RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The 2024-25 season marked a new era for The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's basketball team under head coach Kahil Fennell.
 
The Vaqueros finished with a 16-15 record, marking the program's first winning season since 2018. The 16 wins was a 10-win improvement from 2023-24, which was tied for the 10^th best improvement in the NCAA. 
 
"I think it's a reflection of the talent we have in the room," Fennell said. "We have really good assistant coaches. They were able to recruit some really good players. We had a lot of talent on the roster and some guys that showed some versatility and some grit and resilience. They proved the ability to play with anybody, whether it was Wisconsin or Creighton on the road or Corpus Christi or Southeastern Louisiana here. We were able to beat some good teams and compete with good teams. We showed some potential and I think it's a nice first step. Obviously, that's not the goal, the goal is to win championships and that's something we have been clear about since we got here. It's a terrific first step."
 
The Vaqueros took the mantra of protecting home court to heart as 12 of the 16 wins came at home, including five-straight at the UTRGV Fieldhouse. 
 
There were tons of energy and excitement in the Fieldhouse when the Vaqueros took the court, and a new concept introduced this season helped elevate the energy. UTRGV Athletics introduced Monday Madness that brought concepts from UTRGV Madness for Monday Southland Conference games.
 
"It makes it easier when we have such a great home crowd," Fennell said. "I think the fans showed up this year and showed out and did a tremendous job of supporting us. They became more and more vocal as the year went on. Some of the things our marketing team were able to put together as far as the Monday night stuff and conference was awesome. I think that really helped our guys. Any time you can feel like the people behind you are getting fired up and making a real raucous environment I think that helps any team. We are no different and we benefited from that."
 
The Vaqueros turned some heads in their first season in the Southland Conference, picking up some big wins and finishing at the top of several categories. 
 
UTRGV led the Southland in scoring (76.7 points per game), three-pointers made (10.6 per game), opponents free throw percentage (73.1%), defensive rebounds (25.8 per game), and assists (17.23 per game), while ranking second in assist-to-turnover ratio. 
 
DK Thorn and Howie Fleming Jr. led the way for the Vaqueros throughout the season as Thorn finished 14^th in the Southland with 12.6 points per game and Fleming finished in 16^th with 12.3 points per game. 
 
Cliff Davis finished second in the conference in three-pointers made with 3.3 per game while Trey Miller finished third in assists with 4.3 per game. 
 
UTRGV got contributions from up and down their roster throughout the season and it was the players that kept the Vaqueros in each game. 
 
"The key was we had some good players," Fennell said. "We had guys that could shoot the basketball and manufacture offense, and I think they did a fantastic job of leaning into the idea of playing for each other. When you can combine talent and unselfishness and playing off the same sheet of music, you can do some terrific things offensively and our guys showed the ability to do that."
 
The Vaqueros relied heavily on the three-pointer this season. That was one of their big focuses going into 2024-25 and their recruiting showed that. When you combine their pace of play and the capability of making threes, that will lead to a big number of attempts and makes. 
 
The Vaqueros were second in the NCAA with 32.2 three-point attempts per game and they finished the only team in the Southland to make over 300 three-pointers as the finished with a program record of 328 makes. 
 
UTRGV even set a program record with 24 three-pointers made in a game in the win over College of Biblical Studies with Davis making a program record 14. 
 
"We placed a premium on guys that could shoot the basketball," Fennell said. "Our guys proved they were capable of doing that. We had some low points of making shots consistently and that is part of the game but when you play at the pace that we do, our guys are so good with the ball and sharing the ball that they can create some really good shots for each other and for themselves. I think when you create those kinds of opportunities our guys have the talent to knock them down. Shooting the basketball is a big part of what we do, analytically and philosophically, and had the talent to make it work. It's an exciting brand of basketball to watch and we had some success with it. It's something we will continue to do moving forward."
 
While the Vaqueros made their presence felt throughout the Southland, Coach Fennell also made his presence felt in his first season as a head coach. 
 
The 16 wins tied a program record for most wins in a coach's first season and Fennell was also a finalist for the Joe B. Hall Award, which is awarded to the top first-time head coach in Division I. 
 
The energy felt different in the Fieldhouse and that was noticeable from the first practice last summer. The Vaqueros showed fight and grit all season long, including games against No. 15 Creighton and No. 19 Wisconsin. 
 
The Vaqueros even won their first tournament since the 2016-17 season by winning the Greenbrier Tip-Off River Division Championship. 
 
There were so many positives for the Vaqueros in 2024-25 but ultimately, they didn't reach their goal of a Southland Conference championship, so Coach Fennell knows there is still a ways to go for he and the program. 
 
"The big thing I take away is the need to improve," Fennell said. "We had some tremendous highs. We had some bad lows and a little bit of everything in between. It was a season of a couple of different seasons in itself. I really commend the guys that were able to finish this year and finish the right way. I was proud of their resilience and their grit. I was proud of our staff for doing the right things and keeping our guys on track and doing everything we could to make it a successful year. More than anything, my biggest takeaway is our need to improve, continue to progress and that starts with me. I have to continue to grow and do a better job to get us to the point of competing for championships."
 
Coach Fennell and the Vaqueros aren't wasting much time as they have already begun to get ready for the 2025-26 season. They are just trying to be a better version of themselves every day and that starts with growth. 
 
"It's growth," Fennell said. "We have to continue to bring in really good players that are wired the right way, that are wired to compete and wired with toughness that want to do it for the guys next to him. I think when you have guys that are talented and unselfishly with toughness we can do some fantastic things. It has to be guys that are maniacal about winning and competing for championships. Our staff is going to reflect the same thing. Growth is the word. Progress is the word. Getting better is 100 perfect what the focus is. Last season was a great jumping off point, and I think there was some tangible evidence of progress there but now it's about taking a significant next step forward and being a better version of ourselves."
 
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