Newcomers looking to guide Buffs this season
With last year’s top four scorers lost to graduation and nine new recruits coming in, the Milligan University men’s basketball team will have a new look during the 2020-21 season, which starts Tuesday, Nov. 3, on the road.
MILLIGAN, Tenn. (Nov. 2, 2020) – With last year's top four scorers lost to graduation and nine new recruits coming in, the Milligan University men's basketball team will have a new look during the 2020-21 season, which starts Tuesday, Nov. 3, on the road.
While the Buffs have many new faces and a different look, 12th-year Head Coach Bill Robinson says the team goals are the same every year.
"We want to win the league and advance to the national tournament," he says. "We were preseason picked 10th of 12 in the (Appalachian Athletic Conference), so we have a lot to prove obviously. But I like this team a lot and feel like we have the talent to win games in our league."
Returning from last season
Trevor Hensley and Matt Cole highlight Milligan's returning class.
Hensley averaged 8.1 points per game in 23 minutes and represented the Buffs as one of their top perimeter threats. Hensley connected on 32 3-pointers last season, ranking fourth on the team, and had the highest percentage from behind the arc at 38.1 percent.
Cole averaged a hair under four points per game and a hair over three rebounds per game in 10 minutes. He also had one of the highest field goal percentages on last year's team, shooting 50.8 percent from the field.
"We lost over 80% of our scoring and over 90% of our assists from last season," Robinson says. "Trevor Hensley is the only returner who played significant minutes last year. He will be asked to provide scoring and leadership. Tyler Faulkenberry returns after a year off. He was our best 3-point shooter two years ago, and we are hopeful that he will take a bigger role this season."
Top recruits
The Buffs brought in nine new players, among whom Robinson says there are several who look to make immediate impact.
"David Tripp, Josh Thomas and Finn McClure have been impressive among the new guys," Robinson says regarding what he has seen in preseason. "Also, I'm very excited about the addition of high school teammates Levontae Knox and Jackson Gabriel. We have nine new recruits for varsity so the guys are still learning how to play together. We also expect to get minutes from freshmen Julian Wilson, Jeffrey Selden and Alex Chambers."
Tripp is a 6-foot-5 forward from Norwich, Connecticut, who transfers in from Davidson County Community College. Thomas is a 6-foot-6 forward from Bedford, Virginia, who transfers in from UVa.-Wise.
"We will need huge years from David Tripp and Josh Thomas in order to compete for a conference title," Robinson says. "Both are undersized post players that can shoot the three. Both are also great rebounders for their size."
McClure, a 6-foot freshman point guard from Wellington, New Zealand, looks to take the role at starting points guard.
"Finn is going to be the key for us early," Robinson adds. "Starting a freshman at the point is always a risk, but the kid can really play."
Team profile
Robinson says the team will be much more offensively minded this year.
"Our team this year is completely different than last year," Robinson says. "We have many more shooters, but we lost a ton of leadership and competitiveness. We are different enough to change our system offensively to take advantage of the shooters we now have. I don't think we will be as good defensively, but we should be able to counteract that with the 3-point shot."
Some of Milligan's perimeter threats look to be Gabriel, Faulkenberry and the aforementioned Hensley.
Gabriel is a 6-foot-1 guard from Denver, North Carolina, and transfers from Lees-McRae College, where last season he saw limited minutes but shot 33 percent from behind the arc. Faulkenberry played in 30 games for the Buffs during the 2018-19 season and connected on a team-most 59 3-pointers, shooting 30 percent from the perimeter. Faulkenberry averaged 7.1 points and 2.2 rebounds per game before taking last season off.
On the schedule
The Buffs open with one of their biggest tests of the season when they travel to No. 15 University of the Cumberlands for the season opener. Cumberlands, 2-0 already this season, was a No. 4 seed at last year's NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship before the tournament was canceled due to COVID-19. After Cumberlands, Milligan jumps right into conference play to face Point on Saturday, Nov. 7, at home.
Milligan has a full AAC slate with 22 games against 11 league opponents. Two of the toughest matchups on the schedule will be Union and Montreat, who both qualified for last year's NAIA Division II Men's Basketball National Championship. The Buffs will face Union at home on Thursday, Nov. 19, and on the road on Saturday, Jan. 16. Milligan will face Montreat on the road Saturday, Dec. 12, and at home Thursday, Feb. 18.
With the merger of NAIA Division I and II this year, Union moved down to No. 24 from No. 16 while Monreat, which received votes at the end of last year, dropped out of the national rankings.
Milligan's regular-season finale will be at Steve Lacy Fieldhouse and is set for Saturday, Feb. 20, against Reinhardt.
"The league looks really good," Robinson says. "The AAC is becoming very 'transfer heavy' with less and less players coming straight from high school. So it is important for us to be able to recruit Milligan kids with college experience, both in the classroom and on the court."
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