Men's Basketball Huskies finish season in seventh place in nation; eye growth for return to national stage

They may not want to hear this in the days following their seventh-place finish this past week at the 2025 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Men’s Basketball Championship in Montreal, Que., but there’s plenty for the Keyano Huskies to be hold their heads high on following the conclusion of the 2024-25 season. 
 
After ending their campaign with a 74-64 win against the Capilano Blues Friday, the Huskies finished near the top of the 61-team league, albeit six spots lower than they had envisioned when the week began.
 
“It wasn’t a game we wanted to play in, but I thought both teams competed very hard,” Head Coach Jeremy Wielenga said. “It was a grind of a game and we ended up closing it out in the end, finish our season with a win.”  
 
In their season finale, the Huskies had their best shooting performance from the field of the weekend as they connected on 41.5% (27-for-65) of their shots. That’s a figure they’re more used to after the regular season and playoffs they had, but things just didn’t connect as they had in games one or two for the Huskies.  

“We didn’t execute and play the way we’d like to this first game,” Wielenga said of the tournament. “Second game, I thought we could’ve closed it out a couple different times and it ended up costing us.  
 
“It was a good learning experience and motivation to come back next year a little bit better if you’re going to compete at the top.”  
 
The Huskies’ appearance marked the first instance this decade of a Huskies team in the program earning back-to-back nationals berths - the last being Women's Basketball in 2018-19 and 2019-20 - and they’ll always have a place in history with last year’s championship performance. 

“When you’re looking at the overall total of the season, we did a good job,” Wielenga said. “We just weren’t good enough to repeat and win a national championship, so we have to get a little bit better.  
 
“For the most part, it was a successful season.”
 
Hurst, Abdullahi close out respective CCAA careers 
The Huskies will also bid farewell to at least a pair of student-athletes in Nahshon Hurst and Yasser Abdullahi, the latter of whom had 19 points off the bench in his final CCAA game after beginning his journey nearly a decade ago.  
 
Hurst shot 44.4 percent from the field in his final game, a presence in the paint that will be missed by teammates and welcomed by opponents.