SAN ANTONIO (Oct. 26, 2022) – The Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) men's basketball program is ready to begin its 14th season on Nov. 4. Head Coach Chris Dial returns for his fifth season with plenty of new faces and a solid staff to guide the team.

Staff

Assistant Coaches Marcus Thompson, BJ Alzaid, David Smith, Sean Patterson, Antonio Gipson and Eric Bitoni return to aid Dial this season. Alzaid continues his role as recruiting coordinator. Saints alumnus Marlon Williams will also assist with the junior varsity team.

The Saints finished 9-16 overall and 4-10 in the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) last season. The coaching staff will aim to improve from last season and make another appearance in the RRAC Men's Basketball Tournament. Dial commented, "The staff has put a lot of thought into the schematic and tactical approaches. It's been fun visiting with the staff to prepare what we want to see on the court."

Nonconference schedule

(numbers after schools indicate series record)

The Saints open the 2022-2023 campaign on the road against Southwestern Assemblies of God University (6-5) on Nov. 4. They continue the road trip versus Texas Wesleyan University (6-6) on Nov. 5, Oklahoma Panhandle State University (0-1) on Nov. 11 and NCAA D1 The University of the Incarnate Word (1-4) on Nov. 22. OLLU's first home game is against Dallas Christian College on Nov. 29. They will play another NCAA D1 program, Lamar University, on the road on Dec. 5. The last three nonconference games are against Mount Vernon Nazarene on Dec. 13, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (0-6) on Dec. 28 and North American University (1-0) on Jan. 1.

Conference schedule

The RRAC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll picked the Saints to finish in seventh place out of 11 schools. OLLU starts conference play at home against LSU-Shreveport (LSUS) (10-13) on Dec. 1 and LSU-Alexandria (LSUA) (2-12) on Dec. 3. Dial said, "We are starting our schedule with one of the toughest teams in the conference. LSU-Shreveport is well coached and has a lot of talent." The next two games are on the road versus teams the Saints have fared well against. They play Texas College (TC) (16-7) on Dec. 8 and Jarvis Christian University (JCU) (17-6) on Dec. 10. Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA) (0-1) and Louisiana Christian University (LCU) (0-1) arrive in San Antonio for games on Dec. 15 and Dec. 17.

The Saints start the January schedule by traveling to face Paul Quinn College (PQC) (20-2) on Jan. 5 and Texas A&M University-Texarkana (TAMUT) (1-1) on Jan. 7. OLLU hosts Huston-Tillotson University (HTU) (19-3) on Jan. 10 before beginning a three-game road series. They will play at the University of the Southwest (USW) (18-6) on Jan. 14, LSUS on Jan. 19 and LSUA on Jan. 21. The Saints wrap up January competition at home versus TC on Jan. 26 and JCU on Jan. 28. The final month of the schedule includes home games against PQC, TAMUT and USW. The road games feature XULA, LCU and HTU.

Newcomers

The Saints feature six freshmen for the upcoming season. Daniel Helterhoff, Sacade Kasamba, Caleb Landon, Paul Minjoth, George Piil and Jakobi White make up the new class. The group boasts five international players. Dial said, "We are hopeful that the mix of international and American players will create a good atmosphere." White joins the squad from Chicago after playing at Clark High School.

Returners

The veteran presence will be key for a successful year. Returners include Georges Darwiche, Ellis Jones, Tommie Law, Oscar Maldonado, Ruben Monzon, Xavier Purnell and Jonathan Sanchez. New faces as part of the upperclassmen are Cameron Davis, Rob Gill, Kyonte Holder and Angel Kankolongo. Monzon averaged 13.3 points per game last season and Law shot 57 percent from the field.

Fan expectations

Saints home games will be live-streamed throughout the season. Mabee Gymnasium includes a new digital scoreboard for the fans who attend in-person.  

Hear from Head Coach Chris Dial