GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Davenport University men's basketball program will open its sixth season as a member of NCAA Division II and the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) on Friday and Saturday in Hammond, Ind. For the fifth time in those six seasons (excluding COVID season), the Panthers will face William Jewell and Rockhurst. DU and WJC will tip off at 6 p.m. eastern on Friday before the Panthers and Hawks will get underway at 2 p.m. eastern on Saturday.

•    GLIAC/GLVC Crossover: For the fifth time in six seasons of GLIAC membership (excluding COVID season), Davenport will play against William Jewell and Rockhurst as part of the GLIAC/GLVC Crossover. In those eight games, the Panthers have gone 7-1 with the only loss coming against the Cardinals, 87-68, on Nov. 10, 2017, DU's first ever Division II game.

•    GLIAC Preseason Poll: Davenport was picked to finish fifth in the 10-team league. Ferris State (six first-place votes), Northern Michigan (two first-place votes), Lake Superior State (one first-place vote), and Michigan Tech (one first-place vote) rounded out the top four. Individually, redshirt sophomore guard, Marcedus Leech Jr., was named First Team Preseason All-GLIAC after averaging 12.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game in his first season with DU.

•    Roster Preview: The program lost four of its top six scorers from a year ago, but returned Leech Jr. and redshirt junior forward, Jakub Dombek, who averaged 8.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.4 blocks, and 1.3 assists in 12 games played before suffering a season-ending finger injury. Also back for Davenport with minutes under their belt in 2021-22 are Chaz Birchfield (redshirt junior forward), Jeff Carrier (sophomore forward), Brackton Miller (sophomore wing), Jaylen Hodges (sophomore guard), and Nic Sura (sophomore guard). Those seven will be joined by seven newcomers in Myles Belyeu (Saginaw Valley State), Jordan Sterling (Morehouse College), Assane Diouf (Austin Peay), TJ Mitchell (freshman), Luke Bara (freshman), Jack Olis (freshman), and Jeremiah Stewart (freshman) as well as redshirts from a season ago in James Felton (played in 2020-21) and Jaden Terrell.

LIVE COVERAGE
Friday, November 11 - 6:00 PM ET - Live Video - Listen (Rick Berkey) - Live Stats
Saturday, November 12 - 2:00 PM ET - Live Video - Live Stats