BY TRISTAN SASSE
PHOTO COURTESY OF FHSU ATHLETICS
With basketball right around the corner, the Fort Hays State University men’s basketball team is ready for the season to begin. The Tigers have many returners from a season ago and look to make the most out of a veteran-led squad. FHSU also lost some valuable pieces and have many spots to fill after finishing 18-11 last year.
Fort Hays will once again be led by head coach Mark Johnson. Johnson is entering his 17th season with the Tigers and is the all-time winningest coach in FHSU history with a record of 322-149. Johnson also has nine 20-win seasons with the Tigers.
Many Tigers have high praise for Coach Johnson, including junior forward Brady Werth.
“Every coach has got to get on people,” said Werth “Coach Johnson gets on us pretty hard, and if you don’t have a coach that does that then you can’t be successful.”
The Tigers will also look for their first MIAA regular season conference championship since 2012-13, when the team went 20-8. FHSU was voted to finish seventh in the MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll this season. Additionally, Coach Johnson will look to guide his team to the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time (last in 2015-16).
Junior guard Grant Holmes also has his eyes on the NCAA Tournament.
“We would love to make the NCAA tournament again. We made it a few years ago, but I know this team is hungry to be back,” said Holmes.
Under the guidance of Coach Johnson, the Tigers will have nine returners from a season ago. Key returners include Hadley Gillum. (13.5 points per game and 6.4 rebounds per game); Trey O’Neil, (7.0 ppg); Brady Werth, (6.3 ppg and 3.9 rpg); and Kyler Kinnamon, (5.0 ppg).
Many new faces will also make an appearance in the lineup for the Tigers: including three transfers and one incoming freshman. Junior guard KeShawn Wilson will join the Tigers after transferring from Southwestern (Iowa) Community College where he averaged 12.3 ppg. FHSU also picked up transfer Marcus Cooper, who averaged 16.4 ppg at Northeastern (Co.) JC. The third transfer joining the Tigers squad is Calvin Harrington. At Northeast (Ne.) CC, Harrington averaged 11.1 ppg. Lastly, FHSU acquired freshman Nyjee Wright from Derby High School. Wright averaged 20.5 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 4.4 assists per game, and 2.9 steals per game during his senior season.
Additionally, five players that were on the 2016-17 squad won’t be back in 2017-18. Rob Davis and JaQuan Smith highlight the players who won’t be returning. Davis, a graduate from Detroit, Michigan, finished his senior year at FHSU averaging 21.4 ppg and shooting 45.3% on three-point field goals. Also, Smith averaged 7.9 ppg and 6.6 rpg in 2016-17. The Tigers averaged 73.9 ppg last year. Davis and Smith accounted for nearly 40% of the team’s scoring.
Senior forward Hadley Gillum had high praise for former teammate, Rob Davis.
“With somebody like Rob, you can’t hardly replace that. There’s always going to be players behind him, but he was an exceptional player and you can never take away from that,” said Gillum.
Looking forward, the 2017-18 schedule for the Tigers features many key matchups. Fort Hays begins the season with exhibition matchups in Manhattan against Kansas State (Sunday, October, 29) and in Lawrence against the preseason No. 3 ranked Kansas Jayhawks (Tuesday, November 7).
After exhibition competition, the regular season officially begins Friday, November 10, in Emporia, Kansas against Southwest Minnesota State. The Tigers first home game will be on Wednesday, November 15, against Central Christian College. After six regular-season non-conference games, FHSU will begin MIAA play at home on Thursday, November 30, against Missouri Southern. The Tigers will play 19 conference games and nine non-conference games in total.
Ultimately, the Tigers have failed to finish higher than fourth in the MIAA conference since 2013-14. With many returners, the Tigers will hope to bring back their first regular-season conference title since 2012-13. While FHSU brings back nine returners and many valuable recruits, the team definitely has the potential to bring an MIAA championship back to Hays.