November 1 Emerald Coast Classic Notebook

NOTE: MEDIA covering the Emerald Coast Classic please make sure to apply for credentials by Nov. 10

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

(All times listed are Central)

Monday, Nov. 3 Games

Drake vs. Northern Arizona (Sioux Falls, S.D.), 3 p.m. YouTubeTV
Maryland Eastern Shore at Georgia Tech, 6:30 p.m., ACC Network Extra
Chicago State at DePaul, 7 p.m. ESPN Plus

Wednesday, Nov. 5 Games

Tarleton State at LSU, 7 p.m., SEC Network Plus

Thursday, Nov. 6 Games

Robert Morris at Drake, 6:30 p.m. ESPN Plus

Friday, Nov. 7 Games

Stonehill at DePaul, 7 p.m. ESPN Plus
Bryant at Georgia Tech, 6:30 p.m. ACC Network Extra

Nov. 10 Games

Simpson at Drake, 6:30 p.m. ESPN Plus
New Orleans at LSU, 7 p.m., SEC Network Plus
Southeastern Louisiana at Georgia Tech, 8 p.m., ACC Network

Nov. 11 Games

Buffalo at DePaul, 7 p..m. ESPN Plus

Nov. 13 Games

Florida International at LSU, 7 p.m., SEC Network Plus

Nov. 14 Games

Southern Illinois-Edwardsville at Drake, 6:30 p.m. ESPN Plus
Northwestern at DePaul, 7:30 p.m. TRU TV
Georgia Tech at Georgia, 8 p.m., SEC Network

PRESEASON POLLS, ALL-LEAGUE TEAMS: Several players participating in the Emerald Coast Classic have been named to preseason all-conference teams.

Georgia Tech’s Baye Ndongo was selected to the Preseason All-ACC second team, while receiving one vote as the ACC Preseason Player of the Year. Ndongo earned third-team All-ACC honors last year.

DePaul senior guard CJ Gunn earned Preseason All-BIG EAST third team honors, as announced by the conference office. He became the first Blue Demon to earn preseason All-Conference honors since Charlie Moore in 2020.

Gunn returns as DePaul’s leading scorer from the 2024-25 season after averaging 12.9 points and 4.0 rebounds while shooting 42.9 percent from the floor. He also led the team in steals with 43 on the season while totallng 21 games across the season in double-digit scoring. His scoring and rebounding average increased last season against BIG EAST opponents to 13.7 and 4.7, respectively.

Drake landed three players on the preseason Missouri Valley Conference “Players to Watch” list for the upcoming season. Senior guards Jalen Quinn and Jaehshon Thomas, transfers from Loyola of Chicago and Charlotte, respectively, were named to the team. Senior forward Isaiah Career, a 6-11 transfer from Denver, also was honored.

DePaul was picked ninth in the 2025-26 BIG EAST Preseason Coaches Poll. The Blue Demons had the nation’s biggest KenPom year-over-year rating improvement, jumping 182 spots from 2024 to 2025. St. John’s, the defending BIG EAST regular season and tournament champion, was chosen to finish first followed by UConn and Creighton.

Georgia Tech was picked to finish 13th in the 18-team ACC Preseason Poll following a vote of a select media panel. Ranked No. 6 nationally in the preseason Associated Press poll, Duke was voted the preseason favorite to win the league title.

MORE HONORS FOR NDONGO: Georgia Tech forward Baye Ndongo has been named as one of 20 players to the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Preseason Watch List.

Ndongo is Georgia Tech’s leading returning scorer and rebounder, having averaged 13.4 points and 8.9 rebounds, respectively. Against league opponents, Ndongo averaged a double-double behind 14.4 points and 10.2 rebounds, starting all 20 outings and averaging 32.5 minutes per game. The Mboro, Senegal native was second on the team in scoring last season, helping the Yellow Jackets to 17 wins and a return to postseason play for the first time in four seasons.

The sophomore ranked fourth overall in the ACC in rebounding last year and second in field goal percentage, while also leading the Yellow Jackets in blocked shots. Ndongo gained momentum during the season, posting nine double-doubles in Tech’s final 13 games to finish with 13 double-doubles overall (11 against league opponents). He became only the third Yellow Jacket in program history, and first since 2000-01, to average a double-double in ACC play.

McMAHON FINDS FLOOR GENERAL: When Matt McMahon was constructing the 2025-26 LSU basketball game plan this past offseason, he knew the one area he couldn’t afford to get wrong.

In the previous three seasons, the point guard play has been something that the Tigers just haven’t been able to get right. From Justice Hill, Jalen Cook, Trae Hannibal and Jordan Sears, the playmaking as the offensive engine just hasn’t been there. But with an increased devotion to the basketball program, McMahon and his staff were able to swing big for a difference-making point guard.

That’s what the Tigers believe they’ve landed with Dedan Thomas. The two time Mountain West all-conference point guard is exactly what the purple and gold need as their floor general. Watching the very first exhibition game of the season for the purple and gold, the skill level was apparent.

Last season for LSU, the highest assist game from any one player was seven.Last Sunday in an exhibition win at UCF, Thomas recorded nine assists and had 16 points to go along with it. Not bad for a first game where the players are clearly still learning about themselves against an opponent.

BUILDING STRONG FOUNDATION: Georgia Tech basketball has a reason to believe. The pieces are starting to fit, and the program looks ready to take another step forward under Damon Stoudamire.

Last season, the Yellow Jackets won 17 games including 10 wins in ACC play. That showed small progress. But this year’s team feels different. It feels deeper, more balanced, and more confident.

At the center of it all is Baye Ndongo, the 6-foot-9 junior from Senegal. He was a third-team All-ACC performer and one of the league’s best big men. In conference play, he averaged 13.4 points and 8.9 rebounds while shooting 53.6 percent. That’s the kind of production coaches build around.

