UTICA, NY - After 246 days, Utica University men's basketball is back. Fresh off of its back-to-back Empire 8 crowns, third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, and fourth consecutive 20+ win season, the team is set to open the 2025-26 campaign with a non-conference bout against the SUNY Delhi Broncos. Tip off from Delhi, NY on Saturday, November 8 is set for 3pm. 
 
Follow Along: For those unable to attend, live video can be found here, and live stats here. 
 
Run it Back: Utica returns to action after coming off a fantastic 2024-25 campaign, touting a 21-8 overall record, with a 12-4 record in Empire 8 play, capped by the team's back to back Empire 8 Championship after defeating SUNY Poly by a score of 89-76 and the team's third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament. The accolades continued to roll in for the Pioneers with Empire 8 All-Conference selections, All-Tournament Team recognition, NABC District III honors, D3Hoops All-Region selections, All-ECAC Selections, and NABC Honors Court recognition. 
 
Bench Boss Breakdown: After being named the NABC District III Coach of the Year, Head Coach Sean Coffey heads into the 2025-26 campaign with a decade of experience with the Pioneers. Through his nine seasons, Coffey has led the Pioneers to an impressive 160-68 overall record with and a 105-30 record in Empire 8 play over the duration of his tenure. Coffey has led the Pioneers to nine Empire 8 Tournament appearances in his ten seasons, including five conference title game appearances, with championships in 2021, 2024, and 2025. Returning to Coffey's right hand this season are coaches Luke Fredsell, Zach Zoll, Sue Cooney, and Richard Coffey, with the addition of former player Neruda Perdomo. 
 
Schedule Breakdown: The Pioneers' regular season will run from Friday, November 7 to Tuesday, February 17, 2026. If qualified, the Empire 8 Conference Tournament will be held from February 21st to February 28th, with the highest remaining seeds holding home court advantage. The Pioneers will play 25 regular season games, with 12 being at home. In the team's non-conference slate, the Pioneers are set to attend the Chuck Ressler Tournament, hosted by the University of Rochester. Also in the Pioneers' non-conference schedule is a local matchup against Hamilton College, another perennial NCAA Tournament team that was receiving top-25 votes in preseason polling. The Pioneers are also poised to welcome Hobart College to Miga Court for a non-conference bout, with Hobart also making the NCAA Tournament in 2024. Empire 8 Conference play for the Pioneers begins on Tuesday, January 6 with the team hosting the Russell Sage College Gators. Conference play highlights of the Pioneers' schedule includes home-and-home matchups with cross-town rival SUNY Poly on January 27 at Poly, and the regular season finale on February 17 on Miga Court. 
 
Key Losses: Utica enters the 2025-2 campaign without veterans Damien Call (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy), Hagen Foley (Albany, NY/Christian Brothers Academy), and Devon Flynn. Call, the 2021 Empire 8 Rookie of the Year racked up hardware last season after being named the 2025 Empire 8 Conference Tournament MVP, Empire 8 All-Tournament team, his second consecutive Empire 8 First Team All-Conference nod, NABC District III First Team honors, D3hoops All-Region III Third Team, All-ECAC Second Team, and NABC Honors Court recognition. Throughout his illustrious career with the Pioneers, Call averaged over 10 points per game through almost 25 minutes of action per game, while shooting an impressive .573 from the floor. His offensive efforts led him to become the 20th player in Utica Basketball history to eclipse the 1,000 career point milestone, finishing his career with 1,118 points. Call was relentless off the glass, averaging six rebounds per game in his career, and over 7.5 in his last two seasons. Call was also a playmaker, dishing out 245 assists, while being a stout defender, totaling 56 blocks and 76 steals. Hagen Foley (Albany, NY/Christian Brothers Academy) received his first career All-Conference selection after being named to the second team last season. Through his two seasons with the Pioneers, Foley logged over 31 minutes per game, averaging over 12.5 points per game while shooting .563 from the floor. Foley was also a stout defender, generating a total of 60 steals in two seasons, and a total of 10 blocks. Devon Flynn was also a key piece for the Pioneers, logging over 12.5 minutes per game last season while shooting .662 from the floor for a total of 116 points last season. Flynn was also a premier rebounder for Utica, logging a total of 63 rebounds last season with seven blocks and six steals. 
 
Guess Who's Back: A trio of Pioneers have returned for their final campaigns with the Pioneers this season in Dayion Thompson (Beacon, NY/Kimball Union Academy), Liam Teague (Guilderland, NY/Guilderland), and Griffin Barasa (Clearwater, FL/Calvary Christian). Dayion Thompson (Beacon, NY/Kimball Union Academy) nabbed his first career All-Conference nod last season after being named to the First Team, as well as nabbing NABC District III Second Team honors. Last season, Thompson averaged a team high 15.6 points per game, shooting a conference second best .390 from beyond the arc. Thompson also finished the season on the top of the national leaderboards in free throw percentage at .916. Thompson's offensive efforts have led him to enter the season on the cusp of the 1,000 career point milestone, with a total of 964 points in his career. The senior guard has also been a premier defender for the Pioneers, registering a total of 104 steals throughout his career. Liam Teague (Guilderland, NY/Guilderland) has also returned for his senior campaign after being named to the Empire 8 All-Tournament team last season. In last season's conference tournament, Teague averaged 17 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per game in the three tournament games, while shooting .575 from the field. In his three seasons, Teague has totaled 392 points, while averaging 13.9 minutes per game, shooting .482 from the floor. Teague has been a premier rebounder for the Pioneers, totaling 159 boards last season, and a career mark of 227. As a defender, Teague has registered 51 total blocks, with a team high 35 last season. After missing the entirety of last season due to injury, Griffin Barasa (Clearwater, FL/Calvary Christian) makes his triumphant return to the floor for the Pioneers this season. In his previous campaign, the graduate student managed to shoot .454 from the field and .375 from beyond the arc. Barasa was also a playmarker, registering 50 assists. 
 
