SEASON PREVIEW: Curtain goes up on Friday for new season
ST. LOUIS, MO - The new men's basketball season tips off on Friday for the Eutectics as they begin the new slate with back-to-back road games in as many days. They will play Avila on Friday night and then visit Missouri Valley on Saturday. Their home opener is on October 30 when they play host to Central Christian College of the Bible. Their conference opener is on December 13 when they visit Central Baptist College. The wrap up the regular season on February 21 at home against Columbia.
Last year, UHSP came out of the blocks hot as they rattled off wins in each of their first five games to match the program's best-ever start to a season. Overall, the Eutectics finished 8-19 last year and went 2-16 in the American Midwest Conference. The eight wins were the second-most for the program since the 2013-2014 season, bested only by a 10-win campaign three years ago.
Head Coach Danny Brown begins his tenth season leading the Eutectics. He talks about the upcoming 2025-26 season:
Q: You won your first five games to start last season. How much does a good start to the season help?
A: It definitely doesn't hurt anything! A good start to the season helps build confidence in the group as a whole. We would love to be in position to replicate that type of start if we can. Our goal isn't to just win the first 5 games though. I think that adds unfruitful pressure. We want to win possessions and play good basketball right out of the gate. That mentality is more sustainable I believe.
Q: Let's talk about some key departures. You lose your leading scorer and second-leading rebounder in Ahian Barnett and your top rebounder and third-leading scorer in Brock Davis. Let's take Ahian first: who do you turn to to shoulder the scoring void left by Barnett's departure?
A: Ahian was fantastic for us last year and had a unique ability to navigate unusual situations and play make for himself and others. Sean Paradise had a similar ability. This year we believe our roster has depth, firepower and versatility. We have always tried to create an environment and play style that would allow any player that is well prepared to put themself in a position to have a great night. Since I've been here, we have had each position score over 25 points in a game at some point. I think that speaks volumes to the opportunities that are out there. Ideally you have multiple guys being efficient and scoring double digits on a consistent basis. Looking at our roster, that can be between 6-8 guys potentially.
Q: Davis was your best rebounder from a team that struggled a little bit in that category last year. How concerned are you with the interior presence from what you've seen so far in practice?
A: I absolutely would not use the word 'concerned'. Brock Davis was a hard worker, but I think we have more guys collectively that have a knack for going after the ball. We work to teach them everything from positioning, doing their work early and recognizing advantage and disadvantage rebounding situations. More importantly, guys can't shoot unless they come with the ball!
Q: Your club shot a ton of threes last year. You were 208-of-681 with both those numbers being the fifth most in their respective category in UHSP history. How reliant do you want to be on the three this season?
A: The goal is always to get a dunk or a lay-up every time down the floor but that is just not reality. We have challenged our guys to spend time in the gym working on their shooting, I would love to complement our rim attacks with consistent 3-point shooting from our guys who can put the ball in the basket from distance.
Q: Jasmin Suvalija got injured just about halfway through the season. How is he heading into the new campaign and how key is he to the perimeter success of this team?
A: Jas is one of the greatest shooters I've ever been around and this year he is a lot more athletic. He is one of our team captains so our perimeter success will point more towards his ability to lead and manage his passion than it does his ability to score the ball for us. We are excited about him in this new role, and he has done an excellent job thus far.
Q: You have eight newcomers this season. Give me two or three that you are really going to rely on to be main contributors this season.
A: We have to look at our transfers to begin with. All four, Braeden, Brennen, Donovan and Justin, each add to our athleticism in a major way. They each have a desire to play good basketball, and they fit in great with the returners. They are all very eager to learn and get better and take advantage of this new beginning. There is only one ball, their ability to share it with the ambitious returners we have will determine our success. Our freshman class is still early in the process, and they make strides daily. The effort they put into practice and the weight room will pay off in the long run.
Q: Do you have any sort of projection of what this season will look like?
A: Absolutely not. Projections are difficult because of the other 29 variables out there. We have no idea what we look like in comparison to a number of our opponents right now. From what we have seen from ourselves thus far; we have a group that enjoys competing, they have a desire to showcase their talents and they are coachable. I love that, those are like the corner pieces on a puzzle... but I don't want to speak too soon as this picture continues to come together for us. I will say though, I've never been more excited for a season.
Out of the eight conference teams, UHSP was picked to finish last in the AMC Preseason Coaches Poll, released today. The Eutectics were one point behind seventh place Harris-Stowe, who garnered 20 points. Columbia was the preseason favorite with five first-place votes and 53 points overall. The defending regular season champions Central Baptist were picked second with 48 points and two first-place votes. Hannibal-LaGrange garnered the remaining first-place vote and 46 points overall to come in third in the poll. Mission (38), Crowley's Ridge (29) and Williams Baptist (27) were in the middle of the pack finishing fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.
The Eutectics offer a number of returners from the 2024-25 squad including Bryant Odunayo who was named to the AMC All-Freshman team a year ago. Veterans Landon Engelage and Jasmin Suvalija both return. Suvalija was the second-leading scorer on the team averaging 11.4ppg last year and the club's top three-point shooting threat shooting 37.9% from beyond the arc. Engelage averaged 7.3ppg and 3.1rpg a season ago. He was right behind Suvalija in three-point shooting at 37.2%. Engelage was the team's leading free throw shooter at 83.8% and from the floor connected at 48.6%. UHSP also returns Yigit Ekinci, David Moore, Greg Anderson, Braylon Rios, Hayden Campbell and Carmello Bostwick from last year's team.
UHSP has one Friday home game and four Saturday home dates this season. This is the first season that the conference will be without longtime members Missouri Baptist and William Woods as they both moved to the Heart of America Athletic Conference last summer, but the Eutectics will play both the Spartans and the Owls this upcoming season and get them both at home. UHSP's final 12 regular season games are all conference games.