Pronghorn men’s basketball looking for consistency in 2025-26

By Lethbridge Herald on October 22, 2025.

Herald photo by Nathan Reiter University of Lethbridge Pronghorn menÕs basketball player Sebastian Perez looks for a play during practice this week.

By Nathan Reiter

Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The countdown is officially on to the Canada West basketball season and the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns men’s basketball team feel ready for the 2025-26 campaign.

Last season, the Pronghorns finished in fourth place in the Prairie Division with an 11-9 record and fell in the first round of the playoff to the University of Fraser Valley Cascades. Lethbridge lost six of their final eight regular season games last year and are looking to find more consistency this year. 

Head coach Kenny Otieno says Lethbridge has some returning pieces from last year’s team, along with several rookies that will bring some excitement. 

“I think we have a pretty even mix of a couple of vets, a lot of new guys just because we had a big turnover last year with some seniors graduating. We had six guys that moved on to either graduating or kind of just moved on to life after basketball. We’ve had some new guys still getting acquainted with our system and our identity and culture. I think we’ve had a very solid preseason so far with our vets being able to guide some of the new guys, buying in and trying to do the best they can to try and get used to what we’re about in a very short time. We’ve had a very competitive preseason with some games against some really good teams and I feel like we’ve been battle tested for the regular season starting this weekend.”

Lethbridge will be led this season on the floor by fifth year guard Kymani Pollard. In 19 games last season, Pollard averaged 10.2 points per game while adding 2.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists. The longest tenured Pronghorn entering the season is fifth-year forward Karter Fry, who will be looked at for leadership in his final season.

In an interview with the Herald, Fry says one of the Pronghorn strengths will be how close the team is off the court. 

“I think we’re a really tight-knit group this year, guys really support each other. This preseason, we were able to play a ton of games, really find our identity on offense and defense. We have a great coaching staff who’s been here for a couple of years now, so we’re really building something special for this upcoming season.”

One area that Lethbridge will look to make their strength this season is on the defensive side of the ball. Otieno says the Pronghorns will look to strike plenty in transition as the season goes along. 

“Our physicality and our pressure on both ends of the ball defensively being able to put pressure on the ball so that teams don’t operate and run their offense easily. Our physicality with our front court and our back court so that once again teams just don’t feel comfortable. We’re trying to really push that as being part of our identity and that translates to our offense being able to push the pace and transition when we have the opportunity to. We have some guys that are very quick on our team so we want to play fast-paced but also knowing when it’s time to slow down and execute.”

Fry echoed the sentiment of his head coach saying the Pronghorns will look to make teams uncomfortable on the offensive side of the floor. 

“If we can really turn it up on defense, make it scrappy, make the game a little bit ugly on defense, that leads to our fast play on offense. We’d like to try and shoot a lot of threes, get it inside, move the ball. So if we can play good defense, I think I’ll convert to offense.”

It won’t be easy in Canada West in 2025-26. Although they aren’t scheduled to face the Pronghorns during the regular season, the defending national champion Victoria Vikes went undefeated a year ago. 

Otieno says he believes Canada West is the strongest conference in the country this season for men’s basketball.

“I think we’re still the more dominant side compared to out east with Victoria being the defending champs and Manitoba having a lot of veteran leadership and guys that are continuing with the program. They didn’t really lose anyone, Winnipeg as well. I think we still have a lot of very competitive teams in Canada West. It just makes our conference tougher and our match-ups that we’re going to face throughout the season a little bit tougher, but I think it’s a good test for us regardless.”

The Pronghorns open the Canada West season on Friday night when they welcome the Calgary Dinos to the Co-op Centre for Health and Wellness. The women’s game tips off a 6 p.m., followed by the men at 8 p.m.