Men's Basketball | 11/6/2024 11:25:00 AM

MIAMI SHORES, Fla. — Barry Men's Basketball hits the road to being their 2024-25 campaign with two games in the Sunshine State Conference/Gulf South Conference Crossover, hosted in Montevallo, Alabama at the Central State Bank Arena. The season will begin just as it did in 2023-24 with match-ups against Montevallo and Alabama-Huntsville.

Live statistics will be provided by Sidearm Sports Live, while the video stream, which is pay-per-view, will be hosted on FloSports.

Game Coverage Links

Game	Date	Stats	Broadcast
Montevallo	Friday, Nov. 8; 12:00 pm ET
Alabama-Huntsville	Saturday, Nov. 9; 5:30 pm ET

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
2023-24 Records: Barry (17-14); Montevallo (12-16); Alabama-Huntsville (21-11)
All-Time Series: Series ties 1-1 with Montevallo; Series ties 4-4 with Alabama-Huntsville

The Buccaneers were selected to finish fifth in the SSC Preseason Coaches' Poll, two spots up from their finish last season. A late run in the conference tournament to the championship game, helped shine a light to the bright future ahead. 10 of the 15 players on the rosters are returners from that championship run team. Malik Stanley and Adren Roberts highlight the veteran squad, Stanley, who only played in the first half of the season, averaged 16.0 points per game with a 4.1 assists average. Roberts was right behind with 11.4 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Pete Moe II and Jimel Lane come in as Division I transfers. Lane brings conference knowledge with him after playing one season at Lynn, where he averaged 17.9 points and 6.6 rebounds. Moe brings presence in the paint coming from Marshall, prior to that redshirt season, the Iowa-native won a post-graduate championship at The Skills Factory in Atlanta, Ga., as a prep player in 2023.

Montevallo, under head coach Anthony Komara, were picked ninth in the Gulf South Conference preseason poll. The Falcons have six returners, Brandon Fussell heads that pack as one of the top scorers from the previous year at 14.9 points per game. The Falcons, who went 11-13 last year in the league action and 12-16 overall, brought in 12 newcomers to the roster to try and turn things around. Two tof the newcomers, Max Gardner and Jay Gillispie earned a spot on the 2024-25 GSC Men's Basketball Newcomer Watchlist. Both are transfers after spending four seasons at previous institutions.

The Alabama-Huntsville Chargers, under coach new head coach Mike Hedgepeth, are the favorite in GSC after going 21-11 overall and 17-7 in conference play. The Chargers fell short in the championship game to West Georgia and then dropped the first round of the South Regional to Embry-Riddle. UAH returns their top two scorers from last season in Tommy Murr (16.6 PPG) and Luke Burnett (15.8 PPG), as Murr ranked second nationally in free throw percentage (93.53 FT%) and Burnett placed third overall in Division II in three pointers per game (3.56 3PG). Daniel Saylor returns for the Chargers as their second-best rebounder from the 2023-24 season (5.2 RPG) and the top block-getter (41 BLK). 

ON THE HORIZON: 
The Bucs will head home to the Health & Sports Center after the crossover, taking on Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday, November 13 with tip-off scheduled for 8:00 p.m.

About Barry University Athletics

Barry University has sponsored NCAA Division II athletics for 40 years, winning 28 national championships in eight sports, crowning 438 All-Americans in 13 sports and over 692 scholar All-Americans. Barry is a proud member of the Sunshine State Conference "The Conference of National Champions" with 109 league titles since joining in 1989. The Buccaneers have NCAA men's teams in soccer, cross country, basketball, swimming, baseball, golf, and tennis and women's teams in soccer, cross country, volleyball, basketball, swimming, beach volleyball, golf, rowing, softball and tennis.