St. Cloud State Men’s Basketball Picked 9th in NSIC Preseason Coaches’ Poll

St. Cloud State Men’s Basketball Picked 9th in NSIC Preseason Coaches’ Poll

10/8/2024 1:16:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Lucas Morgan Named Player to Watch

Burnsville, Minn.- St. Cloud State Men's Basketball was projected to finish 9th in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Preseason Coaches' Poll as announced by the league office on Thursday. Sophomore guard Lucas Morgan was named the player to watch for the Huskies.

Head Coach Quincy Henderson enters his third season with Huskies ahead of the 2024-25 season. Henderson and the Huskies took a step forward following his inaugural season with the program as they finished with a 12-17 record and an 8-14 mark in conference play. St. Cloud State finished 12th in the conference and reached the NSIC Tournament for the second consecutive season. The Huskies would draw Southwest Minnesota State in the first round where they would be defeated 63-74, ending their season.

"We have a strong group of returners that logged significant minutes last year, and they are complemented by a competent group of freshmen. They have a workman's mentality and that bodes well in all aspects of life. The NSIC has proven time and again to be one of the elite conferences in the country and we are excited to tackle the nightly challenges of playing in this league," said Henderson.

Morgan enters his second season with the Huskies and looks to build off his freshman season. The Australian showed off his offensive and defensive versatility for St. Cloud State by averaging 10 points per game (the second most on the team) while shooting 44.3% from the field, 38.2% from three-point range, and 81.3% from the free throw line. Morgan also totaled 5.7 rebounds per game, 2.0 assists per game, and a team-high 1.7 stocks per game.

"Lucas had a great freshman year with the program. He was asked to do a lot on both the offensive and defensive end and statistically performed very well. He's had a great approach to improving his game throughout, and we look forward to another year of his growth," said Henderson.

By the end of the year, St. Cloud State was starting five freshmen in Jamiir Allen, Anish Ramlall, Morgan, Vance Peiffer, and Wyatt Hawks. Allen was the team's leading scorer with 10.2 points per game. Ramlall made the second most threes on the team with 46 while averaging 8.9 points. Peiffer was a versatile defensive player and averaged 5.6 points. Hawks was the team's leading rebounder with 5.8 boards per game while also averaging 6.8 point per game. Sophomore guard Nate Dahl also made some spot starts for the Huskies and made his knack on the defensive end while providing vast amounts of energy. Dahl averaged 5.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game.

Other returners include redshirt-freshmen Nathan Bunkosky and Izaac Neal.

In the offseason, the Huskies brought in a talented group of freshmen including Tre Blissett, Will Brands, Amos Harvey, Lee Marks III, Hanif Muhammad, Kynan Philippe, Landon Riebel, and Luke Winkel.

St. Cloud State will open their season in Canyon, TX. for the D2 Tip-Off event where they will play Lubbock Christian University on Saturday, November 2 at 1:30 p.m. The Huskies will play their home opener at Halenbeck Hall against Concordia-St. Paul on Thursday, November 14 and then play their conference opener against Minot State on Friday, December 6.

Preseason Coaches' Poll Results