GLENVILLE, W.Va. - Glenville State Men's Basketball opens the 2023-24 season tomorrow (Nov. 10) at the Atlantic Region Tip Off Challenge in Charleston. The Pioneers will square off with Gannon on Friday and Salem on Saturday.
GAME INFORMATION
Friday, November 10 | 5 p.m. | H. Bernard Wehrle Senior Athletic Arena
Glenville State vs Gannon
Watch on MEC.TV | Live Stats
Saturday, November 11 | 2 p.m. | H. Bernard Wehrle Senior Athletic Arena
Glenville State vs Salem
Watch on MEC.TV | Live Stats
THE OPPONENTS
GANNON
The Golden Knights went (3-23) last season, only defeating Clarion twice and beating Edinboro at home.
Jordan Fee is in his first season leading the Gannon MBB program. Fee was the Associate Head Coach for 2022-23 DII National Champion Nova Southeastern previously. He began as an assistant with the Sharks in 2015, helping transform NSU into a powerhouse that finished 122-11 in the last four seasons. Fee played for Jim Crutchfield at West Liberty and began his coaching career with short stints as a Graduate Assistant at Clarion and Detroit Mercy.
The top returners are Josh Omojafo (8.2 PPG) and Thomas Whitley (4.4 PPG). To combat with the small production returning, he went and got nine new players, including two transfers who were conference players of the year in their respective conferences. Geneva transfer Lyle Tipton averaged 24.5 PPG last year and departed as the school's seventh all-time scorer. Pitt-Bradford transfer Nathan Schneider averaged 23.1 PPG and 8.6 RPG in 2022-23. Fee also added Indiana State transfer Zachary Hobbs to the squad over the offseason.
SALEM
The Tigers finished the 2022-23 campaign (19-12), including a sweep of the Pioneers.
Vincent Thibodeau enters his first season leading Salem after a short stint as an assistant at DI James Madison. He was also an assistant under Brett Rector at Salem in 2021-22. Thibodeau has also coached at Western Michigan, VMI and Michigan-Dearborn.
SU brings back their third-leading scorer from last season, Ian Hardy, who averaged 9.3 PPG. Kapone Barley is also back after averaging 4.3 PPG in 2022-23. Thibodeau brought in a lot of new faces to try and fill the void of losing many of the Tigers leading scorers from last year.
THE PIONEERS
GLENVILLE STATE
The Pioneers are coming off a (17-13) season where they fell in the MEC Quarterfinals to Fairmont State.
Bob Bolen is back on the sidelines to lead the Pioneers in his first year with the program. The veteran head coach leads GSU into tomorrow with a career record of 489-125 and a National Championship at Mountain State University. After MSU, Bolen spent three seasons as an assistant at East Tennessee State.
Glenville State has a key piece from last year in the lineup once again in Jordan "Turbo" Smith. Turbo was an All-MEC First Team selection in 2022-23, averaging 18.5 PPG, 4.1 APG and 3.6 RPG. Jaelin Johnson (6.5 PPG and 3.0 RPG) and Trevor Chandler (5.1 PPG and 2.9 RPG) are also a few pieces from last year's team that are back. Bolen dipped in the transfer portal as well, adding Shoreline transfer Antoine Boyd Jr. (22.3 PPG and 4.5 RPG), Pikeville transfer Devin Collins (11.1 PPG and 4.5 RPG), Seattle U (DI) transfer Dominiq Penn, Lindenwood transfer Remy Lemovou and others.
To stay connected with the Pioneers during the upcoming season, fans can follow Glenville State Men's Basketball on Twitter (X) @GSUMensHoops and Instagram @GSU_MBB for news and score updates plus many more all season long.
