The 2025-26 season proved to be a magical year for the Emory University men's basketball team as the Eagles turned in the program's best all-around season to date that culminated with an appearance in the national championship game for the first time in school history.

Emory won a team record 27 games, finishing with an overall record of 27-4, while capturing the team's first University Athletic Association championship since 2022, and established team single-season records in games played (31), points scored (2,742), three-pointers (271) and free throws made (505), total rebounds (1,323), defensive rebounds (934), defensive rebounding average (30.1), total assists (583) and assists average (18.8).

The Eagles were spearheaded by two of the most decorated players in Emory men's basketball history in seniors Ben Pearce and Jair Knight, with the electric duo accompanied by one of the strongest supporting casts in the nation which included senior leaders John Coppolino IV and Tyson Thomas, juniors Ethan Fauss and AJ Harris and sophomores Mario Awasum, Harris Jackson and Will Otto.

At the forefront were Pearce and Knight who became the first set of Emory teammates to land All-America honors in the same season with Pearce garnering First Team recognition from D3hoops.com and Second Team acclaim from the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) while Knight landed a spot on the D3hoops.com Second Team.

Pearce had a special season in his own regard as he became the first Emory basketball player to be named the D3hoops.com National Player of the Year to go along with being Emory's first-ever men's recipient of the Jostens Trophy – the highest achievement awarded to a player at the Division III level. Pearce's senior season will go down as one of the best campaigns in Emory history as he set single-season program records in points scored (707), scoring average (23.6), free throws made (179), minutes played (1,111) and finished second with 214 total assists. He finished his Eagles career as the school's all-time leader in points scored (2,080), scoring average (18.9), three-pointers made (260), games started (110) and minutes played (3679) while ranking second all-time in total assists (616), free throws made (426) and games played (110). His all-around career with the Eagles was recognized on the national level as well as he was chosen as the recipient of the Trevor Hudgins Award, presented by Small College Basketball, which goes to the player with the best overall career at a non-Division I school.

In addition to the All-America acclaim, Pearce and Knight were among those chosen for All-UAA honors with Pearce becoming the fourth player in program history to be chosen as the conference's Player of the Year while Knight was lauded as the Defensive Player of the Year, marking the second consecutive season an Eagle won the honor as well as the fourth in team history. To go along with their top honors, both Eagles landed spots on the All-UAA First Team with Knight making his third straight appearance on the league's First Team while Pearce became the first player in Emory history to be a four-time All-UAA First Team honoree.

Fauss joined them on the All-UAA list following a tremendous junior campaign that saw him make a massive step forward, averaging 15.0 points per game and a UAA-best 8.6 rebounds per game. Fauss also excelled in the classroom as he became the sixth Emory player to be recognized as an Academic All-American.

Not only was it the players that were showered with end of season recognition, but Head Coach Jason Zimmerman also garnered several high honors as he was tabbed as the Regional Coach of the Year by both D3hoops.com and the NABC while he was also tabbed as the Whack Hyder Georgia Men's Coach of the Year. Furthermore, Zimmerman along with his staff of Mak Krause, Chad Hixon and Charlie Copp were named the UAA Coaching Staff of the Year – marking the seventh time Zimmerman and his assistants have earned the honor.

The Eagles started the season on a blistering pace with 14 wins out of their first 15 contests including a 13-game winning streak – the longest winning streak for the Eagles since the 1989-90 season. During the win span, Emory went 2-0 with routs over Christopher Newport and TCNJ to win the Jay Bilas Classic, added another two dominant wins against Bates and No. 16 Hampden-Sydney for a 2-0 mark at the Emory Holiday Classic and started UAA play with a 4-0 record including road wins at Rochester, Brandeis and NYU.

The 14-1 start propelled the Eagles to the No. 1 ranking in the D3hoops.com national poll heading into a road weekend against WashU and No. 6 UChicago. Emory, though, saw its winning streak come to an end with defeats in both games of the weekend.

Despite the two losses, the Eagles had an opportunity to respond the following weekend with those same Bears and Maroons visiting Atlanta as the UAA schedule flipped going down the final stretch of the season. Emory bounced back in a monumental way, picking up overtime wins over then-ranked No. 20 WashU and No. 1 UChicago including a monster 36-point, 9-rebound outing from Knight in the win over the Maroons on the Eagles' home floor.

The weekend sparked another winning streak for the Eagles as the team closed out the regular season with eight straight victories, culminating with a Senior Day, 93-89 triumph over the University of Rochester which clinched the UAA championship for the Eagles.

Riding an eight-game win streak entering the postseason and on the strength of the UAA's automatic qualifier, the Eagles boasted the bracket's No. 2 overall seed and were chosen to host the opening rounds of the tournament.

The Eagles moved through the opening rounds with victories against MUW and Roanoke, with the win over Roanoke being one of the team's signature wins of the season to that point as the Eagles had to use some dramatics to pull off the victory. Emory erased a seven-point halftime deficit and took the lead at 75-74 with a Knight bucket in the closing moments of regulation. However, a foul with 1.0 seconds left in the second half sent the Maroons to the free throw line with a chance to seal the win. Roanoke went just 1-for-2 from the line though, giving the Eagles renewed life as the game went to overtime tied at 75. In the extra session, Fauss proved to be the hero as he sank the game-winning three-pointer with under 10 seconds to play before blocking Roanoke's final shot attempt at the buzzer to send Emory onto the Sweet 16.

The Eagles played host to their first-ever Round of 16 contest as Emory welcomed Yeshiva University to Atlanta for a Friday afternoon contest with a spot in Fort Wayne on the line. In front of the largest crowd in Woodruff PE Center history with nearly 2,500 patrons on site, the Eagles shined with a 21-point victory to advance to their second straight Elite Eight.

Looking to have a more favorable outcome than the year prior, the Eagles went up against Illinois Wesleyan at the Allen Country War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana and once again used theatrics to reach the team's first-ever Final Four. A back-and-forth game saw the score tied at 78 in the waning seconds when Pearce sank arguably the biggest shot in program history with a go-ahead three-pointer from the top of the arc with 1.4 seconds remaining in regulation to clinch the win.

Two days later, the Eagles used double-digit scoring efforts from Pearce, Fauss and Knight to lead the team past Christopher Newport, 72-58, and onto the national championship game where Emory would play the University of Mary Washington in a rematch of the down-to-wire Sweet 16 matchup from 2025.

The battle of the Eagles at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana with the Division III and national basketball audience watching lived up to the billing as the title game came down to the final shot. Emory took a 30-28 lead into the halftime break but soon saw the UMW Eagles build a double-digit second half advantage. The Emory Eagles though showed their resilience as they erased a 13-point deficit over the final five minutes of the game, eventually tying the game at 73 with another clutch triple by Fauss with 10.9 seconds remaining. However, on the ensuing possession UMW saw a putback attempt fall as the clock expired to win the national championship.

The heartbreak finish finalized an outstanding 27-4 campaign that featured two separate 13-game winning streaks – tied for the second-longest win streaks in program history – and the team's ninth overall UAA championship.
 

The Eagles earned the following honors during the 2025-26 season: