UTICA, NY - The Utica University men's basketball team is set to open its 2022-2023 season at home in a non-conference matchup against the Morrisville State Mustangs. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. from Miga Court. 
 
Last Season: The Pioneers set program records in the 2021-22 season by going 23-4 overall and 15-1 Empire 8 play. The team's 23 wins were the most in a single season in program history while also securing the Pioneers its first E8 regular season title, second 20-win season in program history, most conference wins in a single season all while setting a new program record with a 14-game winning streak. Utica ultimately fell in the conference championship game to Nazareth College, 54-53 however, six Pioneers were selected to All-Empire 8 Team's for their outstanding efforts. Darius Hopkins (Tampa, FL/Seffner Christian) came home with top-honors by earning the league's Defensive Player of the Year award. Led by Hopkins, the Utica defense fired on all cylinders all season as the team allowed an Empire 8-low 62 points per game. On offense, the Pioneers found themselves in the middle of the pack, ranking fifth in the league averaging 72.5 points per game. The Pioneer offense led the conference with a 47.4 field goal percentage as well as shooting 37 percent from beyond the three-point arc. 
 
Season Outlook: Utica is set to host 13 games on Miga Court this year while looking to repeat its successful 11-2 home record last season. The Pioneers will host each E8 team once this season while traveling to each school once as well. Utica's home non-conference matchups will be against Morrisville State, Cazenovia College, SUNY Cortland, SUNY Delhi and either Emmanuel College or No. 5 Oswego State in the championship/consolation of the Utica University Classic which will be held December 29-30. The team will also play a pair of non-conference contests on the road at SUNY Poly and Hamilton College. 
 
At the Helm: Head Coach Sean Coffey returns for his seventh season leading the team. In his first six seasons at Utica, Coffey has led the Pioneers to a 92-51 overall record and a 61-27 mark in the Empire 8, earning berths into the Empire 8 Conference Tournament in five (2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022) of his first six seasons at the helm. He led the squad to the 2021 Empire 8 title, and has piloted the team to the conference title game on two other occasions. Coffey has pieced together winning seasons in each of the last five years. He is the first Utica head men's basketball coach known to have accomplished that feat. He and his staff of Tim Borza and Richard Coffey won the Empire 8 Coaching Staff of the Year award last season, Coffey's first nod as a head coach. New to the coaching staff this year is volunteer assistant Luke Fredsell. 
 
Key Losses: The Pioneers will enter their 2022-23 season without a trifecta of impact players. Kobe Lufkin netted over 1,000 points in his career with the Pioneers, as well as having two All-Conference selections to his name. Lufkin excelled from deep, and posted a 46.2 three-point percentage last season, which was good enough to land himself in the top-10 in Division III. Chris Green, who was also selected to the Empire 8 All-Conference team twice, was a jack of all trades whose impact was felt on both ends of the floor. Green posted just under 10 points a game last season, as well as averaged 2.3 assists per game. Green was also good for 73 defensive rebounds, and five blocked shots. Rounding out the losses for the Pioneers is center Kimedrick Murphy, who tallied 116 defensive rebounds last season and over 600 total rebounds throughout his career in Utica, the fifth most all-time in program history. Murphy also recorded 36 blocked shots last season and finished his career third all-time in program history with 129 blocks as well as with 1.4 blocks per game.  
 
Got Hops?: Leading the charge for the Pioneers this season is graduate student Darius Hopkins (Tampa, FL/Seffner Christian). Hopkins led the team in points last season with 357 and sits 10th in program history with 1,108 to his name. The 357 mark was good for ninth on the Empire 8 leaderboard in points, and 10th on the leaderboard in average as Hopkins netted 13.2 points per game. Hopkins also led the team in steals last season with 39 which placed him 10th on the Empire 8 leaderboard. 
 
