amount of returning talent bodes well for Soderquist’s squad, though there are multiple areas that JBU will seemingly look to improve upon in order to make a stronger run at a conference title and an NAIA tournament berth.
Primarily, Soderquist noted that the team must get stronger on the glass, as the Golden Eagles finished towards the bottom of the conference in rebounding.
“If you’re going to be one of the better defensive teams in the nation, then we will cause a lot of missed shots, [so] we have to do a better job of rebounding than we did this year,” Soderquist said.
Soderquist added that he’s looking for the team to be more consistent down the stretch, saying, “We played some really great games this year, but we also played some games that we didn’t play very well in. We can’t be so up-and-down.”
The JBU men’s team is set to look a lot different next season with seven players departing the program. Five of JBU’s top seven scorers, as well as their top four rebounders, will be gone. Filling the shoes of valuable players like Harper and Carnes will surely be difficult, Beschta said, but he’s confident that gains can be made this offseason to prepare the next men up to perform at a high level next season.
“We’ve always prided ourselves on recruiting players who will develop into great players during their time here,” Besctha said. “That’s what this offseason will be all about, guys putting in the work and improving.”
When looking at the talent returning next season, Besctha pointed out that Guiot, as well as junior DJ Ellis, will be looked at to lead the charge, but the door is always open for others to step up and take on leadership roles.
“DJ and Payton will certainly be looked to next year, and one of the fun things as a coach is to see who else is going to make a big jump in the offseason in their improvement,” Beschta said. “We’ve had several guys over the years go from smaller roles one year to playing huge roles the following season simply by hard work and dedication.”