Panthers expecting growth as new season begins

November 13, 2019 | 12:20 am

Updated November 13, 2019 | 1:20 am

The Kentucky Wesleyan men's basketball team begins their season today. | File photo by Ryan Richardson

The Kentucky Wesleyan College men’s basketball team opens its 2019-20 campaign this week, traveling to nationally-ranked Bellarmine today before returning to the Owensboro Sportscenter to host Urbana on Saturday.

Wesleyan returns one All-Great Midwest Athletic Conference selection this year in guard Adam Goetz. A second-team honoree, Goetz led the team in scoring (15.4 ppg) while recording 117 rebounds, 83 assists and 17 steals on the year.

“Adam’s ability to compete as hard as he can for as long as he can is contagious,” said head coach Drew Cooper. “He’ll be counted on heavily on the offensive end with his ability to score.”

Also returning is senior forward Mohamed Abu Arisha, who averaged 11.6 points per game and paced the team with 14 blocks while collecting 200 rebounds.

“Mo is someone that has a unique skill set for this level with his size and finesse,” Cooper said. “His back-to-the-basket instincts are as good as they come.”

The Panthers’ roster features a few new faces this season, adding depth at all positions. Wyatt Battaile and Jo Griffin will both join Wesleyan as transfers from the University of Louisville, while Sasha Sukhanov came from Morehead State University.

The Panthers will also have a new face on the bench this year as Dave Bezold joins the coaching staff. Most recently coaching with the Xavier women’s basketball team, Bezold spent 11 seasons as the head coach of the Northern Kentucky men’s program while they were still a part of the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

Wesleyan has a tough non-conference schedules this year, playing three teams that are currently ranked in the Top 25. The Panthers travel to No. 3 Bellarmine and No. 18 Southern Indiana in their first week and will host No. 6 Lincoln Memorial in December.

The Panthers take on defending G-MAC champion Walsh once this season. Wesleyan was selected seventh in the G-MAC preseason poll as voted on by the coaches.

For Wesleyan, winning a G-MAC Championship comes down to belief in themselves.

“Our expectations of ourselves are monumental right now,” Cooper said. “We have battle-tested players this year, whereas last year we did not have one player that was battle-tested at our level. We’ve talked in our locker room about player development and how the largest growth in an individual player should come between years one and two in the same program. With that said, we returned most all of our production from last year and have added several pieces that we believe create a competitive mix.”

November 13, 2019 | 12:20 am

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