The Point Park men’s basketball team opened their season on Tuesday, October 22 with an exhibition game versus the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) at the Petersen Events Center. The matchup did not affect either team’s record.
The Pioneers are coming off of their winningest season in school history, going 30-3 and winning the River State Conference (RSC) Championship. They have since transitioned to NCAA Division II athletics in the Mountain East Conference (MEC) as they enter the 2024-25 season.
“[It’s] definitely a big matchup,” senior forward Lance Singh said. “We want to see how we match up early against a good, big team. It’s going to be a good test.”
The Point Park men’s team graduated a majority of their starting rotation from last season, including top scoring duo Jalen Stamps and Jo Valrie.
“It’s been a lot different,” Singh said. “We lost a lot of players and points from last year; we are just looking to step up in the same positions the seniors were in last year and prevail.”
Returning to the lineup are centers Jags Jhawar and Nazareth Fisher, as well as guards Nathanial Van and Darren Ainembabazi. Redshirts Singh and Daniel Felix also return as pieces on the roster this year.
The Pioneers add seven new players to the roster, including six transfers and one first-year.
“We’ve had some growing pains, to be honest,” coach Kevin Reynolds said. “We didn’t come into camp with the same conditioning or lifting that last year’s team came in with.”
Reynolds enters his third year as Point Park’s head coach, having recorded a 53-10 record over two seasons.
“I thought last year our greatest strength was, obviously, good players,” Reynolds said. “But [our] guys were all in this peak condition, not just running, but lifting, all those types of things…we just didn’t have that same commitment in the summer that we had the year before.”
Reynolds shared that the team’s struggles when conditioning led to injuries and missed practice time. In turn, he stated that the team hasn’t had consistent practices, pushing back his decision of who to start against the Panthers.
Reynolds then shared how playing against a high-caliber Division I school will hopefully open his players’ eyes as they enter a more difficult conference.
“It’s a great test for us,” Reynolds said. “I think the nice thing for us is we need to see who’s going to compete at that level.”
The men’s team played an exhibition match last season against Robert Morris – another local Division I university. Point Park’s women’s team took on the Panthers last year and are set to open their season against Robert Morris this November.
“It’s so awesome when local, big time schools play the local smaller schools,” Reynolds said. “That doesn’t always happen, but that’s the nice thing about Pittsburgh.”
Pitt went 22-11 last year and placed fourth in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
Jeff Capel heads the Pitt men’s team, and he’s entering his seventh year coaching the Panthers. After winning ACC Coach of the Year in 2023, Capel received a contract extension in July lasting through the 2029-30 season.
“The coaches at Pitt are great. They’re real good coaches, obviously, but they’re also good guys…” Reynolds said. “You can always pick some nice pointers up. These are some of the better coaches in the country.”
Reynolds shared that he looks forward to competing in a new conference. However, he stated that many MEC schools heavily prioritize their basketball programs.
“It’s a great challenge for us, a great challenge,” Reynolds said. “I think we’re going to find out – coaching wise, player wise and administrator wise – what we need to do to compete at that level.”
The Pioneers begin regular season play in early November, as they compete in the Millersville University Conference Challenge on Nov. 9. They kick off MEC play on Nov. 14 against Glenville State at home.
“I think we will be really good in this conference,” Singh said. “It will be interesting.”
