By: By Joseph Feldman
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KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State men's basketball team is set to host West Georgia this Sunday, November 5 at 4:30 p.m. in the KSU Convocation Center in an exhibition.
It will be a double header with the women's basketball team taking on Thomas at 2 p.m. before the men take the floor for their game.
Admission is free and season ticket holders can pickup their tickets beginning at 3 p.m.
Skinner Enters Third Season
Al Skinner enters his third season as head coach of Kennesaw State. Last season, the team posted the most wins KSU has ever had in the Division I era with 14 and secured its first ASUN Tournament victory at USC Upstate since 2010.
Returners
Kennesaw State returns eight letter winners from a season ago including three starters.
The three starters are
Jordan Jones,
Nick Masterson and
Kyle Clarke. Along with the returners are
James Scott. He was named to the ASUN All-Freshman team a season ago after averaging 8.5 points per game.
Newcomers
Kennesaw State welcomes two new players to the roster welcoming
Tristan Jarrett and
Bryson Lockley.
Jarrett was rated a three-star recruit on ESPN. He played at Haywood County High School and was named the 2017 All-West Tennessee Boys Basketball Player of the Year averaging 21.8 points per game and 8.6 rebounds per game to lead his team to the Region 8-AA Championship.
Lockley is originally from Houston, Texas and began his career with Santa Clara. After a redshirt season, he transferred to Panola CC. He saw action in 35 games with 11 starts at Panola.
One of the Premier Shooters in the Country
Nick Masterson was deadly from long range last season finishing second in the country with a mark of 54.1 from three-point range. He was even better in conference play making 57.1 percent of his outside shots and produced an offensive rating of 136.1.
Masterson hit a three in 29 of 31 games and hit at least two threes in all but seven games last season.
Smart Outside Shooting
Kennesaw State was very efficient shooting threes last season. The team finished second in the nation shooting 41.6 percent on three-point field goals.
Two players carried the load as Masterson and
Kendrick Ray combined to make 172 of the 206 three pointers by the team.
Great Scott
Scott came off the bench last season and was an offensive spark.
For the season overall, he averaged 8.5 points in 15.4 minutes per game. Per 40 minutes, the freshman was second on the team averaging 22.0 points per game.
He got his first career start against Stetson and came up big for Kennesaw State scoring a career high 33 points for the Owls. He was one of two freshman in the ASUN last season to score 30 points in a game.
For his play off the bench, Scott became the first KSU player to be named to the ASUN All-Freshmen Team since Delbert Love in 2010.
Success on the Road
The Owls had some success on the road last season winning six games. That was the most the team has had since KSU joined Division I. Coming down the stretch, Kennesaw State was playing really well on the road winning three of their last road games with both losses coming at FGCU.
Setting Up Their Teammates
The Owls finished second in the ASUN in assists per game averaging 15.8.
KSU had 10 games last season with at least 19 assists. Their highest output came against North Florida, when the team totaled 27 assists on 35 field goals.
Overall conference play, Kennesaw State leads the ASUN in assist to turnover ratio at 1.3 as they average the 16.1 assists per game and 12.3 turnovers per game.
To keep up with the latest Kennesaw State men's basketball news follow the team on Twitter
@KSUOwlNation and
@KSUOwlsMBB or by liking Kennesaw State University on
Facebook.
- #GoKSUOwls -
