Led by second-year head coach Chris Harvey, the Lasell men’s basketball team was in just its fourth season as a varsity program in 2001-02. Coming off a 17-9 season the previous year, the Lasers put together a 21-7 campaign, including an 8-0 mark in the North Atlantic Conference. The team captured the NAC tournament for the first of three straight conference championships and earned an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament, the first Lasell team to qualify for the national championship tourney.

The Lasers won their first five games before an overtime loss to Clark University in late November. The team went into the holiday break with an 8-3 record, won its first four games in 2002 and finished January with a 14-5 mark. Lasell finished the regular season winning five of its last six games before defeating Elms College and Maine Maritime to claim the NAC Tournament title. The Lasers traveled to Union College (N.Y.) for the NCAA Tournament, suffering a tough 75-73 setback in the first round.

After scoring at least 100 points six times and at least 90 points 10 times, the Lasers finished 12th in the NCAA in scoring offense (85.3 ppg), and 21st in scoring margin (12.4 ppg). Senior Dwayne Okantey led the team with 17.4 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, and junior Vincent Johnson was good for 13.9 points per game after making 52 three-point baskets. Senior E.J. Vaughn added 9.1 points per game and freshman Demetrius Dejesus chipped in with 8.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per contest.

The remaining members of the team include juniors Erik Costin, Josh Ferreieras, David Montville, and Napoleon Sandeford, sophomores Evans Cazeau, Stern Chamberlain, Mike Gallagher, Mike Jones, Brandon McGill, Jim Smith and Greg Walker, and freshman Jarrod Mussington.