UTICA, NY - The Utica College men's basketball team will tip off its 2020-21 season with a pair of road conference games. They start the season on Wednesday, March 10th at Elmira College. Game time is slated for 6 p.m. in Elmira, NY. They'll follow that contest with a Friday matchup against new E8 member Keuka College. Tip time is set for 7 p.m. in Keuka Park, NY.

Keeping Tabs on Wednesday: Live video and stats for Wednesday will be made available on portal.stretchinternet.com/elmira/. Additionally, live video can also be found on the free Empire 8 apps available for Roku, Amazon Fire, and AppleTV Devices. Coverage is presented by Elmira College Athletic Communications.

Follow Along Friday: Friday's live video will be available at https://keukaathletics.com/links/l36z2j, while live stats will be posted at https://keukaathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2020-21/boxscores/20210312_dxbd.xml. Both options are presented by Keuka Athletic Communications. 

Coming in Hot: The Pioneers had their most successful season in over a decade last year, as they posted an 18-8 record. This marked the most wins for the program since the 2006-07 season, when UC finished with a 19-7 overall record. The team started the season winning 12 of its first 14 games, including a win over nationally-ranked Hamilton College. This strong start was propelled by an eight-game winning streak from Dec. 4 to Jan. 11. UC finished third in the Empire 8 with a 9-5 conference record, which secured the team a No. 3 seed for the conference tournament. They fell to the second-seeded St. John Fisher Cardinals in the semifinals. 

Teamwork: The 2019-20 Utica College men's basketball team finished atop the Empire 8 in the following categories: 

Points per game (81.7)
3-point field goal percentage (38.8 percent)
Free throw percentage (73.5 percent)
Rebounding margin (3.8)
Rebounding defense (33.7)
Scoring margin (8.4)

The team also finished second in the E8 in the following categories:
Field goal percentage (46.8 percent)
Opponent field goal percentage (41.9 percent)
Blocked shots (3.92 per game)

Back In The Saddle: This year's team returns its top three scorers from the 2019-20 season in sophomore Thomas Morreale (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro), junior Darius Hopkins (Tampa, FL/Seffner Christian) and senior Kobe Lufkin (Argyle, NY/Argyle). Hopkins led the team with an average of 14.5 points per game. That ranked Hopkins at eighth in the conference and led him to being named a First Team All-Conference selection. Sophomore Thomas Morreale (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) was perhaps the biggest story of the 2019-20 season, as he averaged 12.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game en route to being named Empire 8 Rookie of the Year and Honorable Mention All-Conference. The 6-foot-5 forward notched two double-double performances, with the latter being a 31-point, 13 rebound showing against Sage on Jan. 7. Morreale was fifth in the Empire 8 in field goal percentage and is a true utility forward offensively, with the ability to shoot from anywhere. Senior Kobe Lufkin (Argyle, NY/Argyle) rounded out the top three scorers averaging a clip of 10.9 points per game, and he also had a conference-leading 88.7 foul shooting percentage. 

Board Man: Senior Kimedrick Murphy (Hudson, NY/Hudson) was just shy of averaging a double-double last season, tabbing a statline of 8.8 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. Murphy finished second in the E8 in both rebounding and blocks per game (1.8). The 6-foot-8 center's dominance under the basket led to him being named an Empire 8 Honorable Mention.

Winning Culture: Since taking over as head coach in 2016, Sean Coffey has inspired a new attitude in the Utica program. He has led his team to winning seasons the last three years. Coupled with the regular season success is also postseason success, as the program has seen Empire 8 conference tournament berths in 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2019-20. Coffey led his team to two Empire 8 conference championship appearances in his first two seasons with the program, including an impressive second half turnaround in his first season. His squad reached the 2018 Empire 8 Championship game. 

The Newcomers: The Pioneers have added three new players to the team this year in freshmen Matt Champlin (Cold Spring, NY/Haldane), Damien Call (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) and Jordyn Lanaux (Herkimer, NY/Herkimer). Champlin led Haldane to the Section 1 Semifinals last season, while Call has been one of the centerpiece players of a program renaissance at Rome Free Academy under head coach Nick Medicis. Lanaux was a multi-year starter at Herkimer High School and was the all-time leading scorer for the Magicians. All three players were chosen to the NYSSWA All-State teams. 

The Returners: This year's roster includes four sophomores (Justice Brantley (Catskill, NY/Catskill), Thomas Morreale (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro), DJ Harter (Holland Patent, NY/Holland Patent) and Marcus Davis (Gansevoort, NY/Saratoga Springs)), four juniors (Justin Worth (Catskill, NY/Catskill), Avery Coston (Kerhonkson, NY/Rondout Valley), Chris Green (White Plains, NY/Alexander Hamilton) and Darius Hopkins (Tampa, FL/Seffner Christian)), two seniors (Kimedrick Murphy (Hudson, NY/Hudson) and Kobe Lufkin (Argyle, NY/Argyle)), and one graduate student (Hunter Remley (Cranford, NJ/Cranford)). Remley is the lone team member remaining from the first group of players Coach Coffey coached at Utica.

Comeback Central: This season marks the return of one of the Pioneers' team leaders in Avery Coston (Kerhonkson, NY/Rondout Valley). Coston sat out the entirety of the 2019-20 season with injury, and will look to place his stamp back on this edition of the Pioneers. He averaged 12.2 points per game in the 2018-19 season. 

The Matchups: This will be the 69th All-Time matchup between Utica and Elmira on record, with the series dating all the way back to the early 1970s. Utica leads the series 43-25 and has won the last eleven games. UC won by scores of 83-66, and 83-64 last season. Darius Hopkins (Tampa, FL/Seffner Christian) averaged 18.5 points per game between those two contests to lead UC. This will be the 21st all-time meeting between Utica and Keuka. The Pioneers lead that series 14-6. The two sides have not met since a 2009 meeting at the SUNYIT Tip-Off Tournament, in which the Pioneers won 76-54.

Scouting Report: Elmira College is 0-2 with losses to Nazareth and St. John Fisher to start the season. Their most recent contest was played on March 5th with a 73-62 loss against Fisher. Shawn Backus and Harry Ravitz each scored 16 points in that loss for the Soaring Eagles. Keuka College is 0-2 as of Tuesday, with a pair of double figure losses to Nazareth College on their record at the moment. Zayquan Warren had a double-double in the most recent of the two games for Keuka. The Wolves were 7-16 overall last season while playing their final go-round in the North Eastern Athletic Conference. This is the first year for Keuka as a full Empire 8 member. 

It's Been Awhile: Opening night marks 378 days since the team's last game. Utica's last game was on February 28, 2020 against St. John Fisher College in the E8 tournament.

Up Next: The Pioneers will host St. John Fisher on Sunday, March 7th at 1 p.m.