LEBANON, Ill. – The Bearcats men's basketball team tips off on their 2023-24 campaign with a trip to Columbus, Ohio for the GLVC/GMAC Crossover. This years' version will be hosted by Ohio Dominican University in Alumni Hall.
McKendree draws Tiffin University on Friday, November 10th at 6:30 p.m. followed by Ohio Dominican on Saturday, November 10th at 2:00 p.m.
Series History
The Bearcats have not seen the Dragons or the Panthers in eleven years. Back in 2012, the Dragons won the teams' only meeting by the score of 72-52 in a neutral site game in St. Louis, Mo. The next day, ODU defeated McKendree 85-77. Overall against the Panthers, McKendree holds a 4-1 advantage.
Scouting the Bearcats
With its lone tune-up game against the Northwestern Wildcats in the rearview mirror, Coach George Suggs is preparing to begin his third year as the bench boss for the Bearcats. He returns Second Team All-GLVC and GLVC tournament MVP Milos Vicentic. The Belgrade, Serbia native led the team in scoring with 17.2 points per game.
Also returning is junior forward Caleb Zurliene who was named to the GLVC All-Defensive team. Aleksandar Davitkov and Carson Parker also return after seeing significant minutes last year for the Bearcats. Junior Hayden Meakes also returns after appearing all 33 games last season, averaging 4.4 points per game.
Looking to make an impact right away for the Bearcats are junior college transfers Joey Niesman and Kevin Stein.
The defending GLVC tournament champions were selected to finish fifth in the GLVC Preseason Poll as they are coming off of NCAA Regional Final appearance.
Scouting the Dragons
Under now 6th year head coach and reigning G-MAC Coach of the Year Tom Church, the Dragons posted a school-record 12 conference victories during the 22-23 season. Overall they finished the year with a 15-14 record and 12-8 in G-MAC play. They were selected to finish seventh in the G-MAC Preseason Coaches' Poll.
They return their top five scorers from last year in First Team All-G-MAC honoree Wesley Jordan (12.8 ppg), Second Team All-G-MAC honoree, Joshua Rivers (12.8 ppg), Carius Key (11.7), Ian Lopez (9.0) and Morgan Taylor (9.0). Key and Taylor led the Dragons with 29 minutes per game.
Scouting the Panthers
Ohio Dominican will be led by a new coach in Casey Kaufman who was appointed head coach on July 6, 2023 after an eight-year stint at Malone University. After finishing with an overall record of 9-18 (5-15 G-MAC), the Panthers were selected to finish 10th in the Preseason Poll.
The top returner is Kevin James who averaged 5.6 points per game as he made 14 appearances, including two starts. The other two returners for the Panthers are Nate Webb and Kayin Derden.
