Emory community turns out for Eagles’ NCAA championship finals watch party

By Kate Sweeney April 6, 2026

Emory students, faculty, staff and alumni gathered to cheer on the Eagles’ first championship appearance. Photos by Zinzi Sebunya, Emory Communications and Marketing.

Emory students, faculty, staff and alumni gathered to cheer on the Eagles’ first championship appearance. Photos by Zinzi Sebunya, Emory Communications and Marketing.

Harland Cinema was alive with enthusiastic whoops, chants and clanging cowbells Sunday afternoon. Students, faculty, staff and alumni wearing blue and gold packed the house to watch via a live feed as the men’s basketball team played the NCAA Division III National Championship game against the University of Mary Washington.

“I love this!” said Bella Christianson, a junior neuroscience major and basketball fan. “It means a lot to support the student-athletes we are peers with. And it’s just so heartwarming that we made it this far.”

Attendees enjoyed food and photo opps while cheering for the team.

“My parents are watching at home,” said Christianson’s friend Julia Schreiber, a junior political science major, “so we’re all kind of invested in it.”

“But it’s fun to be here,” added Christianson, “experiencing it with this large group of people and cheering through the ups and downs. It's really fun to me.”

A few rows behind Christianson and Schreiber sat someone with a great deal of cheering experience.

William Sun, a sophomore economics major, plays trumpet in the Emory Pep Band, which pumps up crowds and players at school sporting events. He and his friend Oliver Deng were enjoying wings and pizza provided by Emory Athletics, which hosted the watch party.

“I came to Emory for academics,” said Sun, “but it’s been great to see how huge basketball has gotten.” Normally, he spends his Sunday afternoons studying, Sun said, adding, “But I’d rather be here today, showing our school spirit.”

Sun and Deng, a sophomore biology major, enjoy shooting hoops with friends at the Woodruff Physical Education Center, where they often see Ben Pearce and other Eagles basketball players practicing.

“So, it’s very cool to see them play tonight,” said Deng. “You know, I’ve watched them make their way to the finals, and they’ve gone through a lot. This is pretty inspiring.”

Eleanore Reiss — a nurse practitioner with Student Health Services — and her spouse, Gil Kulers, joined the fun with pennant flags crafted for the game.

Bentley Jones, who earned his bachelor’s in 1971, has been following the men’s basketball team through thick and thin, for years.

“We won the conference two years in a row,” he said, referring to the team’s 1988-89 and 1989-90 seasons, “and I can still name you all those players.” Watching during Coach Jason Zimmerman’s time with the team has been “especially exciting,” he added.

The Eagles tied the game in the final seconds, before a last basket by Mary Washington ended the title contest at 75-73.

Many in the auditorium spoke of the significance of the game, which was the team’s first shot at a championship to top off a record-breaking season.

Sophie Kalmin, a senior majoring in American studies and minoring in Middle Eastern studies, found a poignancy in “being part of this run in my very last year.”

“With Emory basketball, it’s been exciting to watch them win important game after important game,” said Kalmin. Coming from “a big sports family” in Houston, Texas, including a brother who attends a Division I school, she loves that Emory, a Division III school, beat her brother’s university to the punch in making a national championship appearance.

“It means a lot just to be here for this moment in school history,” she said.

Kalmin added that she looks forward to cheering the Eagles on again next year, as an alum.

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