Utica, NY -- The Utica College men's basketball team opens up its 2016-17 campaign on Tuesday as the Pioneers travel to Morrisville State to take on the Mustangs at 7 p.m.

Follow All the Action This Season

Pioneers All-Access: Make sure to catch live video, audio and stats for all Utica College home games on Pioneers All-Access: www.ucpioneers.com/watch… Live audio is provided by Utica College's student radio, WPNR 90.7 FM.
 
ESPN Broadcast Info: Several Utica College men's basketball home games will be broadcast over the radio airwaves on ESPN Utica/Rome (1310 AM) by Dave Peroni, in his 40th year of broadcasting, and UC alum Ray Biggs … Live streaming audio can be accessed on ESPNUR's website, www.espnur.com ... Listeners can also download the ESPN Utica/Rome App available in the Google Play store and on Apple ITunes by searching "ESPNUR".
 
WPNR Broadcast Info: Select Utica College home games are also broadcast over the air and online by Utica College's student radio station, WPNR 90.7 FM … Fans can also download the WPNR app by searching WPNR in their respective app store.

Social Media: Make sure to follow live updates of all games on the Pioneers official Twitter feed: @UCPioneers… If you are at the game and on Twitter, or talking about the game on Twitter, make sure to use #UCMoose… You can also "Like" the Pioneers on Facebook at www.facebook.com/UCpioneers ... Fans can also follow the Pioneers on Instagram: UCPioneers.

Meet the Coaching Staff

New Faces on the Sidelines: Utica College Head Men's Basketball Coach Sean Coffey enters his first season with the Pioneers after spending the last five years as the top assistant at St. John Fisher College … In his time at Fisher, alongside Head Coach Rob Kornaker, he helped guide the Cardinals to 89 victories, including 52 wins in Empire 8 Conference play … While at Fisher he helped lead the Cardinals to three Empire 8 Conference Tournament appearances and in 2014-15 they won the Conference tournament championship, earned an automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament where they advanced as far as the Sweet 16.… One of Coffey's first moves as head coach was hiring another familiar face to the Empire 8 Conference, and the Utica area, in Assistant Coach David Wadas … Prior to UC, Wadas spent three seasons at Hartwick College, where he helped guide the Hawks to three Empire 8 Conference Tournaments, and two Empire 8 Championships … Also joining Coffey and Wadas on the sidelines will be Ryan Dalton and Richard Coffey.  

Meet the Pioneers

Senior Leadership: The Pioneers are returning two seniors this season in Agim Hamiti (Prishtina, Kosovo/Syracuse Academy of Science) and Dylan Drexler (Rochester, NY/Mohawk Valley Community College) … Hamiti, who possesses good size and athletic ability for a swing man, averaged 11.5 points per game last year and he also ranked second on the team in assists … He is the program's active leading scorer with 447 career points and he is the Pioneers most experienced player with 63 career games played … Drexler, who transferred to Utica from Mohawk Valley Community College last Winter, provides the Pioneers with size and strength in the paint at 6-foot-7 and 225 pounds … He made an immediate impact last year as a mid-season transfer and earned 12 starts in 16 total games played.

Man in the Middle: UC's Ivan Iton (Ossining, NY/Ossining), who stands at 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, will be asked to play an expanded role this season after finishing his sophomore campaign as one of three Pioneers to average double figures in scoring … He led Utica and ranked in the top ten in the conference with an average of 7.8 rebounds per game … Iton proved his versatility last season as he ranked second with 248 points to go along with 40 assists and he also led the Pioneers with 26 blocks and 64 free throws made … In two seasons in the blue and orange he has played in 48 games and totaled 391 points … He is the program's active leader with 267 career rebounds.

