Men's Basketball Set to Open 2024-25 Season at Atlantic Region Crossover Challenge vs No. 17 West Liberty, Wheeling

WEST CHESTER, Pa.- After its 12th consecutive PSAC Quarterfinal appearance a year ago, head coach Damien Blair and the West Chester University men’s basketball team are hungry for more in 2024-25 as the Golden Rams look for their first PSAC Semifinal and NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019. Blair and the Golden Rams will begin their 2024-25 campaign on Friday night in West Virginia against No. 17 West Liberty at 5:30 p.m. before facing Wheeling on Saturday afternoon beginning at 3 p.m. in what will be its second game in 24 hours.

Check out our interview with head coach Damien Blair here. 

LAST TIME WE SAW THEM                                                           

In 2023-24, West Chester finished just one win shy of its fifth 20-win season in the last six years but extended its streak of ending the year with a winning record to six years. West Chester posted its first win over a top-10 opponent since November 2015 last winter with a thrilling 100-97 victory on the road over California (Pa.), which helped the team reach the PSAC Tournament and eventually the PSAC Quarterfinals for the 12th consecutive year after dispatching Shepherd in the first round by a 76-66 final.

PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATIONS

West Chester was picked to finish second in the PSAC East Preseason coaches poll released in October, receiving one first-place vote and trailing only East Stroudsburg, who garnered seven first-place votes as the Preseason favorite. Millersville rounded out the top three in the East, while California, Slippery Rock, and Gannon made up the top three in the PSAC West. Check out the full PSAC East Preseason poll release here.

FLOCK TALK

As a team, West Chester ended last season ranked third in the PSAC East in scoring, averaging 81.9 points per game over the course of its 30 games. The Golden Rams also led the PSAC in rebounding, averaging 40.3 rebounds per game. The Golden Rams also led the PSAC in rebounding margin and ranked 11th in Division II in both rebounding margin (+7.6) and offensive rebounding (13.7/g), which ranked second best in the PSAC.

The Golden Rams return three of five starters from a year ago, including First Team All-League pick Elijah Allen (Dover, Del./Dover) and Joshua Walker (Upper Marlboro, Md./Riverdale Baptist) along with Anthony Purnell Jr. (Chester, Pa./Kiski). Allen and Walker both averaged in double figures in scoring a year ago, averaging 17.6 and 14.0 points per game to rank first and third on the squad, while Purnell Jr. chipped in 6.6 points and a team-best 3.7 assists per game.

Also returning in 2024-25 are seven other battle-tested Golden Rams, including sophomores Myles Grey (Reading, Pa./Reading), Saleem Payne (Philadelphia, Pa./Phelps School), and Darrius Phillips (East Stroudsburg, Pa./Seton Hall Prep), juniors Luke Boyd (Somerton, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) and Nix Varano (Chalfont, Pa./La Salle College HS) and two more seniors in Moro Osumanu (Reading, Pa./Reading) and Alex Walinski (New Hope, Pa./New Hope Solebury). Of this group, which primarily appeared off the bench for West Chester a year ago, Osumanu ranks first in scoring and rebounding, averaging 3.4 points and 4.1 rebounds per game last year, while Payne averaged 2.8 per game in his rookie season.

WHAT’S NEW

West Chester welcomed six newcomers to the Flock for the 2024-25 season, including a pair of true freshmen in Larenzo Jerkins (Chester, Pa./Neumann-Goretti) and Gavin Dalen (Milford, Oh./Milford) and four Division I transfers in Anthony McCall (Philadelphia, Pa./ANC/Ridger), Davante Dennis (Baltimore, Md./Red Lion/Incarnate Word), Dylan Blair (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West/Army), and James Johns Jr. (Claymont, Del./Long Island Lutheran/Fairfield).

THE SLATE

West Chester opens its season with a pair of challenging matchups in West Virginia against West Liberty and Wheeling before returning home for a pair of non-league battles against CACC foes in Wilmington and Jefferson on November 16 and 20. Following its midweek matchup against Jefferson, West Chester visits Slippery Rock and Edinboro for its first PSAC West Crossover matchups of the year on November 22 and 23 before playing its final home game of November on Thanksgiving Eve against Chestnut Hill beginning at 2 p.m.

