Brown Basketball 2015-16 Season Preview
Friday, November 13, 2015
The Brown University men's basketball team tips off their 2015-16 season tonight at 8:30 p.m. on the road against Saint Peter's. This is Brown's 110th season of intercollegiate basketball.
Last season the Bears went 13-18 overall and 4-10 in conference play. This season, Brown returns four of five starters and a total of seven letter winners.
"I'm just looking forward to seeing the team develop, we are far from a finished product but looking forward to seeing how much we can grow this season," said Brown Head Coach Mike Martin.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTBrown was picked to finish fifth in the Ivy League for the second straight season.
Trip to Italy
During the off-season, the Brown Bears took a nine-day tour of Italy that encompassed four cities and four games. In the four games against Italian Clubs and Universities, Brown went 3-1. Due to NCAA and Ivy League rules, the freshman and transfers were not able to go on the trip.
"I think that it helped, we are already a pretty close-knit team, but it was a great opportunity for us. We worked on a lot of different things, tried different combinations, so it helped," Martin said.
Brown will be hoping the success of the trip will translate into success this season. Brown has not had a winning record in Ivy League play in over eight seasons.
Forwards
Brown will be led by senior captain Cedric Kuakumensah, who is coming off a season in which he was named second team All-Ivy and reached the 235 career blocked shots milestone. Kuakumensah averaged 7.4 rebounds per game and 11.2 points per game last season.
"He has got to be a good leader, need him to provide consistent offense and anchor the defense, as well as protecting the rim and cleaning up the backboards," Martin said.
The Bears will use a mix of forwards around Kuakumensah, including sophomore Kyle Haber, who averaged 9 minutes per game last season before getting hurt, and freshman Travis Fuller, who averaged a double-double during his senior year of high school.
Guards
The Bears start the season with a veteran backcourt of Tavon Blackmon and Steven Spieth.
Blackmon started 28 of 29 games for Brown last season and averaged 10.4 points per game and dished out 114 assists (3.9 per game) last season.
In two years at Brown, Spieth has started 58 of 59 games, averaging 9.1 points per game and shooting 43 percent from the field for his career. Spieth averaged 9.9 points per game last season.
One player to watch at the guard position as the season goes on is Rhode Island's own Corey Daugherty, who begins his freshman season.
Daugherty was named Rhode Island Player of the Year as a high school senior and first team all-state as a junior and senior.
The Schedule
After tonight's game against Saint Peter's, Brown returns home to host Holy Cross on Monday, November 16th before facing Niagra and then cross-town rival Providence on the 18th and 21st.
Brown will host URI on December 30th and begin conference play on January 23rd on the road against Yale.
Brown's regular season home schedule comes to an end on February 27th when they host Harvard and their regular season ends on March 5th at Cornell.
The Bears will look to get back to the postseason for the second time in three years.
Related Slideshow: Brown Bears 2015-16 Projected Starting Lineup
Related Articles
- Brown Basketball Schedule Released
- 10 Greatest Players in Brown Basketball History
- Brown Basketball To Be Televised
- EXCLUSIVE: Scott Cordischi Interviews New Head Coach of Brown Basketball
- Brown basketball coaching search narrows
- NEW: Former Brown Basketball Coach Craig Robinson Fired by OSU
- Brown Basketball Announces 5 Incoming Freshmen
- Brown Basketball Gets Verbal Commit From David Erebor
- Brown Basketball to Host URI, Visit Georgetown in 2015-16 Season
- Brown Basketball Adds Six to 2015-16 Roster
- Brown Basketball Season Preview
- Brown Basketball Picked 5th in Ivy League
