Christian Brothers finished the 2023-24 season by setting a school record for conference wins in their most successful season in five years. The Bucs finished with 15 Gulf South Conference victories surpassing the old record of 14 originally set in the 2015-16 season and equaled in 2018-19. Overall, the Bucs finished the season 17-11 advancing to the quarterfinals of the conference tournament.
The Bucs never lost three consecutive games this season and had winning streaks of at least three at three different times including a season-best seven consecutive victories late in the season. Included In those wins were season sweeps of conference foes Mississippi College, Valdosta State, West Florida and Shorter and incoming conference member Trevecca Nazarene.
Mixing several newcomers with a core of returners, head coach John Reilly engineered a balanced attack that finished in the top five in the conference in both scoring offense and scoring defense. The Bucs finished third in the conference in shooting percentage while having the fourth best shooting percentage defense.
The relentless Bucs led the Gulf South in rebounding and were the only team to average more than 40 rebounds per game. They outrebounded their opponents by an average of 13.5 per game which also led the conference. CBU also finished in the top four in both blocked shots and assists.
Four Bucs averaged in double figures for the year led by
Anias Futrell (Jr., St. Louis, Mo.) at 17.6 points per game. Other double figure scorers were
Christian Jones (Sr., Memphis, Tenn.) at 15.3,
Jailen Anderson (Jr., Jackson, Tenn.) at 15.0 and
Christian Thompson (Jr., Lonoke, Ark.) at 11.4.
Jones closed out his CBU career with a great all-around season. In addition to scoring, he led CBU in assists with 173 and was second in rebounding at seven per game. Jones was named to the Conference Commissioners Association second team All-Region squad for his performance this year. He also was named Gulf South Conference Player-of-the-Week for the week of February 13, the only Buc to receive that honor this season. Jones led the Gulf South in assists this season averaging 6.2 per game and steals at 2.8 per game.
Jones was also named to the first team All-Conference squad while Futrell was named to the second team. Futrell scored in double figures in all but two games including a career-high 31 points against LeMoyne-Owen. He finished in the top ten in the conference in both field goal percentage and threepoint shooting percentage.
Other Bucs ranked in the top ten in the Gulf South in various statistical categories.
Christian Thompson was fourth in rebounding while Jones was fifth.
Jailen Anderson was tenth in assists. Thompson finished second in blocked shots at 1.5 per game and Futrell was seventh in that category.
The Bucs look to build on this season with another strong recruiting class for 2024-25. Keep up with all the latest news at CBUBucs.com and follow the Bucs on X (@CBUBucs) and Instagram (cbubucs).