He won’t be alone. As Kowacie Reeves Jr. is back after missing most of last season with a foot injury. His size and shooting will give Tech a needed boost on the wing. Jaeden Mustaf, a talented sophomore guard, brings energy and toughness to the backcourt.

Georgia Tech also added key transfers like Chas Kelley from Boston College and Kam Craft from Miami (Ohio). Both bring experience and scoring punch. Seven foot tall Peyton Marshall could become a difference-maker inside.

HENDERSON ERA BEGINS: Eric Henderson’s first game with Drake men’s basketball i9s less than a week away.

The Iowa native took over as head coach after Ben McCollum departed Des Moines for Iowa, and the 2025-26 season will mark the first time Henderson coaches in his home state since working as a graduate assistant under Greg McDermott at Iowa State.

He takes over a Bulldogs program that advanced to the NCAA Tournament in three straight seasons (2023-25) and experience unprecedented success under McCollum and his predecessor, Darrian DeVries.

Now it’s time for the age of Henderson, and expectations are high — even with an almost entirely new roster and a brand-new coaching staff.

DEPAUL BEATS NOTRE DAME IN EXHIBITION: DePaul men’s basketball wrapped up its exhibition slate Oct. 24 with a 69-62 road victory over Notre Dame.

The Blue Demons displayed balanced scoring with nine players contributing at least two points and three finishing in double figures in NJ Benson, Layden Blocker and CJ Gunn.

Continuing its emphasis on team basketball, DePaul tallied 17 assists on 25 made field goals, with eight different players recording an assist.

DePaul set the tone early with a lockdown defensive effort, holding Notre Dame to 1-of-8 shooting through the opening four minutes. The Blue Demons found their rhythm from deep, connecting on five straight three-pointers to spark a 14-0 run and build a 21-8 lead midway through the first half. Notre Dame came back behind efficient free throw shooting to pull within four at the break.

TRANSFERS STAND OUT IN PRESEASON — Midterms are approaching for LSU students, and the first tip-off of the season is also on the horizon for the men’s basketball team.

Entering his fourth season with the Tigers, head coach Matt McMahon said he’s trying to reach equilibrium with his approach as a coach to return LSU back to the top in men’s basketball, and that involves the transfer portal.

“I think there’s still a hybrid model out there that you want to have,” McMahon said in a preseason press conference. “I’m biased, really. Player development’s my favorite part of coaching, but I think there was obviously the need for us to go out in the portal and get older and more experience. I think I touched on that with the average age of our team this year being over 22 years old, so I thought that was really important for us.”

COULD FRESHMAN BE DIFFERENCE MAKER? The hype on Georgia Tech big man Mouhamed Sylla couldn’t be higher with the basketball season less than a week away. Sylla was recognized as one of the top ACC freshmen heading into the season. He was ranked No.6 by Field Of 68 (under ON3), just behind Duke Cameron Boozer, Louisville Mikel Brown Jr, Virginia Tech Neoklis Avdalas, Virginia Thijs De Ridder, and North Carolina Caleb Wilson.

Coach Damon Stoudamire has already raved about his potential and how good he can be throughout the preseason. He believes he can be a true difference maker for the Yellow Jackets in 2025.

“You know, Mo has become Mo, and I think that I’m excited for people to see him. I think that he’ll be good as advertised. Putting a lot of pressure on him, but you know, it just is what it is. I think that, you know, he runs with the best of them. He’s probably the fastest guy on my team in the end. You know, he can really score it, and he has a lot of room for growth, and that’s the biggest thing that excites me,” said Stoudamire.

“On the defensive end, he can switch one through five. A really strong guy, has a great presence, but you know, the one thing that he’s given us that we just haven’t had here since I’ve been here is he’s he he’s literally a back-to-the-basket guy. So, you got a guy where, you know, you don’t have to settle for long shots all the time. He’ll allow Baye Ndongo to run free. That’s what I’m excited about because you can’t keep two bigs off the glass like that. You know, you got to go account for one of them, then you know, the other one’s running free. So, I’m really excited about that. He’s been really good, and the biggest thing is he’s coachable.”

BROTHERHOOD WITH AN IMPACT: “Brotherhood.”

That was a word senior guard CJ Gunn used when talking about his relationship with NJ Benson and Layden Blocker.

“We know how to get underneath each other’s skins, we know how to push those buttons we need in order to be great,” Gunn said. “We do a great job at that, but also maintaining that love and that brotherhood that we built from the jump.”

Benson, on the other hand, describes their relationship a bit differently.

DRAKE WINS CONTROLLED SCRIMMAGE: In college basketball fandom, there’s rarely much room for nuance when it comes to winning or losing.

During the regular season, results are black and white. But in the preseason, especially in a scrimmage like the one the Wichita State and Drake men’s basketball teams played Oct. 11at Koch Arena, deciding who won is a little more complicated.

Neither Paul Mills nor Eric Henderson treated the nearly three-hour affair as a real game. Fans might be curious about the final score, but both coaches were more interested in experimenting with lineups than chasing points.

The format only added to the uncertainty. The teams played two 20-minute scrimmages back-to-back, but the score reset after the first. Each side approached the sessions differently — Drake used its starters throughout the first, while WSU experimented with bench lineups and fell 39-24. When the Shockers countered with their regular rotation in the second, they handled Drake’s reserves 38-30.

On paper, Drake held the edge, 69-62, though WSU dominated the controlled offense-defense-offense segment, 31-20, when both teams mixed lineups evenly. In truth, the result mattered little to either coach. Saturday, they agreed, was more about learning than winning.