Kearney, Neb. – The Nebraska-Kearney men's basketball team tips offs its 2019-20 season with a trip to Shawnee, Okla., for the Bison Conference Challenge.

This is the third time in four years the Lopers begin the year facing Great American Conference (GAC) foes on the road. The opponents this season are the Oklahoma Baptist Bison and East Central Tigers. UNK will face tourney host OBU on Friday and ECU on Saturday evening; check the men's basketball schedule page for tip times and media links.

Last winter Kearney beat OBU, 80-78, for its first win. The Bison went on to finish third in the GAC with a 16-14 overall record (14-8). Winning 10 of 14 games at home OBU was picked third out of 12 teams in the 2019-20 preseason GAC poll.

Oklahoma Baptist must replace its top two scorers off last year's squad with the top returnees being junior forward Harrison Stoddart (#20) and junior guard Brantly Thompson(#10). Stottart tallied 11 points and five rebounds in last year's game vs. UNK with Thompson adding 12 points, six assists, two blocks, and three steals. Among the newcomers are Division I transfers Jacque Brown (#13) and Rashard Lewis (#25).

East Central, located in Ada, Okla., is coming off a 16-12 (13-9) campaign and are sixth in the preseason GAC poll. UNK and ECU have faced each other just once in men's basketball with the Tigers claiming a 39-34 home victory back in the 1938-39 season.

The headliner is 6-0 senior guard Camron Talley (#3) who averaged 20.5 points and 3.1 rebounds last winter. He sunk 97 threes and shot 83% at the line to be the third leading scorer in the GAC. Also back are a pair of 6-3 sophomore guards in Gerren Jackson (#0) and Tylor Arnold (#12).

For UNK, senior forward AJ Jackson (Bellevue West) was one of two Lopers to earn honorable mention All-MIAA honors last season. Missing four games down the stretch due to injury, he was among the league leaders in offensive rebounds (52) while averaging 8.3 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. Fellow senior Kyle Juhl (Harlan, Ia.) has made 121 threes in his career and will again be one of the team's primary scorers.

Another senior is lefty guard Chase Winchester (DeSoto, Texas) who began his career at Division I Stephen F. (Texas) Austin State. He shot 38% from the three point line to average just over seven points per game in his first year as a Loper. The fourth and final senior is forward Morgan Soucie (Osawatomie, Kan.). Redshirting his freshman season, he averaged 16 points over the final four games to give the Lopers a big boost.

Redshirt junior wing Sam Morris (Lincoln Southeast) was key to UNK's fortunes last year as the team was 8-5 in games decided by 10 points or less when he played. Missing a good chunk of the season due to injury he came in at 6.7 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game while also providing strong defense. Next, forward Austin Luger (Alliance) figures to have a bigger role this year after appearing 34 games the past two winters. Like Morris he's battled the injury bug but was the team's top free throw shooter last year (82%) while having five double figure efforts.

Finally, the other returners are sophomore guard Parker Badding (Carroll, Ia.), redshirt sophomore guard Noah Valasek (Spalding) and redshirt freshman wing Cedric Johnson (Bellevue West). 

The experienced newcomers are juniors RJ Pair (The Colony, Texas) and Jake Walker (Centerville, Utah) with the freshmen being Matt Brien (New Zealand), Winston Cook (Wahoo) and Jaden Engen (Kearney). Pair previously was at MIAA-member Pittsburg State with both Walker and Brien having played either at the junior college or prep school levels.