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2025-26 W&L Men's Basketball Season Preview

Generals selected seventh in ODAC preseason poll

11/5/2025 2:00:00 PM

LEXINGTON, Va. -- The Old Dominion Athletic Conference released its 2025-26 Men's Basketball Preseason Poll on Wednesday and Washington and Lee tied with Guilford for seventh in the conference.

Randolph-Macon topped the poll with 11 first-place votes and a perfect 121 points to lead Virginia Wesleyan in second at 104 points. The Marlins edged Roanoke, who received the final first-place vote, by one point with Hampden-Sydney (96) and Lynchburg (81) rounding out the Top 5 teams. Shenandoah placed one spot ahead of Guilford and W&L (58) with 64 points.

W&L is coming off a rebuild season, in which they went 7-18 overall and 5-11 in conference play to finish ninth in the conference standings and miss the ODAC Tournament by one spot. A sophomore for the season ahead, Connor Amorosi highlighted the team from an individual standpoint by earning ODAC Rookie of the Year honors and a place on the All-ODAC Third Team.

The Generals are led into the 2025-26 season by ninth-year head coach Chris McHugh '09, who holds a 115-72 overall record and a mark of 74-43 in the ODAC across his first eight seasons.

2025-26 ODAC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll

Randolph-Macon College (11) 121 pts.
Virginia Wesleyan University 104 pts.
Roanoke College (1) 103 pts.
Hampden-Sydney College 96 pts.
University of Lynchburg 81 pts.
Shenandoah University 64 pts.
Guilford College 58 pts.
Washington and Lee University 58 pts.
Averett University 34 pts.
Bridgewater College 33 pts.
Randolph College 26 pts.
Eastern Mennonite University 14 pts.

Hear from Coach

We gained valuable experience last year and are determined to prove that last season was an aberration. Our seniors, John, Colin, and A.J., have seen it all and are leading the way. We have high expectations to get back to our winning ways.

Head Coach Chris McHugh '09 (Ninth Season)

2025-26 Schedule Overview

The 2025-26 W&L men's basketball schedule is laid out with 11 home games and 14 away from Holekemp Gym, with 16 conference contests, nine non-conference opponents and three in-season tournaments. Before the season gets underway, the Generals will see how they stack up against Division I James Madison on Wednesday, November 5, in an exhibition contest in Harrisonburg.

NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
The starts up at the Messiah Tip-Off Tournament on November 14, where the Generals will see Salisbury before facing either Messiah or St. Joseph's (Brooklyn) in either the consolation or championship game. W&L will remain on the road for their next two games at Mary Baldwin (Nov. 19) and Dickinson (Nov. 22), before playing their home opener on November 25 against nearby foe Southern Virginia.

The Generals will close out their non-conference slate at the Daytona Beach Shootout on December 15-16 against Trine and either SUNY Brockport or Piedmont, before they host their annual Holiday Tournament on December 29-30. W&L will play Mount Saint Mary (N.Y.) and then battle Kenyon or Marywood the next day.

Across W&L's nine non-conference games and 12 possible non-ODAC opponents in the regular season, the Generals have faced seven teams twice or less all-time (Brockport, Kenyon, Marywood, Messiah, Piedmont, St. Joseph's, Trine), while having not played Mount Saint Mary or Salisbury since the 1980s. W&L will play Dickinson for the 11th time ever and first since 2018, with Mary Baldwin and Southern Virginia returning to the slate for the fourth and fifth straight seasons, respectively.

ODAC SCHEDULE
An early-season home meeting against Averett on December 3 is sandwiched between the SVU and Daytona games for the Generals, before they close the season with 15 consecutive ODAC games. Out of those 15, seven will be home against Virginia Wesleyan (Jan. 7), Randolph (Jan. 17), Lynchburg (Jan. 24), Randolph-Macon (Jan. 31), Roanoke (Feb. 4), Guilford (Feb. 7) and Bridgewater (Feb. 18).

Road games against Guilford (Jan. 3), Roanoke (Jan. 10), Shenandoah (Jan. 14), Bridgewater (Jan. 21), Averett (Jan. 28), Eastern Mennonite (Feb. 11), VWU (Feb. 14) and Hampden-Sydney (Feb. 21) will finalize the season ahead of tournament play.

POSTSEASON PLAY
The ODAC Championship tournament will commence on February 24, with seeds 5-8 traveling to the Top 4 seeds for quarterfinal play. The four advancing teams will then head to the Salem Civic Center for semifinal play on February 27 and the conference final on February 28.

