After moving to Varsity in Lower year following his first year on the Junior Varsity team, Boys Basketball Co-Captain Xavier Abreu ’25 (X) has aimed to bring his leadership and love of the game to his beloved team. Abreu has since stepped up as the team’s highest scorer and an offensive powerhouse.
Abreu balances the role of being a player and a coach for his fellow teammates. By settling only for the best, Abreu promotes a culture of hard-work and humility that the rest of the players can look up to.
“I am balanced between being both a vocal leader and a Captain that leads by my play. I like to hold my teammates accountable and really just get us going and fired up before games and in the huddle. If someone is slacking or not trying hard enough in practice, I try to keep all of the great athletes on the team humble. I also try to hold myself to the highest standard and lead by example for my teammates,” said Abreu.
Since his first season, Abreu has been a standout player. His Co-Captain Oli Ogueri ’25 spoke of their time together on JV during the 2022-23 season.
“One of my favorite moments was definitely our time on JV. That was just a really fun year. I’m not going to say we could do whatever we wanted, but we played very well in the game and were able to pull off a lot of plays that made the games pretty exciting. [Dr. Thomas] Kane was an awesome coach and gave me and X a lot of freedom. We were putting up crazy performances. A lot of people would come to our games to watch, and it was a great way to enter the Andover Basketball community,” said Ogueri.
With new additions to the team, Abreu has helped players settle under Head Coach Terrell Ivory ’00 (TI) and his diligent playstyle. Jake Saalfrank PG ’25 commented on Abreu’s ability to lead the team effectively.
Saalfrank said, “TI runs a bunch of plays, so X is very helpful in knowing every spot, teaching everybody what they are supposed to be doing and when they are supposed to do it. He’s also helped get me acclimated to the team culture under TI, giving me an idea of the ins and outs of the team and what I need to do to help the team perform the best and what TI wants me to do.”
After a very successful first two seasons on the team, Abreu shared his most memorable moment during last season when the team won against Phillips Exeter Academy during Winter Andover/Exeter (A/E). He highlighted the impact of the win going into the postseason.
“My favorite memory has to be last year winning A/E. It was just like a big game. We needed a win to get into the playoffs. In terms of the team’s performance in recent years, we had been in a losing slump against Exeter and it just felt great to come out on top. It was definitely an intense game, but it really just reflected what our team culture is all about in handling adversity both on and off the court. It is hard to go into such a historic rivalry with not the best record against Exeter and put up the performance we did to secure the win,” said Abreu.
Emphasizing a growth mindset, Ogueri highlighted how their Co-Captain competitiveness allows the two to work on each other’s game. He emphasized how challenging each other sparked creativity and a more refined playmaking.
“When you 1v1 someone for so long or play basketball with someone for years, you get to know each other’s game pretty well. Even if it’s just us playing together, because I know his moves so well, it forces him to be more crafty and create space in different ways. The time we have spent together has fostered an iron-sharpens-iron relationship where we are able to improve our games through teamwork,” said Ogueri.
After a solid start to the season, Abreu aspires to bring a championship win to the program while instilling values of hard work and discipline in each game.
“We aspire to get better every day. Getting 1 percent better every day is exactly what TI preaches all the time and it’s the message I want to convey to the team as well. With our long-term goal being to make the playoffs and hopefully back to the championship, we really need to stay disciplined and just together as we work toward bringing Andover a chip,” said Abreu.
After his final season with Phillips Academy, Abreu will continue his basketball journey playing Division I Basketball at Northeastern University.