Hello Vet Club: Former Empire 8 Rookie of the Year selections Thomas Morreale (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) and Damien Call (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) will return to the floor for Utica. Morreale had a career season for the Pioneers last season, netting 345 total points. Morreale led the team and was eighth in the Empire 8 averaging 14.5 points per game while his 56.6 field goal percentage qualified for top-50 in all of Division III and his mark of 54.7 percent from three led the team. The senior has also been the recipient of three All-Conference nods, as well as being named to the 2022 National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District 3 Second Team. Morreale will look to break into the 1,000 point club this season as he enters the 2022-23 season with 780 for his career. Call will come into his junior year after posting 6.3 points, 3.3 boards, and roughly 1.5 assists per game last year while shooting a team-high 62.6 percent from the field. The team also has a trio of sophomores looking to make a second-year leap in Neruda Perdomo (New York, NY/Kimball Union Academy), Charlie Carlone (Buffalo, NY/St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute) and Marcus Gentile (Delmar, NY/Bethlehem), who was sidelined for the entire 2021-22 season due to injury. 
 
Speaking of Veterans: The Pioneers will have a strong veteran presence this season as Avery Coston (Kerhonkson, NY/Rondout Valley), Justice Brantley (Catskill, NY/Catskill) and DJ Harter (Holland Patent, NY/Holland Patent) will be looked upon as leaders of the group. Coston is coming off of a solid performance last season, dishing out a career high 66 assists for the Pioneers, a mark good enough for the eighth spot on the Empire 8 leaderboard. The graduate student also recorded 108 total rebounds on the season and with one win will become the winningest player in program history. With 280 points this year, Coston will also join the 1,000 point club. Brantley enters his senior season after averaging 5.2 points and a career-best 3.2 rebounds per game over 21 outings last season while Harter also comes into his senior season after playing in a career-high 23 games in 2021-22. 
 
Barasa Buckets: Another second year talent the Pioneers will look to make a leap is Griffin Barasa (Clearwater, FL/Calvary Christian). The Florida native appeared in 25 games as a freshman last year and averaged 11.2 minutes off the bench. During his burn on the court, Barasa netted 2.3 points per game on 43.3 percent shooting while recording 21 assists and forcing 17 steals. 
 
Welcome to the Show: Utica will have 12 newcomers to the 2022-23 roster, three of which coming in as transfers. Jackson Atty (Johnstown, NY/Fonda-Fultonville) comes in after spending two seasons at Castleton University where he made 10 starts over 14 career games there. The team also added a pair of Hudson Valley Community College transfers in Luke Bourgault (Troy, NY/LaSalle Institute), who started all 23 games at HVCC last season while averaging 14.3 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, and Devon Flynn (Red Hook, NY/Red Hook), who averaged 5.1 points and rebounds over an average of 17 minutes per game last season with the Vikings. Nine freshmen will make their collegiate debuts with Utica after each experiencing successful high school careers; Dayion Thompson (Beacon, NY/Kimball Union Academy), Chris Ward (Elmsford, NY/Alexander Hamilton), Ryan McCardle (Hurley, NY/Kingston), Ben Wittman (Sherril, NY/Vernon-Verona-Sherril), Jayden Larregue (Croton on the Hudson, NY/Briarcliff), Liam Teague (Guilderland, NY/Guilderland), Kaiden McCaskill (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy), Antonio Rios (Melbourne, FL/Viera) and Iggy Izevbuwa (Staten Island, NY/Port Richmond High School). 
 
About Morrisville: The Mustangs will come to Miga Court 1-1 overall on the early season with a loss to Hilbert College and a win over SUNY Potsdam. Morrisville averaged 83.5 points on offense and gave up 89.5 points on 47.8 percent shooting on defense over its two games at the Hilbert College Tip-Off Tournament. Shykell Brown and Michael Litchfield are the Mustangs leading scorers through two outings with 31 points each. Litchfield also leads the way in three-point percentage and three pointers made as he is 9-for-16 (56.3 percent) so far this season. Jordan Coard and Justin Sykes lead the team with 11 rebounds each through two games. 

A Look Ahead: Following its season opener against Morrisville, Utica will take the court again on Monday, November 21 at 6 p.m. at SUNY Poly.