Following its annual Thanksgiving Eve matchup vs. Chestnut Hill, West Chester will wait until December 6 and 7 to play again, hosting California (Pa.) and IUP in two more crossover battles before visiting Caldwell for what would typically be its non-league finale on December 14. In a strange twist as a result of Mercyhurst jumping to the Division I ranks in the offseason, West Chester’s game at Pitt-Johnstown on December 17 will be the Golden Rams final non-league game of the season as it will not count in the conference standings for West Chester in an effort to balance the Eastern Division Crossover schedules. West Chester wraps up the 2024 half of its schedule on December 21 against Seton Hill beginning at 3 p.m. and will open PSAC East play on January 3 at Shepherd. The Golden Rams have Alumni Day scheduled for January 11 against Kutztown beginning at 4 p.m., and Senior Day is currently set for February 8 vs Mansfield.

HONORING THE LEGENDS

Fans will notice a new court design for the 2024-25 season as West Chester completed a refinishing of the Hollinger Field House floor over the Summer to make it now bear the name of legendary basketball coaches Dick DeLaney and Deirdre Kane. Kane-DeLaney Court, as the floor shall henceforth be known, was formally unveiled to the Community in mid-September at a special ceremony after the project was announced during a doubleheader against East Stroudsburg last January. Read more about the project here.

THE OPENING WEEKEND

West Chester will get its season underway in West Virginia for the first time since the 2018-19 season, when the Golden Rams visited West Liberty to take on West Virginia Wesleyan and West Liberty on November 9 and 10 of that season. West Chester dropped both games of this trip, falling to WVWC by an 80-72 final on opening night and to West Liberty by a 94-80 final on Saturday evening.

Ranked 17th in Division II and the Mountain East Conference (MEC) preseason favorites, West Liberty will be a stiff test on opening night for West Chester as the Golden Rams look to vanquish a Hilltopper squad, which is entering play off a 26-win season and raked top five in Division II in points and threes per game. West Liberty only returns one starter from its 2024-25 team in Kyler D’Agustino. However, Dante Spadafora, Lanyc Shuler, and Finely Woodward were all key reserves a year ago. The ‘Toppers also brought in a number of talented transfers, including two from the PSAC in, Jaylen Stewart from IUP and Andrew Shull from UPJ.  

West Chester is 2-3 all-time against West Liberty, including the setback in 2018. This was the first meeting between the two foes since 2016 and just the third between them since 1996.

After tangling with the perennially dangerous Hilltoppers on Friday evening, West Chester will shift its attention to Wheeling, who makes the short 25-minute drive north on route 88 for its opening weekend of competition. West Chester is 7-4 against Wheeling all-time, including a win over the Cardinals in 2018, which gave the Golden Rams their first NCAA Tournament victory in program history. The 2018 meeting between the two squads was the first such meeting since a 2006 loss in overtime, which was the final game of a four-year home-at-home type of agreement between the Golden Rams and Cardinals.

Wheeling was tabbed ninth in the MEC preseason poll but returns three key contributors from a year ago: Sean Ealy, who averaged 14.1 points per game after becoming the starting point guard midway through the season, Tee Harris, and William Gabbert.

UP NEXT

West Chester opens its 2024-25 season on Friday evening at West Liberty beginning at 5:30 p.m. before facing Wheeling at West Liberty on Saturday afternoon to conclude a busy opening weekend at the PSAC/MEC Challenge. West Chester will open its home slate on November 16 against Wilmington at approximately 4 p.m. in the first of two straight and three of five in Hollinger to end November.  The Golden Rams home opener against Wilmington is the second of a doubleheader in Hollinger on November 16 as the West Chester University women’s volleyball team will get the day underway with its Senior Day/Regular-Season finale vs Shippensburg beginning at 1 p.m.