While most students will be apart from each other over winter break, the Binghamton University men’s basketball team is going to have to come together.

‘When facing adverse times, you can’t give up,’ said BU head coach Kevin Broadus. ‘You can’t point the finger. All of us have to look in the mirror and ask, ‘Are we all giving our all?’

In the second half of Wednesday night’s matchup against Colgate, the answer was no.

‘What I saw was some guys giving up,’ Broadus said. ‘One thing they don’t have to worry about is me giving up. I’m going to fight until the end.’

Now Broadus is trying to instill the same attitude into his team. But he sees a different attitude right now.

‘We have to get rid of some of the attitudes and the ‘me, me, me’ and ‘I, I, I,’ Broadus said. ‘The team is Binghamton. It’s not individuals. Until we learn to play as a team, we can’t win.’

From day one, Broadus has tried to implement a ‘team first’ concept. Yet eight games into the season and only one win to show for it, the Bearcats seem to still be struggling with this notion.

‘It has taken a little more time than we hoped and anticipated, but we are still fighting to make that change,’ Broadus said.

When Bearcats senior co-captain Mike Gordon was asked if he felt like people are out there playing individually, he quickly answered, ‘No comment.’

‘I don’t know when it’s gonna come, but we are gonna go out and practice and try to get it better,’ Broadus said.

And it’s more than just showing up to practice day in and day out.

‘You get better before and after practice, late at night, early in the morning,’ Broadus said. ‘Now we have to get our guys to care a little more and put in the time and effort and go over and above. I have to change the culture of being better basketball players.’

The Bearcats know that this change is going to have to be made sooner rather than later as conference play is now less than a month away.

‘If these losses mean something to you, you work hard to get better,’ Broadus said. ‘Practice makes permanent.’