OVERJOYED

Lake Forest native and Lake Forest College senior hoopster Alex Forowycz is having a blast—on and off the court—thanks to a certain life lesson learned through basketball.

THE MESSAGE ADORNING A SLOGAN SHIRT worn by a former Lake Forest College men’s basketball coach made Alex Forowycz pivot two seasons ago.

But the move had nothing to do with one of his feet and everything to do with his mindset. After absorbing the quote, often attributed to Theodore Roosevelt, the sharpshooter’s approach atop hardwood and on a variety of surfaces outside of arenas reached a healthier level.

“I read it and wished I had read it in high school,” says Forowycz, a 2022 Lake Forest High School (LFHS) graduate and a 6-foot 3, 185-pound senior wing for the Lake Forest College Foresters.

Ex-Foresters assistant coach and former high-scoring LFC hoopster Sean Espinosa—now serving Loras (Iowa) College in the same capacity—sported the shirt with the words COMPARISON IS THE THIEF OF JOY.

“To me, it means, ‘Stay rooted in who you are, not in trying to become like another basketball player or another person,'” says Forowycz, who scored his 1,000th career point in a 99-70 defeat of visiting Macalester (Minnesota) College on November 22, and through January 17, was averaging a team-high 19.3 points per game for an 11-5 team on an eight-game winning streak.

“Nothing good,” he adds, “comes from measuring what you’ve accomplished against what others have. We’re all in different places and on different paths.”

Forowycz’s hoops track at LFHS began inauspiciously. He played for the “B” Team as a freshman and for the JV squad as a sophomore.

“I worked on everything after my freshman basketball season,” Forowycz recalls. “I took practices more seriously, tried to get stronger and more consistent, and did all I could to stay locked in.”

As his game got better and better during his junior and senior seasons under former LFHS varsity coach Phil LaScala, he sought to hit more shots—and the books—on a college campus. Forowycz wanted to enroll at a small school with a commitment to rigorous academics and a solid Division III men’s basketball program.

Lake Forest College fit the bill. Plus, his parents, Roman and Ann, wouldn’t have to travel more than a few three-pointers’ distance to attend the Foresters’ home games.

Forowycz averaged 3.5 points per game as a freshman in 2022-2023 and then shot up to 17.4 points per game the next winter. His 38-point game in a win against visiting Lawrence (Wisconsin) University in late January 2024 featured seven three-pointers and the game-winning bucket—with only 1 second remaining in the fourth quarter—that looked like he had provided an assist to himself.

“Funny sequence,” he says. “I took a shot that hit the side of the backboard. The ball came right back to me, I rebounded it, took another mid-range jumper, and it went in. Three Lake Forest High School graduates were on Lawrence’s team, and I’m pretty sure Coach LaScala was in the stands.”

The marketing major/entrepreneurship minor then averaged nearly 16 points per game as a junior and netted a host of honors, including all-tournament recognition twice, Second Team All-Midwest Conference (MWC), and Academic All MWC.

Lake Forest College stunned top-seeded Monmouth College in an MWC tournament semifinal last winter in Matt Griggs’ first season as the Foresters’ head coach.

The first Forester he met upon arriving on campus was Forowycz.

“Alex’s big smile—that’s what I remember most about seeing him that day,” says Griggs, whose Foresters won six of their first seven MWC games this winter. “Right away, he made me feel welcome.”

Griggs knew immediately he had inherited a consummate, mad-about-hoops athlete in Forowycz.

“Alex,” Griggs says of the tri-captain, “loves every part of basketball. He loves the film sessions, the good days, and even the bad days. We have to tell him to leave the gym some days. He’s always around the game and looking to get better, often viewing film clips of opposing teams on his phone.

“You want a player who makes practices better,” he continues. “You know when Alex is not at practice and you know when Alex is at practice.”

Forowycz made 44 of his first 45 free-throw attempts in the 2025-2026 season, ranking first in the nation among Division III players in free-throw percentage. He went 9-for-9 at the line once and 8-for-8 twice. His career shooting percentages through mid-January stood at .480 (field goal), .408 (three-point), and .901 (free throw).

He was 15th on the program’s career-scoring list—and on pace to end up eighth, possibly sixth—in mid-January.

“He has a knack for scoring, but not just as a very good shooter,” Griggs says. “He’s also a really skilled finisher, having worked hard on other aspects of his game that have made him a well-rounded player. An opposing coach said to me before a game, ‘Man, that Alex Forowycz—he’s a problem. If he’s on his game today, we won’t have a chance.'”

Forowycz’s mental game might be just as potent, in part because he continues to heed the warning that accompanies the maxim COMPARISON IS THE THIEF OF JOY.

“Having a strong mental game in college basketball is huge,” says Forowycz, who is thinking about seeking an opportunity to play professional basketball, as well as pursuing a post in either coaching or the business industry. “In high school, I’d miss a few shots in a row, and that would get in my head and stay there for a while. Now, if I miss a shot or two, I move on. I don’t get discouraged. And I’m never nervous in games because what allows me to live with the tough results is knowing I had put in all the necessary work before each game.

“There are life lessons in basketball,” he adds.