The Red Devils faced a loss of 13 seniors following the close of the season. While this has certainly brought conflict, it also has created an opportunity to bring more diversity into the team. The Eureka College Men’s basketball team went 6-19 overall and 5-11 in conference last season, finishing seventh out of nine teams in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Chip Wilde will open his 29th season of head-coaching collegiate basketball, his 20th at Eureka College this coming season. Winning 221 games during his time here, Wilde holds the second-most in program history title behind Dave Darnall. He has guided the Red Devils to eight St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) tournament bids; will they be able to make it nine this season?
Wilde’s hopes for this season are to get back to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament. He shares that the team has done a good job taking care of business off the floor; academically with graduation and retention rates being great.
“I’m looking for the best student-athlete experience that we can give them, but that also includes winning,” Wilde says.
The head coach shares they have a good core group returning who will be skilled on the perimeter. He thinks they have the ability and potential to score a lot of points with some guys who will make some exciting plays.
“I think we have a group of guys that have good chemistry on and off the floor,” Wilde says.
When asked about the 13 players they lost last year, Wilde says it is, “a little bittersweet.” Seven of those players were four-year players, but he is very proud of them and believes it is time to move on to give some other players opportunities.
“Going to have a little bit of a different look. Some of the same philosophy, but going to have different personality and different personal to try to get to some of our goals,” Wilde shares.
The Red Devils averaged 71.2 points per game last season. Jaxon Provost led the herd, averaging 17.6 points per game and finishing the season with 422 points. Provost will be entering his senior season here at Eureka this fall. He earned 2025-26 SLIAC All-Conference Third Team and hopes to take it one step further this season.
Provost shares that the Red Devils are working hard in the preseason preparing for their first practice. With a lot of new guys and some young ones from last year, they are going to get more opportunities to play, and he is hoping for an overall successful year.
As far as strengths and weakness go, the senior believes that their speed and ability to push the ball will be good, but their size down low will be the struggle.
“We hope that our speed, toughness, and grit will help us down there,” Provost said.
Provost says that he is hoping to be even more of a leader for his guys this season. The team’s aspect is his main focus. Wanting to win games and compete for a conference championship, hoping his individual success will come along with that.
“Losing a group of guys like we did is obviously hard for any program. We appreciate what those guys did on a daily basis. It was stuff to help build a culture,” Provost says when asked about the large group they lost following the close of last season.
They hope that the new guys coming in will continue to build that culture while also trying to win a SLIAC championship.
When asked about the biggest change from the high school to collegiate level, Noah Aguilera, a freshman, says, “The biggest change for me has been the physicality and the speed of the game. It’s definitely a lot harder, but I’m adjusting fairly well.” Aguilera will be entering his first season as a Red Devil as a 6’0 guard.
“I’m most excited to travel with the guys, I feel like we have a really good group this year,” Aguilera said.
He continues by sharing that having a smaller group than last season will allow for some more cohesion.
Aguilera’s personal goals consist of getting comfortable in the system and continuing to adjust as a college athlete. On another level, he hopes that the team can achieve a winning record and stay competitive in the SLIAC.
The Red Devils will play 11 of their 27 matchups here in Eureka with the first one being on November 11 against Knox at 7:30.
