GAMBIER — The Kenyon College Lords basketball team faces a challenging transition as it heads toward the start of the 2018-19 season.
The team will attempt to replace five players who collectively accounted for 60 starts last season. Those five included, a total of nine letterwinners exited the program and just six return for the upcoming campaign.
Head coach Dan Priest, now in his ninth season at Kenyon, will look to senior Matt Shifrin, as well as juniors Ryan O’Neill and Carter Powell, to show leadership and generate results as the team undergoes a rebuild.
Shifrin is the Lords’ top returning scorer. The 5-foot-10 shooting guard averaged 13.3 points per game last season and shot 41.7 percent (63-of-151) from three-point range, a mark that ranked sixth-best among all players in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC). Shifrin also dished out 2.5 assists per contest.
O’Neil will be Shifrin’s backcourt mate and will run the point. He served up a team-high average of 2.9 assists while playing in 25 games, with 13 starts, a season ago. O’Neil didn’t shoot the three-ball often, but when he did, he connected on 41.3 percent (19-of-46).
Powell will take the reins in the frontcourt. At 6-5, he returns from a sophomore season in which he started all but one game and averaged 5.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists from the wing. His experience, size and improved play will be conducive to the Lords’ success.
Sophomore Ugnius Zilinskas could be considered a wild card this year. The 6-4 forward has raw athletic talent, but hasn’t had much opportunity to develop it during competition. He played in 18 games a season ago, but injury limited his minutes. With more playing time there for the taking, Zilinskas has the chance to move his game to the next level.
The transitional year could also mean more playing time for junior Alex Cate and senior Tim Black. Both came off the bench last year. Cate, a forward, played in 20 games, while Black, a guard played in a dozen. Neither generated a bunch of stats, but their past game experience should be a factor moving forward.
Aside from those six players, the rest of the Lords’ roster is comprised of six freshmen, a group that aims to challenge the veterans and improve upon the team’s 7-18 overall mark from the 2017-18 season. There certainly will be some growing pains, but there’s enough talent to work through the transition and be competitive within the conference.
The new schedule unfolds Monday, as the Lords open play at home against Geneva College in a game slated for a 7 p.m. tip-off.
