Senior guard discusses his life, team goals saying he would do it all over again
By Wyatt Pfiefer
Lane Rohrich, a starting guard for the UNK Men’s basketball team and one of four seniors on the 2017-2018 roster, was shooting a team high 56 percent from the field near end of season and rounded up a few honors as well during his Loper days.
Lane is an exercise science (pre-physical therapy) major with a health science minor and has done great juggling his classes and basketball throughout his college career appearing on the MIAA Academic Honor Roll each of his past three years.
Keeping on top of academics is the biggest challenge, learning how to manage your time wisely as a student-athlete is tough, he says. “My classes have been challenging, and I usually miss a lot because of long basketball road trips. Staying on top of the material when you’re gone is no easy task, so you have to set extra time aside to play catch-up.”
“I have been fortunate enough to have great professors who have worked with me outside of class times to help me when I have any questions. A lot of the time it is hard to balance, but I would do it all over again if I had to.”
Q: What is your favorite professional sports team?
A: The Minnesota Vikings
Q: Who is your favorite professional athlete?
A: Connor Beranek
Q: Which athlete/athletes do you believe you modeled your game after?
A: I didn’t really use a professional athlete to model my game after. When I was little, I really looked up to a senior at my high school named Max Froehlich who actually played basketball at UNK up until 2012. I always wanted to be as good as he was at basketball and football, so I could say that I tried to model my game after him.
Q: What is your favorite pre-game meal?
A: A club sandwich and steamed broccoli
Q: Are there any superstitions or routines that you do on the day of a game?
A: I usually just play video games with Trey Lansman before our basketball games.
Q: On game day what song or type of music are you listening to?
A: I typically listen to some type of classic rock up until I get into the locker room. When I get into the locker room, Yash usually has control of the music, and I have no clue what genre that is.
Q: How old were you when you started playing basketball, and when did you realize that you had the ability to make it to the collegiate level?
A: I have been playing basketball my whole life—especially with my older brothers Mason and Austin. We grew up across the street from a basketball court, so that made a huge impact on my development as a player. Mason and Austin never played organized basketball, but they challenged me just because I was so much smaller than they were. My high school coaches Mike Emory and Tim Waldner helped me out tremendously when I stepped in as a freshman in high school. They really pushed me and helped me realize that I had a shot to play college basketball if I worked hard enough.
Q: What was it about UNK that drove you to attend this school?
A: I first wanted to go somewhere with a great science program because I knew that I wanted to become a physical therapist someday. Along with that, I also wanted to find a basketball program that felt like the right fit for me. I was being recruited by a lot of different college basketball programs in high school, but I never really felt like they were the right option for me.
I was a little flustered about my college choice in my senior year, and then out of the blue, Coach Lofton called me. He started to recruit me and I finally came down for a visit and just loved it here.
My brother Mason was in his sophomore year at UNK, and my grandfather Fran Rohrich graduated from Kearney State College several years ago. Mason made a big influence on my decision because I knew that I would have someone to help me out in that transition from high school to college. I also have quite a bit of family around here, so I knew I would have great support in the area.
It was honestly a no-brainer for me.
Q: What has been your greatest experience with the basketball team on and off the field?
A: I don’t particularly have a single greatest experience with my team because we have had so many terrific memories together. Just being able to be around the guys every day is a blessing because we all enjoy each other’s company. We are all just like brothers, honestly.
Q: After you shot 83 percent from the field in the Loper’s gigantic win over Northwest Missouri State. what do you think was the biggest factor to UNK knocking off the #2 ranked team in the nation?
A: The biggest factor was our defense and rebounding. We have struggled a lot as a team on defense this year, and we are trying to shift our focus more to the defensive side of the ball as we move forward. Our offense is going to come to us because we have some great players, but we need to defend and rebound if we want to win games. It was a great team effort and one of the more exciting games that I have been a part of.
Q: What are your team’s expectations for the rest of the season?
A: In the rest of the games this season I want to see us play with an edge on the defensive side of the ball. We defended and rebounded well against Northwest, and if we can mimic that toughness night in and night out, I think that we can really get rolling.
