The WCU Men’s Basketball team opens up their regular season this week when they will host the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia in a non-conference game. The game is slated for an 8 p.m tipoff at Ehinger Gym on Tuesday night.
This game is a rematch of last season’s exciting 68-62 WCU win on Opening Night at USP.
That night, the Rams were led by Shawn Werdt’s 18 points and five rebounds in addition to what would be the first of many double-doubles for Lenwood Greenwood when he tallied 13 points and dominated the glass with 13 rebounds as well.
However, both rosters promise to be significantly different from that meeting a year ago.
WCU lost seven seniors this season, including Werdt, Aaron Williams and Donnell Butler.
USP lost five of their top seven scorers last year, led by Eric Cangelosi whose 14.7 points per game led the squad and whose six rebounds per game were second on the team. The team’s top returning scorer is 6’3″ junior forward Keith Dundas, who averaged 10.6 points per game as well as 4.6 rebounds. Sophomore forward Brendan Rutledge is the second leading returning scorer with 2.3 points per game. This doesn’t seem like much, but playing on a veteran team with little playing time available, it’s respectable. Rutledge did make an impressive 52.3% of his shots from the field when given the opportunity.
For the Rams, it is time to see if the team can live up to lofty pre-season expectations set forth by their lone senior, Greenwood.
Greenwood has previously been quoted as saying that this year’s team has the potential to be the best in his time here. With a budding star at guard in sophomore captain Kenneth St. George, a beast in the paint with Greenwood, a fierce beast in the middle in Gerald Caldwell, and plenty of young but promising talent, this team could be something special, but the younger players on this team will need to learn to adapt to the PSAC’s style of play quickly if the team hopes to avoid stumbling out of the blocks.
A veteran point guard is always a huge boost to a team, yet sadly, the Rams will be without one as guard Kevin Stokes is out for the season with a nagging injury. His leadership and experience would have been invaluable, yet this just means someone else will have to step up.
Offensively in this game, and for the rest of the season, expect to see Greenwood and Caldwell get a lot of touches inside and St. George to get a lot of touches pretty much everywhere. Inside scoring shouldn’t be a problem with Greenwood and Caldwell, but someone will have to step up on the perimeter since St. George will be the focal point of many opposing team’s game plans.
The Ram’s will look to one of their Sophomore guards to create a spark
If the Rams can find another consistent scorer from the outside, this team could be very fun to watch.
If the Golden Rams cannot find consistency within their young core of players, they might repeat last season’s late collapse and again miss out on a playoff opportunity.
Matt Chandik is third-year student. He can be reached at MC618553@wcupa.edu