No one wants to start conference play 1-6. Factor in injuries, blown leads and the worst kinds of headlines, the plane home from Fordham Men’s Basketball’s Jan. 21 loss to Davidson College felt like rock bottom. For Head Coach Mike Magpayo, it felt like a critical inflection point. His messaging to the team could alter the course of the season.
When the team bus pulled into Rose Hill at 1 a.m., Magpayo called a team meeting. He didn’t vent frustration or flick through film. He told them one thing:
“Carry your heads up high … How you respond to this, how you act, is really important.”
The meeting lasted just five minutes. It was enough. The team had an off day, and the next day, nine players came to the gym to put in work.
After four days of scrimmage-heavy practice, a potent mix of hard work and frustration poured out onto the Rose Hill Gym’s hardwood in a 64-58 victory over red-hot La Salle University.
The Rams’ defense, ranked 15th nationally in points allowed, held the Explorers scoreless for the final 5:52. It was a sweet and fitting finish for a Fordham team that lost to Davidson with a six-minute scoreless stretch.
Once the buzzer sounded, celebration ensued.
It was win 100 for Magpayo, now the first D-I MBB HC of full Asian descent to reach the century-mark. The group scrawled “100” on a Wilt Chamberlain-esque paper, and the team posed for a photo featuring fully-suited coaches, players in bucket hats and one of Magpayo’s sons. An unlikely combination but a fitting representation of the 2025-26 Rams.
“I’m just so proud of the guys,” said Magpayo postgame. The former University of California at Riverside shotcaller had plenty of praise to spread, but keyed in on his backcourt.
That praise started with senior Chris Henry. Recovering from a concussion, Henry has struggled to reestablish himself as one of the conference’s premier guards. While he didn’t light up the stat sheet, he singlehandedly gave the Rams the lead late.
Tied with 2:42 remaining, Henry crashed to the floor, ripped away a loose ball, went the length of the floor and scored through contact to put Fordham up, 60-58.
Graduate Student Dejour Reaves, meanwhile, did what he’s done all season: take over the game down the stretch.
Drawing constant double teams, Reaves found other ways to impact the game, snatching eight rebounds and dishing four assists. But when it was time to do it himself, he did.
After a crucial rebound from redshirt freshman Abass Bodija, Fordham turned to its closer. Reaves shuffled his feet above the break, knifed inside, stepped back and drilled a left-elbow jumper to put the game away, 62-58, with 13 seconds to play.
“Even when I’m having an off night, [my team] keeps telling me ‘next one going in, next one going in,’” said Reaves postgame. “Just having them in my ear definitely helps me out each and every night.”
Taking its momentum down to D.C., Fordham suited up to play a George Washington University (GW) team ranked 135 spots higher in KenPom but missing its best player in senior Rafael Castro.
Fast-forward two hours, and Fordham had earned its biggest upset of the year. In a virtually wire-to-wire 79-65 demolition of one of the nation’s highest-scoring offenses, everyone chipped in.
Reaves led the way with 19 points, scoring or assisting on 15 of the team’s final 17 in the first half, giving the Rams a constant edge.
The frontcourt duo of junior Rikus Schulte and sophomore Jack Whitbourn were both contributors, recording double-digit rebounds. Henry added 15 points. Fordham shot just 1-for-15 from three in the first half, but went 5-for-8 in the second, burying 13 of 17 free throws to put the game on ice.
While shooting has been a weakness for Fordham, it hasn’t been for junior Akira Jacobs. Nailing three triples against GW, Jacobs accounts for 43.4% of the Rams’ made threes over the last four games.
“He understands the scheme and offense both at the three and the four, and he’s becoming a matchup problem for other teams,” said Magpayo of the 6-foot-10 forward.
Health has helped, too. With Bodija and freshman Roor Akhuar back from ankle injuries, Magpayo’s lineup arsenal widens considerably. It helps that neither player is playing like a freshman.
“Just being around them brings me a lot of energy,” said Jacobs of the two Australians, who round out a rotation that’s rounding into form with March just a page-flip away.
Fordham will look to bring the energy back to Rose Hill Saturday, Feb. 7, to host a St. Bonaventure University team that it beat on the road one month ago. Tip is set for 2 p.m.
