The men’s basketball team at Yeshiva University overcame a bumpy start to its season to become champions for the first time, beating teams from its conference of small colleges in and around New York City and earning a berth in its division’s postseason tournament. The opportunity was one Yeshiva had chased for decades.

But already, there was a complication: First-round games in the tournament are typically scheduled on Friday evening, after the start of the Sabbath, a time when the team cannot play.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association has moved the game up several hours to accommodate Yeshiva. Even so, it was another reminder of the unusual circumstances that its players face.

Their competitors, for instance, do not have hours of Jewish studies every day stacked on top of their other academic coursework. There was also a day of fasting this week before Purim, a holiday celebrating Jewish deliverance, that limited practice time. Beyond the religious obligations, players said they have noticed a certain level of pride that has been stirred in the broader Jewish community by seeing athletes from their faith succeed on the basketball court, many of them wearing skullcaps as they do it. In the final seconds of the Skyline Conference’s championship game, as Yeshiva outscored Purchase College, a crowd of hundreds sang in Hebrew.