As the months count down to his senior season, 6-foot-6-inch guard Harry Cavell of the Seattle Pacific University basketball team has always had basketball in his family history. 

Cavell’s father, Bob Cavell, played college basketball at Oregon State University, so Cavell wanted to play in college as well.

Cavell played at McNary High School in Keiser, Oregon, winning Greater Valley Conference Player of the Year in 2016. Still, the college offers did not come very fast. 

“I was not heavily recruited in high school, so my senior year was frustrating. I struggled with my confidence and wasn’t sure if I was good enough to play high-level college basketball,” Cavell said in an email.

At a time when Cavell was unsure of where to go with basketball, he thought of quitting altogether. Everything changed for Cavell when Seattle Pacific University men’s basketball coach Grant Leep offered him a spot on the roster.

Now, Cavell is looking ahead to his final season. He will be a senior along with two other players on the team, Mehdi El Mardi and Sharif Khan. They will be the leaders of the team for the upcoming year and will try to fight their way back into the GNAC tournament and win it all. 

In addition to playing basketball, Cavell also loves being around his teammates. 

“It’s not tough to fit in with our team because all the guys are so fun to be around,” Cavell said. “One thing I’ve learned is you can’t take yourself too seriously around these guys. But we’re always joking around, hanging out and spending time off the court, so everyone is comfortable around each other.”

On the court, Cavell plays with an athleticism that one might not expect. He utilizes this to get past defenders for baskets and soar over opponents for rebounds.

“I got my athleticism from my dad. But it’s funny, during the recruiting process the main reason certain schools didn’t recruit me was because I ‘lacked athleticism,’” Cavell said. “My athleticism allows me to recover more easily on defense and I can also use it to get driving angles and elevate over defenders to shoot on the offensive end.”

Cavell has steadily improved his basketball game throughout his time at SPU.

He started off his basketball career at SPU averaging around 8.4 points a game in the 2017-2018 season. During Cavell’s sophomore season, he averaged 10.2 points per game and grabbed 4.1 rebounds per game in the 2018-2019 season. In his junior season, 2019-2020, Cavell improved to 13.5 points per game on around 49% shooting from the floor, which was second on the team scoring behind Davant’e Moffit who averaged 17.1 points per game.

Cavell wants to continue to improve his stats and help his team do better in his final season.  

“I would love to win a national championship and be an All-American,” he said.

“Obviously these are lofty goals, but I believe I am capable of these things if I continue to work hard. More than anything I want to be remembered as a hard-worker who has integrity, because things translate to life outside of basketball as well.”