‘A lot of learning to do’: CCU men’s basketball gets started with several unknowns

After going 10-8 in the Sun Belt Conference regular season last year to tie for sixth in the 12-team league, the Coastal Carolina men’s basketball team has its sights set on finishing in the top half of the conference this year.

The quest began Friday with the first day of practice for the 2017-18 season. “Opening day is the most fun part,” head coach Cliff Ellis said. “I mean, everybody is excited. You’re ready to get it going. You’re anxious to see what some of the new players can do.”

Ellis is starting his 10th season at the helm of the Chanticleers and is one win away from 200 at Coastal with a 199-129 record. He is second in school history in wins behind Russ Bergman’s 306 from 1976-94.

CCU is coming off its fourth consecutive 20-win season and sixth in nine seasons under Ellis, and reached the championship series of the Collegiate Basketball Invitational.

The Chanticleers return two starters in All-Sun Belt guard Jaylen Shaw, who averaged 14.3 points per game last season, and forward DeMario Beck, who averaged 10 points and a team-high 7.9 rebounds per game.

“This year we’ve got a lot of new guys who are going to have a lot of learning to do,” Shaw said. “But with the help of the coaches and myself and Demario as senior leaders I feel like we’ll get there.”

Other returnees are Amidou Bamba (4.6 ppg/3.9 rpg), who helped Canada upset the United States and win the U19 world basketball championship in the offseason, Artur Labinowicz (6.5 ppg/3.9 rpg), Josh Coleman, Christian Adams and Josh Peterson. Four players are new to the team, and guard Trevion Brown of Tacoma, Wash., is the team’s only freshman.

Transfers include 6-4 guard Ajay Sanders from Winterville, N.C.; 6-7 forward Zac Cuthbertson from New Bern, N.C., and 6-2 guard Bill Muse from Muskogee, Okla.

“What we don’t know now is the inexperienced players and what they can do,” Ellis said. “I think we’ve got good players coming in, I just haven’t seen them perform. That’s what these next six weeks are going to be about. The one guy I know stands out is Zac Cuthbertson. I feel like he’ll jump right in and play. The rest of it we’ve got to figure out.”

The Chants have to replace guards Elijah Wilson and Colton Ray-St. Cyr, who are both playing professionally overseas, as well as point guard Shivaughn Wiggins and forward Michel Enanga.

“I like our team, but there’s some inexperience with what we’ve lost a year ago that we’ve got to see how well they fare,” Ellis said. “We’ve got an older team that’s inexperienced.”

Coastal’s 30-game schedule includes 15 home dates, 12 road games including a Dec. 9 meeting with 2017 Final Four participant South Carolina and three games in the Island of the Bahamas Showcase from Nov. 17-19.

The Chants also host ACC member Wake Forest on Dec. 18 followed by College of Charleston on Dec. 22.

The season begins at home on Nov. 10 against Piedmont International followed by a game Nov. 12 at Lamar in Beaumont, Texas.

“Our non-conference competition is extremely strong,” Ellis said. “We’ve got a tremendous non-conference schedule that should get us ready – I hope we don’t get our brains beat out – but it should get us ready for conference play.”

Coastal begins Sun Belt Conference play with a pair of home games Dec. 29 and New Year’s Eve against Texas-Arlington and Texas State.

Coastal went 11-9 in its first season in the Sun Belt Conference last season, including a 1-1 record in the conference tournament.

“For our first year we had quite a bit of success,” Ellis said. “Having been in the league we now know actions of the opponents. A year ago we didn’t know the Sun Belt and they didn’t know us. Now we know a little bit about what [opponents] will do. So now we can practice and prepare for some of the actions we’ll see.”

Men’s season ticket packages start at $150 and women’s season tickets are $75, and the purchases include a donation to the Coastal Athletic Foundation.

This story was originally published September 29, 2017 at 6:58 PM with the headline "‘A lot of learning to do’: CCU men’s basketball gets started with several unknowns."