How to Watch

Beginning in 2025-26, the Old Dominion Athletic Conference’s five-year media rights agreement with FloSports ensures that all ODAC and W&L home contests will stream live on FloCollege with a subscription. Games will also be available on demand immediately after their conclusion.

FloSports/FloCollege can be accessed through the FloSports app or on major streaming platforms, including Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, and Google Chromecast which provides access to FloSports’ full library of more than 40,000 events across 25 sports. Subscription options can be seen below and fans can sign up here:

Monthly: $19.99/month
Annual: $107.88/year ($8.99/month)

Fans and students with an ODAC institution “.edu” email address are eligible for discounted pricing:

Monthly: $9.99/month
Annual: $71.88/year ($5.99/month)

For those who can’t watch live or do not want to subscribe to FloCollege, free replays will be available here 48 hours after each game. Admission to regular-season home games remains free, while ODAC semifinal and championship contests, and any NCAA postseason games, will require paid admission regardless of host institution.

Fans planning to attend should review W&L’s tailgating and parking operations here.

Key Returners

Among the 14 players who logged minutes for the Generals last season, 13 return to the roster this season, headlined by 2024-25 ODAC Rookie of the Year Connor Amorosi. In his first collegiate season, Amorosi led W&L with 15.8 points per game on 48.0 percent shooting (133-277) from the floor. The league’s top rookie added 5.2 rebounds per game, second on the team, plus 32 assists, 15 steals and 11 blocks.

Senior Colin Ryan followed Amorosi in scoring at 10.6 points per game, but led the 2024-25 squad in rebounding (7.0/game) and assists (4.3/game) to drive the offense. Senior A.J. Thomas took on an expanded role last season and produced 9.6 points per game while shooting 42.4 percent overall and 32.1 percent from long range.

Senior John Loughlin rounds out the senior class and is another one of the team’s top threats from outside. He scored 8.7 points per game and made 33.7 percent of his three-point attempts, with a career 0.356 three-point percentage.

Sophomore Bryce Breeden looks to build on a strong second half of his rookie season. Breeden averaged 18.8 minutes across 17 games played, but was on the floor for over 24 minutes per game from January 15 and on after proving to be a lethal three-point shooter. For the season, Breeden connected on a team-high 44.9 percent of his outside shots, which was even higher (.508 -- 30-59) once he took on more minutes in mid-January.

Two more key pieces back for the upcoming season include junior Conor Roberton and sophomore Ari Hobson. Despite playing in only 14 games, Roberton still racked up 40 assists to rank second on the team to Ryan, to go along with 4.6 points per game. Hobson, another 2024-25 rookie who came on late in the season, added 3.6 points (.513 FG pct.) and 2.5 rebounds per game. However, in the five games in which he saw double-digit minutes, Hobson’s averages elevated to 8.2 points and 6.0 rebounds.

Team Captain

Colin Ryan

Senior Colin Ryan is in his second season serving as a team captain for the Generals. Across his first three seasons, Ryan has played in 79 games and totaled 439 points, 309 rebounds and 212 assists.

During his junior season, Ryan paced the team in both rebounding and assists, while adding 10.6 points per game. Ryan earned ODAC Offensive Player of the Week honors on January 6 following a 13-point, 12-rebound, 12-assist triple-double against Piedmont in the W&L Holiday Tournament Championship game. It was the first triple-double for a W&L men’s basketball player since Mel Cartwright ’70 in 1969.

Off the court, Ryan has been named a W&L Scholar Athlete in all six terms so far in his career, plus three ODAC All-Academic Team selections and two College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Team nods. A business administration and economics double-major, Ryan is also a National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court student.

Milestone Watch

Three players are on milestone watch heading into the basketball season, starting with senior Colin Ryan. With 212 assists in his career, Ryan needs just 39 more to enter the program's career Top 10 list. Ryan is also averaging 2.7 assists per game for his career, which is currently 10th best in program history. Following a career-best 4.3 assists per game as a junior, Ryan figures to move his way up that list, as well.

Sophomore Bryce Breeden needs 19 more made three-point field goals to qualify for the program's career three-point percentage list. Breeden's mark of 0.449 last season came on 31-of-69, and would have led the ODAC had he met the minimum qualifications. Breeden would emerge comfortably inside the program's Top 10 once he qualifies, with the leaderboard currently ranging from 45.0 percent (Andy Kleinlein ‘17) to 37.7 percent (Chris McHugh ’09).

After averaging better than two made three-point shots per game as a junior, John Loughlin needs 12 more triples to get to an even 100 for his career. Loughlin would also enter the program's Top 10 list for made three-point shots with 41 more hits from outside.