In the world of men’s college hoops, no team has had a start quite like Fordham University’s.
The Rams entered the 2025 season as the projected last-place finishers in a loaded Atlantic a10 (A-10) conference. However, first-year Head Coach Mike Magpayo and a roster full of transfers carrying 39 years of Division I experience are eager to prove otherwise. The road to proving that has been anything but smooth.
The 2025 campaign opened with a stunning 72-61 loss to the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), dropping Fordham 73 spots in the KenPom rankings and sending the A-10 universe into a frenzy. NJIT was ranked 356th; Fordham was ranked 183rd.
“Communication was the biggest culprit,” Magpayo said. “We have a quiet team; the Rose Hill Gym is loud.” At times, the packed crowd appeared suffocating for a unit featuring 11 newcomers trying to develop chemistry in real time.
The Rams have spent the next two weeks trying to shed the reputation the loss created. Communication improved — along with everything else — in game two, a 106-37 shellacking of Mt. St. Mary’s College (Division III).
Facing a lower-division opponent, The Rams showed pride in what became their biggest margin of victory in program history. The all-around display, led by graduate forward Zarique Nutter’s 19 points, was a “prove it” moment.
“We just had to prove that we can play intense basketball for 40 minutes,” said Magpayo.
After a rollercoaster first week, Magpayo said he was looking for a moment that would unite his team. Graduate guard Dae Dae Reaves delivered that moment.
Facing a first-half deficit against Wagner College last Tuesday, Reaves willed the Rams to victory. With the score knotted at 61, Reaves dribbled 25 seconds off the shot clock before driving left, stepping back and drilling a left-elbow jumper to give the Rams the lead with six seconds remaining. After Wagner missed a game-winning bid, the Rams relished what was, for everyone but Reaves, a nail-biter.
“I feel like I can make that shot 10 times out of 10,” said Reaves postgame. “Good night, off-night, they want me to take that shot each and every night.”
Friday’s faceoff with Iona University was the Ram’s toughest test yet. The matchup renewed a decades-long rivalry, one that ran for 27 straight seasons before going dormant after 2006.
Its grand return was engineered by Magpayo and the Iona University Gaels’ Head Coach Dan Geriot, old friends who coached and lived together at Campbell University in the mid-2010s — Magpayo even officiated Geriot’s wedding. After Geriot spent 10 years in the NBA and Magpayo built a college resume, they reunited for a 76-71 shootout in favor of Geriot’s Gaels.
The matchup was personal for Reaves, who led Iona to a conference championship appearance last year. After scoring just two in the first half, Reaves exploded, finishing with a season-best 22 points and four assists.
At his side was senior point guard Chris Henry, who drilled three first-half triples to break an 0-for-5 slump from downtown to start the year. Behind its backcourt pairing, Fordham took a second-half lead in enemy territory — it was a “blackout” at the Hynes Center — before Iona graduate CJ Anthony scored three consecutive baskets to pull the Gaels away.
“It’s on me,” said Magpayo postgame. “I got outcoached by my boy Dan.” Magpayo added that the ball was “sticking” on the perimeter. Late in the game, the team routinely traded paint touches for contested off-dribble threes. The Rams sorely missed a clutch-time option in Nutter, who sat with a groin injury.
The Rams took out their frustration Sunday evening against DIII Manhattanville. After a sluggish 37-point first half, the Rams dominated the final 20 minutes to secure a 96-62 win.
Reaves sat with a minor rib bruise while Nutter remained out. Neither was needed. In their place, graduate student Marcus Greene caught fire from a distance, draining five threes. Entering the night, Fordham’s 20% mark from three ranked bottom-12 nationally.
“Good to see Marcus — aka ‘Cap’ over here — finally knock the lid off the rim,” joked Magpayo postgame.
Elsewhere in the backcourt, Henry snagged a career-best seven rebounds, notching six assists for a fourth straight game, showing why Magpayo dubbed him the team’s quarterback.
The Rams also got a career performance from sophomore returner Ryan Pettis. Pettis tallied a career-high five assists and four steals, hounding defenders and setting the tone in the second half.
Likening him to Russell Westbrook, Magpayo raved, “He’s willing to lay it on the line. He’s throwing his body around in practices … You’re going to get a shot every game because you’re willing to do that.”
Anchoring the team down low is junior Rikus Schulte, who leads the A-10 in rebounding after a 16-point, eight-rebound effort Sunday. While Fordham’s had a chaotic start, Schulte’s confident the team will prove its merit.
“I feel like we’re just getting more confident. We’re just learning to play with each other … We’re working in the gym every day. I think at some point it’s going to show up,” he said.
Fordham will get a chance to show what it’s building toward against 3-1 Long Island University Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Rose Hill Gym — what Magpayo calls the team’s “Super Bowl” of non-conference play. If the Rams return Reaves and Nutter, the result will be their best gauge yet of where they truly stand.
