Kennesaw State men’s basketball prepares for season

By Kennesaw State Athletics

After nearly two months of fall practices in the books, the Kennesaw State men’s basketball program is set to take flight as the 2014-15 season officially tips off in just three days.

“I like our guys competitiveness and work ethic throughout the preseason,” said KSU head coach Jimmy Lallathin. “We’ve really committed ourselves in the gym and in the weight room and I think it’s about to show itself. That preparation is going to give us a lot of opportunities.”

KSU returns every major role player from the 2013-14 season including guard Delbert Love, who returns for his senior year after leading the Owls in scoring with 391 points. Orlando Coleman is also back as the team’s top rebounder, pulling down 185 boards during his rookie year.

Willy Kouassi, who came up with a team-best 35 blocks, will be back and a much-improved force under the basket along with teammate Nate Rucker, who averaged four rebounds and nine points per outing in 2013-14.

KSU will feature eight players this season who averaged double-digit minute totals last year including Tanner Wozniak, Nigel Pruitt, Bernard Morena and Yonel Brown to go with Love, Kouassi, Rucker and Coleman.

The Owls also added depth to this year’s squad, most notably shooting guard Nick Masterson and forward Justin Diecker, two true freshman who are expected to make an immediate impact.

The Owls also added a well-seasoned veteran in Damien Wilson, an Atlanta, Georgia native and a transfer from Memphis.

“I think this year fans are going to see a team that plays with a lot of up tempo,” said Lallathin of the roster. “I want to get up and down the floor a lot more. We’ve been teaching spacing and just letting our players make plays. We wanted to simplify what we do to get a little more free flowing offensively and dictating the pace defensively. We’re athletic and long and we’re going to take advantage of that this year.”

The Owls will have their work cut out through the first week of the season, starting off with a Friday night game at Syracuse followed by a Sunday affair at Cal, taking the Owls across the country in a 48 hour span.

KSU then returns to Georgia for a Wednesday, Nov. 19 game at NCAA Tournament team Mercer before flying to Fargo, North Dakota for a pair of 2K Classic Tournament contests.

“These games are great opportunities and that’s what we sell to them,” added Lallathin. “It’s a mentality that we’ve been working on since April and that’s winning in everything we do. If things don’t go the way we expect or hope, we’re still learning and preparing for that A-Sun championship. And playing in some of the best venues in college basketball is an unbelievable opportunity.

“We want to get better through these first few games and put into a game what we’ve been walking through in practice all offseason. What we do in these first few games is going to be what we become this season, so we want to set that foundation right. It’s the start of the race, not the finish, and every day is taking steps towards that finish line.”

KSU is set to make its home debut on Wednesday, Nov. 26 with a 2 p.m. game against Samford in the Convocation Center.