CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – Campbellsville men's basketball will begin their 2018-19 season Monday night against Kentucky Christian University at the Powell Athletic Center at 7:00 p.m. ET.
With the CU Fall Festival taking place tomorrow, anyone who wears a costume to tomorrow's basketball game will get free admission into the Powell Athletic Center to see the Tigers take on the Knights.
MIXING THE OLD AND THE NEW
The 2018-19 version of the Campbellsville Tigers differs very much so from the team that made the Mid-South Conference championship game and the NAIA tournament's round of 16. Although three of the five starters from the final game of last season are returning and four of the eight players that saw the floor, those are the only four returning players this season. Guards
Jacob King and
Hagen Tyler, along with forwards
Andrew Smith and
Deion Evans are the only players who have worn the Maroon and Gray before this season. The newcomers to the CU squad include three seniors in
Kevin Kangni,
Joan Duran and
Stephaun Adams, two juniors in
Calvin Fletcher and
Ronald Taylor, a sophomore in
Barry Rerecich and two freshmen in
Shane King and
Sam Weining. It's yet to be seen what head coach,
Brent Vernon's rotation will look like but there is no question significant minutes will be available for the new arrivals to the Tiger roster.
Scouting KCU
The Knights are also starting their season on Monday after going 15-16 in last year's campaign. They're head coach, Akeem Scott is entering his second season with the program after coming over last year from being an assistant with the West Virginia State women's program.
NEARING THE TOP 25
CU's Tigers begin this season exactly where they ended last season in the NAIA Coaches Poll, receiving votes. Campbellsville earned 20 points in the preseason poll, released on Oct. 23, with only three teams outside of the top-25 receiving more votes than the Tigers. CU will hope to break into the top-25 within the first in-season poll much like they did last year when they went 10-1 to move into the 21st spot.
EARLY HOME COOKING
Outside of their exhibition game against Western Kentucky on Oct. 30, CU will play seven of their first 10 games through the month of November at home at the Powell Athletic Center. Four of those games will be played as part of two CU hosted tournaments, the Lou Cunningham Classic (Nov. 16-17) and the Campbellsville Classic (Nov. 23-24). The three road games will all come in early November against Voorhees and Point at the Faulkner University Classic (Nov. 2-3) then at Lindenwood-Belleville on Nov. 10.
DEEP MID-SOUTH CONFERENCE
Though the Tigers have the 28th most points in the NAIA coaches poll, four Mid-South Conference teams rank ahead of them in the preseason. Campbellsville was also picked to tie for fourth in the MSC by the Mid-South coaches in their preseason poll, tying with Lindsey Wilson with 29 points and behind Georgetown (47), Pikeville (45) and Cumberlands (34). The three teams ahead of CU and Lindsey Wilson are also all in the top 25 in the NAIA to start the season as Georgetown is ranked 4th, Pikeville is ranked 8th, Cumberlands is ranked 16th and Lindsey Wilson barely sneaked into the top 25 at 25th.
Leaning on the seniors
Half of the CU men's basketball roster is compiled of its senior class as
Deion Evans,
Kevin Kangni,
Joan Duran,
Stephaun Adams,
Hagen Tyler and
Andrew Smith will all play their final season of college basketball this year. Four of those six seniors are projected to start after early season scrimmages with Kangni, Adams, Tyler and Smith looking to be in the starting five a
Jacob King the only underclassmen having the potential to start. However, if coach Vernon opts for a taller lineup, Duran or Evans could be inserted in place of king in to add some length to the starting unit to have all five be seniors.
Busy opening week
The Tigers will play four times in this opening week with the opener on Monday, the exhibition at WKU on Tuesday and games at Faulkner University on Friday and Saturday.
HOME GAMES ON CU SPORTS NETWORK
All Tiger basketball home games will be streamed on the CU Sports Network on campbellsvilletigers.com as well as the home games in the Mid-South Conference schedule being aired on WLCU-TV. Even if anyone won't be able to make it out to the Powell Athletic Center for CU home games, you can watch the Tigers play all of their home games for free on our athletics website. New this season on the CU Sports Network will be the inclusion of four-camera broadcasts as we attempt to bring a more in-depth, professional broadcast feel to basketball games during the 2018-19 season.
MID-SOUTH CONFERENCE Teams Starting up
Some teams in the Mid-South Conference have already started their seasons as Cumberlands (KY) defeated Milligan Collge last Thursday, Cumberland (TN) beat Tennessee Wesleyan and Fisk, Pikeville beat Central Penn College and Florida National University and Georgetown also beat Central Penn College. Lindsey Wilson was the only team in the Mid-South Conference to lose so far this season as they fell to Harris-Stowe State University last Saturday by a score of 77-74.
Up Next
For the fourth-straight season, the Tigers will play an exhibition game against Western Kentucky in Bowling Green, Ky. After the exhibition, CU will travel to Montgomery, Ala. to compete in the Faulkner University Classic as they will play Voorhees College and Point University on Nov. 2 and 3.
