For the third straight year under head coach Kevin Kuwik, Army men’s basketball took part in Army-Navy weekend in its own way.
In 2023-24, Kuwik’s first season on the job, the Black Knights played at Harvard the Friday before the Army-Navy football game in Foxborough, Mass. The following season, they played at George Washington the Friday before the Army-Navy game in Landover, Md. This season, they played at UMBC on Dec. 12.
“When I got here, some of the alums said, ‘We never went to Army-Navy football because we always had a basketball game,'” Kuwik said. “I said to my wife, ‘We’re missing an unbelievable opportunity for our guys to feel a part of [it]. It’s one of the things that makes West Point so special.”
Kuwik’s squad isn’t part of the football team’s traveling party, but the players go to the football game before heading back to West Point.
“It’s something that I’m proud of,” Kuwik said. “It’s something when we recruit we tell the kids and their parents about that. It’s like the Super Bowl. It’s a real big-time special atmosphere and I’m glad our guys get to be a part of it.”
Army defeated UMBC, 63-60, to improve to 5-7 overall. Freshman guard Jackson Furman, a native of Upper Marlboro, Md., made three 3-pointers and grabbed six rebounds to help get the Black Knights to the finish line against the Retrievers.
The 6-foot-2, 180-pound guard is averaging 10.2 points and 3.1 rebounds per game entering Army’s game against Binghamton on Dec. 23, a solid start to his career in West Point.
“It was never my first choice when I was first being recruited. But when I first got the offer, I really looked into it and thought, ‘I want to do something bigger than just me,'” Furman said. “That was a big thing coming here. It’s not just about me or how I’m going to make money or something like this. The culture we have here unlike anywhere else. It’s a brotherhood, so it’s something that I’ve really, really enjoyed.”
Furman played his high school ball at Riverdale Baptist and his AAU ball for Delaware-based We R1 on the Under Armour circuit. Furman believes the competition he faced in the area has helped him in his transition to college ball.
“It was unbelievable, unlike anything else,” Furman said. “I would say the DMV is the best high school basketball in the world. That type of competition, getting beat up every single day by these amazing players really helped me become a tough player.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of UMBC Athletics