Head Coach: Andrew Novick, 4th Season
Last Season’s Record: 14-15 Overall, 7-7 LEC
Last Year’s Playoffs: Ranked 5th in LEC, lost to Nichols in Conference Quarterfinal Round
Senior Losses: *Petey Skevas, Nick Moll, Mark MacGregor
Key Returners: Curtis Arsenault, Uche Nwokeji, **Nathan Clarke, Logan Kesty, Ernie Johnson III, Jack Preston, **Alex Burt
Who’s New: Brian Boulay, Michael Mele, Collin Sullivan, Max Coleman, Kieran Beck
The Plymouth State Men’s Basketball team is coming off their best regular season record in four years, finishing close to .500 overall and treading even water in the Little East Conference. With a tough road ahead, Coach Andrew Novick gives an inside look on the upcoming winter season.
Novick, who enters his 4th season here at Plymouth State, was extremely enthusiastic about this year. He has just about every reason to be. “We will be a young team this season. At Rhode Island College last season, we started five freshman who have all returned for their sophomore year. Nate Clarke (Reading, Mass.) brings strong leadership and is a steadying force as our point guard. Logan Kesty (New Boston, N.H.) is very talented offensive player with the ability to extend defenses with his shooting range. Ernie Johnson III (Springfield, Mass.) brings great energy and enthusiasm to our perimeter players at both ends of the court. Jack Preston (Nashua, N.H.) showed great improvement throughout the course of his first season. He can not only score but has the potential to alter a lot of shots on the defensive end of the court. Curtis Arsenault (Berlin, N.H.) continues to impress with his ability to change a game through hard work and determination. He is very exciting to watch and willing to leap into the stand to save basketballs.”
There wasn’t any one player that had a head turning season on the 2013-2014 roster. However, sophomore guard Curtis Arsenault (Berlin, N.H.) led last year’s team in scoring, averaging just under 13 points per game and boasting a career high of 22 points in a regular season win over Rivier. With Arsenault only being a sophomore this year, pay attention to his ability to be a presence both inside the paint and beyond the three-point line.
Everything about last year was about as average as you can get. PSU’s offense generated 63 points per game, but gave up 64 points per game. Opponents shot 43.9% from the floor, and 35% from beyond the arc. The Panthers matched that, going 40.6% from the floor and 38.8% with the deep ball. This year, Coach Novick anticipates playing generally fast-paced. With a high-tempo offense comes a lot of excitement, but the assist to turnover ratio needs to be constantly attended to. With the graduation loss of Petey Skevas, Novick has confidence in sophomore Nathan Clarke to pick up where his former captain left off. Junior forward Uche Nwoeji (Lynn, Mass.) led the team last year with just over 6 rebounds per game. Without a combined 8.7 rebounds per game from Skevas and MacGregor, it’s going to be a team effort to pick those up and create second chances. Guards Burt and Arsenault will be looking to hit the gaps, and Jack Preston needs to use his 6’6” frame to crash the boards.
Overall Expectation
With a team like this, it’s really hard to say where they will end up. There’s a lot of fresh fish floating around on the floor, so it’s safe to say that the chemistry might not mix well for the first couple games. However, every great team starts out like this. Everyone needs to work together, and this bus won’t roll unless a few leaders emerge. Don’t expect to see anyone breakout for 25 points per game (although a few of them have the potential). The defense needs to lockdown, the ball movement has to pick up, and the 6th man award has to go to someone. Right now, this year will be a couple wins better than last year, with the definite potential to really turn some heads. The core of this Plymouth State team is in the sophomore class.
*-2013-2014 Captain
**-2014-2015 Captain