Veteran Presence: Also returning for the Pioneers this season are Ryan McCardle (Hurley, NY/Kingston), Levi Spina (Frankfort, NY/Frankfort Schuyler), and Ben Wittman (Sherrill, NY/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill). Last season, McCardle appeared in 23 games for the Pioneers, shooting .540 from the field with 30 rebounds, five blocks and 12 steals. Spina appeared in 14 games for the Pioneers last season, starting in 10 games. Spina managed to shoot .400 from the floor with 10 assists and seven steals. Wittman was Utica's recipient of the Empire 8 Sportsman of the Year award last season, as well as the recipient of the Empire 8 Men's Basketball Torchbearer award, awarded to the athlete with the highest grade point average competing in the conference championship game. Wittman appeared in 18 games last season, averaging 2.1 points, 2.3 rebounds. 0.4 assists with six steals and five blocks. 
 
Sophomore Studs: Sophomores Jordan Cain (Syracuse, NY/West Genesee) and Isaiah Smith (Amsterdam, NY/Schalmont) have returned this season to build off of their breakout rookie campaigns. Last season, Cain appeared in 21 games, starting in 10, averaging just under 20 minutes per game. Averaging seven points per game, Cain was good for .351 from the field and .338 from beyond the arc. Cain was also able to make plays for the Pioneers, dishing out 18 assists. As a defender, Cain was able to generate an impressive 25 steals in his rookie campaign. Smith appeared in 20 games last season, averaging over 13 minutes per game. Smith was good for .386 from the field and .586 from three in his freshman campaign, registering 19 assists with a pair of blocks and eight steals. 
 
Ready Made Reinforcements: The Pioneers have added some depth in the offseason in junior college transfers Keyaton Parks (Albany, NY/Green Tech High Charter), Quincey Platt (Bronx, NY/Our Savior Lutheran), and Sieray Sinerna. Parks joins the Pioneers by way of Hudson Valley Community College where he garnered Mountain Valley All-Conference selections in his two seasons with the Vikings, as well as a pair of All-Region selections. Last season, Parks was named an NJCAA All-American Honorable mention. The center totaled over 790 points in his time at Hudson Valley, shooting .587 from the floor, while appearing in over 50 games in his two seasons. Parks was a statement piece under the rim for the Vikings, registering a career total 689 rebounds with 111 blocks in two seasons. Platt and Sinerna join the Pioneers by way of Dutchess County Community College. Last season Platt averaged over 8.6 points per game while shooting .489 from the field and averaging 7.3 rebounds per game with a total of 82 blocks and 37 steals. Sinerna last season averaged 9.2 points per game while shooting .524 for the field, averaging 4.2 rebounds per game with 17 blocks and 51 steals. 
 
Rookie Roll Call: The Pioneers are welcoming six new faces to the floor this season in Zachary Petucci (Herkimer, NY/Herkimer), Joshua Sand (Beekmantown, NY/Beekmantown), Carter Deak (West Winfield, NY/Mount Markham), Jacob Hart (Holland Patent, NY/Holland Patent), Jackson Ruane (Oriskany Falls, NY/Waterville), and Phillip Tangorra. Head Coach Sean Coffey will look to some of these new faces to make an impact early this season. 
 
Scouting Delhi: The SUNY Delhi Broncos finished last season with an 11-5 overall record and finished 7-6 in North Atlantic Conference play. The 2024-25 edition of the Broncos managed to advance to the NAC Semifinal game, falling to the Vermont State Johnson Badgers by a score of 68-65. The Broncos have not returned their top scorers from last season in Lester McCarthy, Isiah Barnes, and Warren Davis. Gustarling Louis marks the team's top returning scorer after averaging 10.8 points per game last season, shooting .432 from the floor in over 25 minutes per game. Jason Tagios has returned for the Broncos this season after averaging 4.0 rebounds per game. The Broncos will look to Abdul-Jaleel Ibrahim, a sophomore, to step into a larger offensive role this season after appearing in 25 games last season and averaging 5.8 points per game. All time against the Broncos, the Pioneers sport a 3-0 record. This is the first time the Pioneers will travel to take on the Broncos as the previous meetings between the two teams have taken place on Miga Court. Last season against the Broncos, the Pioneers took the matchup by a score of 83-62. 
 
Up Next: The team remains on the road to take on the Chuck Resler Tournament, hosted by the University of Rochester. Game one of the tournament is set for Friday, November 14 against Springfield College. Tip off is set for 1pm.