Women's Basketball | 2/5/2021 4:09:00 PM
MIAMI SHORES, Fla. — The Barry basketball teams are heading back to the hard court, setting sail on what surely will be the most unusual season in program history.
The Bucs, who finished the regular season in 2019-20 before the quarantine of March, open up the season on Wednesday, Feb. 10 against the Florida Tech Panthers. The women will play at home at 5:00 pm, while the men visit the Clemente Center in Melbourne, Fla., at 6:00 pm.
The women's team is under new management, as Kristina Baugh takes over for the retired Bill Sullivan. Barry graduated no seniors from the 2019-20 team and returns four full-time starters and two of three part-time starters. Harriet Swindells (Sr., G, Blackburn, England) is the top returning scorer after averaging 15.3 points per game. Emma Hergot (Sr., F, Oslo, Norway) paced the team last year with 7.0 rebounds per game and added 9.8 points. Ashleigh Pink (Jr., G, Sudbury, England) led the team in assists with 2.7 per game and steals with 1.3.
"No one is more thrilled than our players for the opportunity to compete," Baugh said. "Since the news, I've seen real smiles, real joy, and I'm so honored to continue to watch their resilience."
The men's team, coached by Butch Estes in his seventh season, went 18-10 a year ago. Though they return only one starter, he is a good one in Jake Kakar (Sr., G, Boston, Mass.) Kakar averaged 12.4 points per game and shot 35.9 percent from three-point range. Toru Dean (So., G, Miami, Fla.) was one of the top freshmen in the league last year as the top man off the bench for the Bucs. He averaged 8.8 points, 2.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game. The Bucs also brought in a pair of 6-8, NCAA Division I transfers in Amari Haynes (New Orleans) and T.J. Smith (Toledo).
"I think I speak for the players first when I say they are ecstatic about finally having the opportunity to compete," Estes said. "We certainly look forward to making the most of this chance to get better every day."
In their return to play, the Buccaneers will adhere to all health & safety protocols required by the CDC, the NCAA, the Sunshine State Conference and Miami-Dade County. Included in those protocols are:
- Daily symptom checks for all student-athletes, coaches and support staff
- The competition venue will be cleaned and sanitized prior to each event
- Teams and officials will be reminded to follow personal health guidelines (e.g. wash hands frequently for 20 seconds, do not touch your face, use hand sanitizer, maintain physical distance and wear masks)
- Frequently touch equipment (e.g. balls) should be cleaned and sanitized in accordance with manufacturers specifications prior to games and as often as practical throughout the competition
- No locker room facilities will be allowed
- Personnel will be tested in accordance with the three-tier policy as specified by the NCAA
- Sunshine State Conference teams will implement a mirrored basketball schedule, with the men and women playing at opposite sites, eliminating doubleheaders.
- Visiting teams will bring their own warmup balls
- Team benches will maintain a 6-foot distance between chairs and utilize multiple rows to ensure spacing.
- No fans will be permitted in the arena
All basketball games will be live streamed, free of charge, on the
Sunshine State Digital Network. Live stats will also be available for each game and can be followed on GoBarryBucs.com. Links to live coverage can be found on the team schedule pages.
See full Women's Basketball Schedule
See full men's Basketball Schedule
