Conway, Ark.- With the temperature dropping & the leaves falling, that means basketball season is right around the corner and there is a buzz in the air around Thad McCracken‘s squad. There is a lot of excitement around the Warrior basketball team, who return all of their starters from last season along with most of their bench, graduating only locker room leader Jason Gibson from last year’s squad.
“I am really excited for this season. We are still a pretty young team, but we have a good bit of experience back from last season.” says Coach McCracken. “The guys all seemed to have put in a lot of effort on their games as well as their bodies over the summer and have really been working hard so far in practice.”
When asked what some of their biggest challenges of the season, Coach McCracken responded, ” Obviously, staying healthy will be an important key for us, but I like our pieces and I like how they have been coming together. We have a good bit of depth at every position and our biggest challenge will be with respect to how guys handle and accept their individual roles.”
The Warriors return 3 players that earned All-SAA last year with 2nd Team All-SAA Senior Tyler Deithloff leading the charge, who averaged 13 points per game and 6.6 rebounds per game. The Warriors welcome back big man Colten Berry, who led the team in rebounds with 7 per game and averaged 9.3 points per game. Caleb Squires looks to build off his freshman campaign, ending last season finishing second on the team in scoring averaging 9.8 points per game and shooting a whopping 92.2% from the stripe last season, which was good enough for second all-time in school history.
Daniel Cobb finally got to make his debut appearance last season, playing in 17 games last season getting the start in 10 of those. Cobb ended the year shooting 36% from the field & 39.7% from behind the arc. Darvis Rasberry Jr. looks to finally get back on the court, after missing the season last year due to injury.
The Warriors welcome 5 additions this year, including transfer guard Max Chenault, who played at Southeastern Oklahoma State, Addison Shelton, Micah Gibbs, Ali Rasheed & Zach Nolan.
The Warriors open their season at Grove Gymnasium taking on the Ozark Eagles. The two teams split the series last season, with both teams collecting wins on their home floor. Daniel Cobb led the warriors in their win against the Eagles, scoring 17 points and hitting the 3 to seal the win. Colten Berry had a game high 11 rebounds as well as a game high 3 blocks in the game. The game saw nine lead changes including 4 scores tied.
The game is set for Wednesday, November 8th at 8:00 PM at Grove Gymnasium. The action will be broadcasted on the Warrior Sports Network.