ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — Henderson State's men's basketball team will play in its first official contests of the 2018-2019 season this weekend, when the Reddies take on the University of Mary Marauders and the Augustana University Vikings in back-to-back matchups on Friday and Saturday in Dallas, Texas.
Henderson has played in one exhibition game, falling 90-63 against Louisiana-Monroe on Nov. 1. The Reddies hung with ULM for most of the first half and held a 28-26 advantage with six minutes to play in the opening frame. Ten different Reddies got in the scoring column, with
Chris Parker and
Raekwon Rogers leading the way with 14 points and 12 points, respectively.
This will be the first true game in a Henderson uniform for many players in the Reddies' rotation. Players such as
Anthony Lupardus,
Rel Johnson,
Jeremiah Toney,
Mike Fofana and
Terrence Parker will all look to get their Henderson State careers off to a strong start.
Both games will take place at Cedar Hill College
Scouting the University of Mary – Nov. 9 - 5:00 P.M.
After helping to revitalize the University of Mary basketball program during his first two seasons, head coach Joe Kittell struggled last season, as the Marauders finished with a 6-21 overall record and were 4-18 in Northern Sun conference play. In his first two seasons, Kittell helped the Marauders to 22 conference victories, an increase of 10 wins from the previous two seasons. The Marauders lost their two leading scorers off of last year's squad, but return Jaylan White, Matthew Kreklow, and Tom Kubank who combined to average 25.7 points per game last season. Kreklow is the most efficient scorer of that bunch and shot 54.3 percent from the field last season in 25.3 minutes of action per game. The Marauders do return their leading marksman from last season in Wyatt Carr, who shot a blistering 42.6 percent from 3-point range while coming off of the bench. The Reddies could have an advantage on the glass, as the University of Mary ranked last in the Northern Sun last season in rebounding, pulling down just 29.7 rebounds per game.
Scouting Augustana – Nov. 10 - 12:00 P.M.
Augustana has been one of the top programs in Division II basketball over the last few seasons and won the National Championship in the 2015-2016 season. While none of the players who saw minutes in the National Championship remain on the squad, head coach Tom Billeter remains on the sideline. Billeter is entering his 16th season at the helm of Vikings basketball and is already the all-time winningest men's basketball coach in Augustana history. However, the Vikings lost quite a bit off production off of their 2017-2018 team. Last season, the Vikings had five players who averaged double-figures, but only one of them, Adam Dykman, returns. Dykman averaged 10.9 points per game on 53 percent shooting. Dykman has the ability to stretch the floor and shot an impressive 43.1 percent from 3-point range while averaging more than two attempts per game last season. The Vikings expect Matt Cartwright to step up into a starting role this year. Cartwright played in all 30 games as a freshman and averaged 7.2 points per game.
