Ivy League hoopsters are Division I athletes on the court and exceptionally accomplished and eclectic humans off it. Ivy Hoops Online presents the latest edition of our Off the Bench series that takes fans inside the stories that you might not otherwise know from the stands or through your screen.
This time we are introduced to Lucas Lueth ’27, a rising senior on the Penn men’s basketball team from Ames, Iowa. While he aspires to take on a leadership role in healthcare down the road, he has his eyes on a pro basketball career, and a lot more, along the way. For this multi-talented Penn player, basketball is art, and art informs the way he sees the court as well as the world:
“I do a lot of things that are out of the ordinary for a basketball player, I guess.”
That was Lucas Lueth’s understated guess as to why he had been chosen for an Off the Bench interview. No reference to points, blocks, rebounds or wins. He has gotten plenty of those, too, as a forward for Penn and at Kirkwood Community College, about two hours from his home in Ames, Iowa. But stats are just not what drives him.
Away from the court, Lueth writes poetry, plays guitar and piano, photographs landscapes, studies healthcare disparities, mentors younger students, and does social media for Black Student-Athletes @Penn (BSA@Penn). For Lueth, art doesn’t compete with basketball — it infuses his vision for the game with creativity and depth.
“A jump shot, a photograph, or a song — these are all forms of art,” Lueth said.
In his freshman year, two knee surgeries forced Lueth away from the game for months. Instead of retreating, Lueth looked for a new way to challenge himself.
“I wanted to feel productive,” he remembered.
Already able to play a bit of piano, Lucas taught himself guitar through YouTube videos, gravitating toward country artists like Chris Stapleton and Zach Bryan, while continuing to play the worship music he had always enjoyed.
“I wouldn’t say music filled a void,” Lueth clarified. “I would say it came to light something that was already there.”
Soon, Lueth was leading worship nights in his dorm, finding that the same discipline required to recover from injury also applied to making himself a musician – one who had been waiting for the chance to play.
As his physical rehab progressed, Lueth immersed himself in poetry, writing and photography, exploring what he called “each art form’s language for expressing what is difficult to say out loud.” He says his Instagram became a mood board for his thoughts and feelings.
Taking pictures of “negative space” is a habit Lueth had been quietly cultivating ever since he came across a 2009 Canon EOS camera.
“These images say as much through what they leave out,” Lueth said, “as what they include.”
As for writing, Lueth is currently exploring longer-form poetry, and he plans to publish personal essays on Substack. He wants to use his creativity to tell stories that matter, as he is doing “to inform people about life as a black student-athlete,” for BSA@Penn.
In the eyes of this artist, basketball is movement, rhythm, improvisation, and most of all, “It’s like a canvas. You’re using the ball, and a hoop, and your body to move and put the ball in the basket in creative ways.” A few of his favorite exemplars? Steph Curry stretching the floor. Kyrie Irving creating impossible angles. Kobe’s footwork. Tim Duncan’s precision. Paul George’s fluidity. Shai Gilgous-Alexander’s pace.
“There’s individual art to basketball, but there’s also a team art,” Lueth said.
Lueth points to the early-2010s San Antonio Spurs and the Warriors’ impressive blend of timing, trust, and movement.
Movement is a recurring theme in Lueth’s journey. He helped Kirkwood attain a community college national championship before transferring into the Ivy League.
Leaving Iowa and his “set of people” wasn’t easy. It helped to have fellow transfer TJ Power as a teammate adjusting together in real time. Admittedly, Lueth tends toward introversion. Penn is challenging him to become more intentional about building community. Finally, Philadelphia has started to feel like home.
Academically, Lueth has found a home in the Health and Societies program within Penn’s History and Sociology of Science department.
In a summer internship with the Center for Health Care Transformation and Innovation, Lueth is excited to observe how many moving parts are at work in hospitals – not just doctors, but also designers, architects, engineers, finance professionals and administrators.
Lueth is carefully watching how each plays a role in the care that a patient ultimately receives. He expects this experience will be formative as he moves toward medical school and an eventual career in hospital leadership.
Inspired for a creative, service-oriented future, Lueth is most effusive in describing the role that shaped him before basketball, and before any of his artistic endeavors.
“I’m the oldest of five,” Lueth reports, proudly. His siblings — ages 19, 17, 15 and 13 — remain at the center of his life. Lueth is quick to share that he misses them every day, and that he takes seriously the responsibility to set an example for them even when he is not at home to help in the ways he used to. He credits his parents for instilling in him his commitment to family, as well as a relentless work ethic.
After he graduates, Lueth plans to pursue professional basketball at the highest level. He just won’t limit himself.
The possibilities for art are endless.
“I know God gave me these talents,” Lueth said. “I have to use them for a reason.”
