MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – The Wesleyan men's basketball team is well-represented on the NESCAC individual awards and the All-NESCAC teams, as announced by the league office on Thursday morning. The Cardinals (26-1) have earned an at-large bid into the 2025 NCAA Tournament and open national postseason tournament play at home on Friday against Delaware Valley.
Wesleyan's staff, headlined by head coach
Joe Reilly, earned the 2024-25 NESCAC Coaching Staff of the Year award. This is Reilly's second career NESCAC coaching award as he was previously named NESCAC Coach of the Year in the 2021-22 season. Assistant coaches
Matt Bielenda and
Noah Tyson join Reilly in taking home the league's highest honor for coaching staffs.
On the All-NESCAC teams,
Shane Regan '25 and
Nicky Johnson '25 earned First Team honors while
Jackson Cormier '26 made it on the Second Team. This is the first time in team history that three Cardinals earned All-NESCAC honors in the same season, as well as the first time that Wesleyan has had two Cardinals recognized as All-NESCAC First Team selections.
From left: Head Coach Joe Reilly, Assistant Coach Matt Bielenda, Assistant Coach Noah Tyson
Leading the Cardinals on a magical season, Reilly, Bielenda and Tyson guided Wesleyan on a 26-game unbeaten run that lifted the Cardinals from an unranked squad at the start of the season, all the way up to No. 1 in the national rankings in late January. The program had never been ranked Top 5 in the country while the 26 wins accumulated throughout the regular season and NESCAC Tournament are the most in the 120+ year history of Wesleyan men's basketball.
Wesleyan was the only undefeated team in the country for nearly six weeks while the Cardinals have held on to that No. 1 ranking since January 27. This Cardinal team prides itself on the defensive end, as Wesleyan heads into the NCAA Tournament with the nation's seventh-best defense, allowing opponents to score an average of 61 points per game. Wesleyan also ranks highly in assist/turnover ratio, fewest turnovers per game, and scoring margin, all of which the Cardinals rank Top 10 nationally.
Shane Regan '25 | Guard | All-NESCAC First Team
Regan is shooting a career-best 51.2 percent from the floor this season
Captain clutch for the Cardinals, Regan earns his second straight All-NESCAC First Team selection, becoming just the third Cardinal in team history to earn multiple First Team nods. The go-to scorer for the team all season ranks second in the NESCAC with his 18.7 points per game average. His 51.2 field goal percentage ranks fourth-best in the NESCAC and second among guards while he sits second in free throw percentage (.865) and seventh in assists (3.0) per game.
Regan has scored in double-figures in 23-of-26 games played this season while he's reached the 20-point mark 14 times in 2024-25. The senior has shined in the biggest games, averaging 20.9 points on 52.6 percent shooting from the floor in seven games played against teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament this season. Included in those was a masterful 27-point effort in 46 minutes, leading the Cardinals in a double overtime NESCAC semifinal win over Hamilton.
Nicky Johnson '25 | Guard | All-NESCAC First Team
Johnson is just the second three-time All-NESCAC honoree in program history
One of the most-decorated players in program history, Johnson picked up his second career All-NESCAC First Team selection while this marks the third All-NESCAC honor of his career, having made the Second Team as a junior. Johnson joins Shasha Brown '13 as the lone two Cardinals in team history to earn three All-NESCAC honors over the course of their respective careers.
Johnson shined once again in his senior year, leading the team in minutes while starting all 27 games. He averages 13 points per game on 45.8 percent shooting, 33.9 percent from three, and 75.6 percent at the line to go along with 4.5 assists, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.4 steals per game. His 4.5 assists per game leads the NESCAC while his 2.8 assist/turnover ratio is second-best in the NESCAC. Johnson will graduate as the program's all-time assist leader while having also led the NESCAC in assists in all four of his seasons as a Cardinal.
Jackson Cormier '26 | Guard | All-NESCAC Second Team
Cormier is the leading rebounder on one the best defenses in the nation
In just his second season as a contributor on the floor, having missed all of his first-year season in 2022-23 due to injury, Cormier earns an All-NESCAC selection for the first time as the junior continued to elevate his game in 2024-25. Playing 26-of-27 games with 18 starts, Cormier shot a team-leading 51.8 percent from the floor and 34 percent from three while hitting 71.4 percent of his free throw attempts. He leads the team in rebounding at 6.5 per game while also leads the team in blocks (17) and is third in scoring at 8.5 points per game.
He had nine games with 10+ points this season while he had a monster showing with 15 points and a career-high 17 rebounds in an overtime win at Bates in the regular season. Cormier thrived in two matches against Hamilton, a team that won 20 games and is in the NCAA Tournament, posting 17 points (7-10 FG) in a regular season road win in Clinton and he followed with 15 points and 10 rebounds in a career-high 40 minutes in Wesleyan's double overtime win over the Continentals in the NESCAC semifinal round.
Wesleyan heads into their fifth all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament (all in the past 10 seasons) and their third time as a host site for opening round play (all since 2018). The Cardinals host two First Round games on Friday with Wesleyan set to face the Delaware Valley Aggies at 7 PM. The winner of that game will face the winner of Chatham vs. Gettysburg on Saturday at 7 PM from Silloway Gymnasium in the NCAA Tournament Second Round.
