Pioneers add height among new faces

Like in his rookie campaign last season, Wayland Baptist men's basketball coach Ty Harrelson wants to butter his bread in 2016-17 with a team that plays suffocating defense and scores a lot of points. The difference this season is the Pioneers will do it with a roster that more closely resembles a college basketball team in terms of height.
 
Since the end of last season, the Pioneers added three players who are as tall or taller than the biggest player on last year's squad. They also brought back that tallest player and added two others that are within an inch of Marquous Barnes' 6-foot-7 frame.
 
"We're going to be taller, so we have to make sure we get a few more paint touches," Harrelson said of his planned strategy to work the ball inside more. "But we still want to play a similar style to last year where we get after it on defense and push the ball on offense and score a lot of points.
 
"Of course we only scored 59 against LCU (in an exhibition game Tuesday), so we have a lot of things to work on to get where we want to be."
 
The two-time defending Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament champion Pioneers open their season this weekend in New Orleans against a pair of ranked NAIA opponents. Wayland first faces No. 25 Xavier University at 7:30 p.m. Friday before taking on No. 12 Dillard at 1 p.m. Saturday.
 
Harrelson and the Pioneers are raring to go.
 
"During the season I always look forward to the next game, so the hardest part of the off-season is waiting for the first one to happen," he said. "We're into the games now, so the guys are excited."
 
The Pioneers lost several key players from last year, most notably NAIA Third-Team All-American and All-Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament MVP Robert Waters, the nation's top 3-point shooter who averaged close to 22 points a game. That's a big reason why Wayland was picked to finish the SAC seventh out of 10 teams.
 
The other reason is Wayland's roster remains mostly a mystery to conference coaches.
 
"We didn't sign players that coaches in our league know about, and we signed some freshman, so our team looks a little bit young compared to other teams in conference that went with transfers and junior college players," Harrelson said.
 
In fact, only six players on Wayland's 15-member roster saw the floor last year. That includes third-team all-conference pick Maurice Redmond, a 6-2 senior guard who averaged 15.5 ppg and was among the league leaders in steals a year ago, and 6-2 junior guard Marshall Nelson who averaged close to 10 ppg.
 
"We expect Mo to be one of our leaders on offense and defense," Harrelson said, adding that Nelson "has been shooting the ball really well."
 
Other returners are Barnes, 6-5 senior forward Cody Thomas, 5-6 junior guard Ruben Lopez and 6-6 sophomore forward Trevor Mansour. Tyrone Davis, a 6-5 junior guard, continues to battle nagging injuries.
 
That leaves 10 Pioneers who were not around last season, including four from Nelson's hometown of Perth, Australia, in 6-9 senior forward/center Louis Timms, 6-8 junior guard/forward Tyler Viskovich, 6-5 sophomore guard Joshua Throns, and 6-4 junior guard/forward Julian Pesava. The Pioneers' distinctive Down Under flavor stems from Harrelson spending several years playing and coaching professionally in Australia prior to returning to his alma mater to coach.
 
While Timms will be playing officially for the Pioneers for the first time this season, he arrived at Wayland during the second semester last school year. Harrelson said he'll play a major role in the team's plans.
 
"He had a really good preseason," Harrelson said. "We'll work the ball through Louis quite a bit and try to open up our offense a little bit."
 
Rounding out the roster are 6-6 sophomore forward Austin Mansour of Richmond and four freshmen in 6-4 guard J.J. Culver and 6-6 forward/guard Russell Harrison of Lubbock, and 5-9 guard Chris Doerue of Amarillo. Samuel Kalwanyi, a 6-7 forward/center from Uganda, will redshirt.
 
"We have a very talented group but we have a lot of new faces," Harrelson said. "It's a different makeup than what we played with at the end of last season, so it's going to take us a little time."
 
That won't be easy considering Wayland's schedule, which besides the two ranked teams this weekend features a pair of games against No. 14 Our Lady of the Lake plus three ranked SAC teams (No. 1 and defending national champion Mid-America Christian, No. 18 Oklahoma City and No. 20 Texas Wesleyan) and two others receiving Top 25 votes (USAO and Southwestern Assemblies of God).
 
"Our schedule is a little tougher this year, which is the way I wanted it," said Harrelson, whose club last year went 21-12, including 10-8 in the SAC, and qualified for nationals for the third straight year before falling to top-ranked Georgetown, Ky., 102-83.
 
"I think a tougher schedule will give us a sense of reality of where we are, and it will help prepare us for down the road."
 
As for his team, which a year ago started the season ranked 11^th in the NAIA, being picked to finish seventh in the SAC, Harrelson said it will all work itself out.

"There are very good teams in conference, but do I think we should be seventh? No. We just need to play it one game at a time, and hopefully when conference comes around we'll be prepared."