Blackburn College Men’s Basketball Head coach Steve Kollar is ready to roll! It’s been a long preseason, and now his Beavers are less than a week away from kicking off their 2015-16 campaign. The Beavers have been spending countless hours in the weight room and putting up shots in the gym to get ready for November 14th.
While also working on their physical abilities, Kollar felt this year’s preseason work was a point of emphasis for other intangibles. “That was where we started to build our chemistry and our toughness,” says Kollar, “It was huge for us. It gave us that idea that everything is for the guy next to you.”
Kollar has been very pleased with the team’s commitment to the game, specifically noting everyone has shown a passion and an enthusiasm to get better.
The Beavers will feature a full roster this season with 20 athletes while returning ten from last year’s team. Of those returners, junior guard Chris Davis headlines the list.
Last year Davis led the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in free throws made with 138. Davis was also fifth in free throw percentage at 81 percent.
Joining Davis at guard is junior Damon Goodloe Jr. who is in his second full season at Blackburn after transferring from Lincoln College. Senior Colin Gowin returns to the squad after a one year hiatus. Sophomore Dillon Hensley enters his second season after cracking the starting lineup in his freshman campaign. Fellow sophomore Reed Rusten is back after providing a significant role off the bench in 2014-15. Rusten’s breakout performance happened at the end of last season when he came off the bench to pour in 30 points in a 72-71 victory at Greenville College. Rounding out the returning guards will be sophomore Jake Lochhead. Lochhead cracked the starting lineup several times as a freshman and had a 20 point performance in a win against Greenville College.
Freshmen Patrick Rice, Cleotha Wisenton, Taivon Kincaid, and the speedy Javante Ramey will join juniors Tyraze Turner, Jake Maestranzi, DeAndre Manuel to make up the rest of the team’s backcourt.
With this plethora of athletes, Kollar expects his team to be aggressive. “We’re going to push really hard. We really want to attack on both ends on the floor. We will still be disciplined, however. Our goal will always be to get the best shot if it’s there.”
This year’s frontcourt will be made up of a group of very athletic forwards.
Senior Jamie Moore returns after a solid junior season where he was fourth in the SLIAC in blocks with 24. Senior Henry Hicks and his smooth touch will join Moore down low. Last season Hicks shot an impressive 88.9 percent from the free throw line (24-27). Winner of this year’s team preseason dunk contest Willie Orange is back for his junior year. Last season as a sophomore, Orange played in every game eventually working his way into the starting lineup at the end of the season. Junior forward Chris Stone will make his return the court after being away last season.
Sophomores Malcom Scott and Jordan McMillen are back after playing significant roles last season as freshman. The 6 foot 9 inch McMillen will also provide a shooting threat to go along with his post play after shooting 46 percent from beyond the arc. Hailing all the way from Auckland, New Zealand is the 6’7 freshman Ugo Pierantoni to provide depth in the front court.
The Beavers have an exciting lineup to open their season. They will open the season with five road games against the nation’s top programs. But the team won’t be rattled by the hype.
“We’re planning to win those games. It doesn’t matter who is on our schedule. We prepare and work as hard as anybody else and our mentality is to always compete and put ourselves in a position to win, said Kollar.”
Blackburn kicks off the season at the always competitive Washington University. “They are an outstanding program. But we’re not going over there just to be a part of it; we’re going there to win. These games are really going to help us prepare for when we start our conference games” Kollar added.
Heading into conference, Blackburn received no respect from the preseason coaches’ poll and found them picked to finish last in the SLIAC.
“I told the guys we are going to talk about this once. We just said this is what everybody believes. But those people aren’t the ones who are putting in the work. So we’re not going to talk about it, we’re going to be about actions not words, said Kollar.”
Blackburn won’t begin conference play until December 2nd when they travel to Fontbonne University. Then they play their home opener three days later against long time SLIAC rival MacMurray College.
“Our goal is to win a conference championship. That’s what we work hard for every day. There are a lot of things that need to go well and we need to come together for that to happen, but I don’t see any reason why we can’t do that, said Kollar.”