For many teams, they could be said to be in the final stretch of their season.
Final Stretch continues with the Queen’s Men’s Basketball team, who have discovered a groove, winning six games in a row. After a slow start to the season, the Gaels currently have a record of 12-7, sitting at third place in the OUA East, just behind uOttawa.
To evaluate the recent success and the whole season in its entirety, The Journal caught up with Men’s Basketball head coach Stephan Barrie.
Barrie described the season being in a “tough spot,” as the program had expectations of a set lineup that was ruined due to the season ending injury of fifth year player Isaac Kruger, ArtSci ‘25. “We were just in a tough spot, and we had to adjust and [as a young group] it took us a little bit of time to figure things out.” The Gaels lost their first five of six games but then rattled off five before Winter Break.
Barrie’s preaching to his team “to get better every day,” seeing tremendous growth with his team. Despite losing to uOttawa and Carleton early in 2026, Barrie acknowledged that the team had leads going into the fourth quarter but just couldn’t find a way to finish the games off. “If you’ve a lead in the fourth quarter against top team 10s, you’re doing a lot of well,” said Barrie. However, he did emphasize the fact that it’s going to take a “40-minute effort” to be successful.
According to Barrie, to be successful down the stretch is to take it “one game at a time.” He continued saying, “when you’re in it, you can’t look at the totality of it, it’s literally a day-by-day existence.” This mantra has been used over the last number of years that has allowed the players and coaching staff to be in a comfortable position heading into a stressful time of year.
A positive for this team is that they do have returning players who were participants in the OUA Championship and the USports championship last year. Barrie is hoping that this experience will help them but also is excited for the first-year athletes to “go through it and can figure it out.”
It’s an intriguing time for the Gaels Men’s basketball team as their young core continues to find success and is starting to emerge as a real playoff threat. Barrie knows that this group has the chance to be “very successful this year but also over the next several years.”
With the regular season almost coming to a close, the Gaels will finish their last three games at home, beginning Feb. 6 at the ARC.
Tags
Final Stretch, finals, Isaac Kruger, OUA, Stephan Barrie
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