Delta basketball keys to success

By Jacob Teets

Improving beyond the arc and on the road

Delta’s men’s basketball team is coming off an 11-17 season last year that saw them lose in the Great Lakes District A Quarterfinal to the Bay College Norse, 93-78. This year the team will look to improve upon last year. Being able to fix what went wrong will have a huge impact on how they play in the 2025-26 season.

Their first key to victory this year is three-point shooting. One of the biggest problems from the final game last year was their three-point shooting. As a team, they shot 4-20 from three. On the season, they shot 33.2% as a team. This year they’re shooting 29.4% from three. It may not seem great, but in their wins they’ve shot above that percentage. On Nov. 12 against the Olivet University Comets, they shot 12-27 from three which calculates to 44.4%. Sophomore guard Evan Booker went 4-5 and freshman guard Brandon Bossert went 3-3.

More games like that one is what the Pioneers need to succeed.

The men’s second key to victory this year is winning on the road. Last year they went 4-8 on the road and 7-9 at home. This year, they are 0-2 on the road and 2-2 at home. In those two road games they scored under their average points per game, 84, scoring 65 and 73 respectively. If the Pioneers can improve their road numbers, there’s no telling where this team will go as the season rolls on.

Winning on the road is huge to boost momentum for any team regardless of what level they play at. If you can win on the road you’ll see success, and that’s what this year’s team needs to be able to do.

If the Pioneers focus on those two aspects of their game, the team will certainly be able to win more games than they did last year and make a run in the playoffs.

Dominating the floor

The lady Pioneers found themselves in a similar spot to the men’s team last year, finishing 10-17, also losing to the Norse. That game was a tough pill to swallow, losing the Great Lakes District B Quarterfinal 101-38. That game was a disaster for the Pioneers, and it’s something the returning sophomore’s need to keep in the back of their mind to remember how that loss felt. Making sure a loss like that doesn’t happen again is exactly what this year’s team is trying to avoid.

Domination is the first key to victory for this team. The women hold a record of 5-3 so far and have dominated four of their five wins. In those four games they’ve scored close to or more than 100 points in three of them. On Nov. 18 against the Kellogg Community College Bruins, Delta won 106- 64 and almost a week later on Nov. 24 they beat the Oakland Community College Owls 106-74.

Blowing out teams by 20, 30 and 40 is exactly what this team needs to continue to do in order to put that quarterfinal loss in the back of their minds.

The second key to victory this year, just like the men, is three-point shooting. The Pioneers are shooting 26.3% this year, which is up two percent from last year but can be improved. In their games this season they shoot almost 24 threes per game and average only six made. If they can bring that average up four or five percent to 30 or 31 percent, that could be the difference between winning and losing when the playoffs come around.

Final thoughts

Both teams are a few puzzle pieces away from having a successful 2025-26 season, and fans and students should go out and support their Pioneers. Whether it’s the men’s team or the women’s, Delta basketball is hoping for a big year that sees one or both teams making a deep run in the playoffs