GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Davenport University men's basketball team will play its final non-conference road games of the regular season on Friday and Saturday when it faces a pair of Sunshine State Conference opponents in Eckerd and Tampa. The opening tip against both the Tritons and Spartans will be at 5 p.m.

Hillsdale 68, Davenport 58: Davenport hosted 2022 NCAA DII Elite Eight participant and undefeated Hillsdale (5-0) on for the 2022-23 home opener. Despite the Chargers opening up a lead as big as 21 (35-14) in the first half, the Panthers were able to pull within three (57-54, 59-56) after halftime, but the visitors ended up pulling away by 10, 68-58, in the end. Davenport (0-3) was led by a quartet of scorers in double-figures including Chaz Birchfield (12 points), Marcedus Leech Jr. (11), Jakub Dombek (11), and Jaylen Hodges (10). Dombek paced the rebounding department with eight while he, Luke Bara and Jordan Sterling each notched three assists. Defensively, Birchfield tallied the Panthers' lone block and four different players earned a steal.

Scouting Eckerd: Head coach Bryan Galuski, a 1998 Eckerd alum, is in his fourth season at the helm of Eckerd men's basketball with an overall record of 17-36 in three seasons (2020-21 cancelled due to COVID-19). So far this season, the Tritons have been led by a trio of scorers averaging double-figures including Thiam Carr (15.0 PPG), Kent Garard (15.0) and Daniel Love (13.5). Carr also leads the team in assists with 3.0 per contest while Joshua Galloway is on top of the rebounding department with 6.0 per game. Schedule wise, Eckerd is off to a 2-0 start for the first time since the 2018-19 season thanks to victories over Lynn, 85-73, and Puerto Rico-Bayamon, 89-69.

Scouting Tampa: Tampa is coached by Richard Schmidt, just the eighth coach in Division II history to reach 700 wins and just the third active DII coach to do so. Coaching in his 41st season with the Spartans, Schmidt has amassed a record of 720-423 (.630 winning percentage) after UT was just 207-315 (.397 winning percentage) prior to his arrival. This season, Tampa's team leaders include Jacob Harris (17.3 PPG), Mykah Brown (12.7 PPG and 3.7 APG), De'Andre Harvey (10.3 PPG), and Tyson Leitao (7.3 RPG). After an 0-2 start to the season, the Spartans broke into the win column for the first time thanks to a 72-69 victory over Barry on Sunday.

LIVE COVERAGE
Friday, November 25 - 5:00 PM - Watch - Listen (Rick Berkey) - Live Stats
Saturday, November 26 - 5:00 PM - Watch - Listen (Rick Berkey) - Live Stats