Looking for a Breakout Season: Junior Carl Taylor (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) started in 19 games for Utica last season and registered a team-high 62 assists … He also added 174 points (7.3 ppg) and finished second on the team with 107 rebounds (4.5 rpg) … Guard Justin Mayers (Hastings, NY/Hastings on the Hudson) enters his sophomore campaign after playing in 22 games as a freshman … He worked his way into a starting role by the end of last season and did a little bit of everything, averaging 4.3 points to go along with 2.9 rebounds per game …  Sophomore Andrew Druziak (Amsterdam, NY/Amsterdam ) returns to the lineup after playing in 23 games last season … Druziak brings an excellent work ethic to the hardwood and averaged 3.3 points per game to go along with 17 total assists in his freshman season. 
 
Immediate Assistance: The Pioneers brought in three junior college transfers who have the experience to step right in and potentially see minutes … Junior transfer Bennito Ayarza (Brooklyn, NY/Cayuga Community College) started 24 games at Cayuga Community College last season and finished the year with an average of 8.7 points per game …  Christian Rodriguez (Queens, NY/Cayuga Community College) also comes to Utica from CCC where he played in 21 games last year and finished third on the team with an average of 9.8 points per game … The duo guided the Spartans to 14 wins and an appearance in the NJCAA Sub-Regionals … Sophomore Donald Malone (Cornwall, NY/SUNY Orange) comes to Utica from SUNY Orange where he played in 27 games last season and averaged 3.9 points per game … He helped guide Orange County to 14 victories in his freshman season with the Colts.

Freshman Class: Eight freshman will provide depth and battle for playing time this season for the Pioneers … The group includes guard Tyler Jollie (Marlboro, NY/Marlboro), guard Miles McNeill (Rochester, NY/Aquinas), guard Ka'Sean Watlington (Bayport, NY/Bayport-Bluepoint), guard Jerome Brabham (Utica, NY/Utica Notre Dame), forward Justin Strielkauskas (Waterbury, CT/Holy Cross), forward Hunter Remley (Cranford, NJ/Cranford), forward Kyle Mower, and forward Jake Kulakowski (Brewerton, NY/Central Square).

Schedule Outlook: The Pioneers 2016-7 schedule features 12 home games at the friendly confines of the Clark Athletic Center Gymnasium … UC opens up its season at Morrisville before traveling to the Medaille Tournament in Buffalo on Nov. 18th when they square off against Medaille and either Baruch or Gaucher … UC will also host traditional local rivals SUNY Polytechnic and Hamilton College before opening up Empire 8 Conference play against Stevens Institute of Technology on Jan. 3 at 8 p.m. … Utica will take on each conference opponent twice, with hopes of compiling a record worthy of earning a top four seed into the Empire 8 Conference Tournament at the end of the season.

Key Losses: UC looks to replace two starters from last season in Rob Tutetin and Jawan Simmons (Syracuse, NY/Nottingham) … Tutein, who made his first career Empire 8 All-Conference appearance, finished the year ranked fifth in the conference with a career-best average of 17.5 points per game … He ranked sixth in the Conference with a 3-point shooting percentage of .399 …  He netted 20 or more points in nine games last year, including a season-high 29 points in the Pioneers win over Ithaca College at home on January 22, 2016 … He finished his career ranked fifth on the College's all-time list with 143 3-pointers.

Looking to Get Back to the Empire 8 Tournament: The Pioneers will look to get back to the Empire 8 Conference tournament for the first time since 2013, when they went 12-14 overall and 8-6 in Conference play.
 
Get the App

Pioneer Pride Points: Utica athletics has a fan rewards program to promote fan engagement for all 26 of UC's intercollegiate sports… Powered by SuperFanU, the "Pioneer Pride Points" Fan Rewards app uses GPS tracking to recognize where fans are located at specified home games… Points are earned by attending and "Checking In" to UC athletics games, participating in a variety of contests and interacting with social media platforms through the app… The app is available on all IPhone and Android devices by searching 'Pioneer Pride Points' in the Apple App Store or GooglePlay Market and is free to all Utica College students, faculty, staff, parents, alumni and fans.