MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Mulerider Men's Basketball is back not without its fair share of new faces on the court and on the bench. Southern Arkansas is set to open its season at the Central Region Tip-Off Challenge in Kansas City, Missouri for the second consecutive campaign. The Blue and Gold will face the reigning national champions, the Minnesota State – Mankato Mavericks and then follow up on the next day with competition against fellow Northern Sun opponent Sioux Falls.
 
#1 Minnesota State – Mankato (0-2 | 0-0 NSIC)
>>> The Mavericks are coming off what was their most historic season to date as Minnesota State-Mankato claimed their first NCAA National Championship after defeating the reigning national champions Nova Southeastern.
>>> MSU claimed their first DII Championship with a three-point buzzer-beater from Kyreese Willingham to put the Mavericks up 88-85 with just 0.8 seconds left.
>>> The Mavs have already played a pair of contests this season with contests against #19 Florida Southern and #9 North Georgia. MSU dropped both contests, but in narrow fashion for each with an OT loss to Fla. Southern and an eight-point fall to UNG.
>>> Prior to the true season beginning the, the Mavericks ventured to Lexington, Kentucky where they faced the Kentucky Wildcats in an exhibition match that ended with the Southeastern Conference's powerhouse winning 98-67.
>>> Minnesota State led the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference in many of its statistical categories as the unit was the league's top offense, averaging 76.8 points per game (26th nationally) and second in the conference for scoring defense, averaging 65.3 points allowed per game (7th nationally).
 
Sioux Falls (0-0 | 0-0 NSIC)
>>> The Cougars of the University of Sioux Falls' last outing actually came against the Mavericks of Mankato, Minnesota as the group was defeated in the second round of the 2023-24 NSIC Tournament by a final of 64-78 for MSU.
>>> The Cougars fell to conference opponents in their last five regular season contests of 23-24, but managed to sneak their way into the league's tournament where they defeated the Bemidji State Beavers 68-66.
>>> USF will face a member of the Great American Conference for the first time since November 12, 2022 when the Cougars opened their season in the Municipal Auditorium to face then ranked #25 Southern Nazarene and defeated the Crimson Storm 75-72.
>>> Last season, the Cougars led the NSIC in offensive rebounding per game with 11.90 per outing and were led by Shawn Warrior (2.03 | 11th NSIC). >>> Warrior makes his return for USF, but the unit will be without their leader in assists and blocks from last season in Jack Thompson and Zane Alm, as Thompson ended 23-24 with the third-most assists in the NSIC (122) and Alm with the second-most block in the league (47 | 36th nationally). 
 
Welcome to The Party
>>> One of the largest topics for Mulerider Men's Basketball in 2023-24 was the amount of new faces seen throughout the team as the Muleriders had 11 newcomers and just two lettermen returning from last season.
>>> This season, the Blue and Gold see seven returning members from last season's roster with eight newcomers. Technically speaking, SAU is actually bringing in 10 newcomers if you were to include the coaching staff.
>>> The Muleriders are now being led by former Central Arkansas Bear and assistant coach for Henderson State and Angelo State, Head Coach Mark Rutledge. Alongside Coach Rut is assistant coach Justin Tucek.
>>> Rutledge has plenty of experience with Southern Arkansas, as the Tulsa, Oklahoma native was a former graduate assistant under well-renowned Mulerider Men's Basketball Head Coach Andy Sharpe. Rutledge has also seen his fair share of competition with SAU as he coached against the Muleriders during his time at HSU and ASU.
 
Guess Who's Back, Back Again
>>> One of the biggest obstacles for Southern Arkansas was the adjustment to so many newcomers in the 2023-24 campaign. As mentioned, the Muleriders return seven total members from last year's team, including large contributors from last season in sophomore Nevi Tell, sophomore Anthony Igiede, senior Christian Caldwell, and senior Carel Ray Jr.
>>> The only departure from the main rotation in the starting lineup ended up being Gregory Hammond Jr., who is now a member of the NBA's New Orleans Pelicans' G-League team, the Birmingham Squadron.
>>> Tell returns as one of the GAC's top stealers and assisters as the Magnolia native ranked 11th in assists per game (3.0), 10th in steals (42), and 8th in steals per game (1.56).
>>> Carel, or CJ Ray will make his return at some point this fall after sustaining a serious injury to end his season just a few games early last spring. Ray Jr. was a premier player in the conference as he ranked in the top-three of six different statistical categories from the previous campaign.