The Matchup
The Leopards will have their hands full with a team that reached the Elite Eight a season ago, opening the Mike Jordan Era at Miami to start the 2022-23 season. 

LAST MEETING
You'll have to go back to the 2006-07 season for the last time the Leopards traveled to Miami, a 98-66 defeat. Lafayette is just 1-4 in a short history against the Hurricanes with the lone win coming during the 1990-91 season under head coach John Leone. 

THAT MIKE JORDAN
For the first time in 27 seasons, the Leopards will have a new leader roaming the sidelines in 2000 Penn graduate Mike Jordan, the 19th head coach in Lafayette history. Jordan won three conference championships in the last four seasons as an assistant coach and was named head coach of the Leoaprds on March 29, 2022.

Jordan played 11 seasons professionally across Europe and was a three-time All-Ivy League selection, two-time Ivy League champion and Ivy League Player of the Year as a senior. 

LEADING THE NATION
Lafayette returns Patriot League All-Rookie performer CJ Fulton who led all of Division I in 2021-22 in assist/turnover ratio, carrying a 3.67 average as a freshman. Fulton averaged 7.3 points per game with 3.9 boards and 3.3 assists. 

STARTING FAST
There won't be any easing in to the 2022-23 season as the Leopards play 11 of their 13 non-conference games on the road, including trips to
Miami, St. John's, St. Joe's, Penn State, Princeton and La Salle. 

LAFAYETTE AGAINST THE ACC
This season marks the second-straight year the Leopards are opening the season at an ACC opponent, taking on Syracuse to begin the 2021-22 campaign while also playing at Duke. 

BATTLING BUDDIES
Mike Jordan will take his Leopards to take on some old pals along the way, highlighted by the final non-conference test at La Salle against his college head coach, Fran Dunphy who is also in his first season as the head coach of the Explorers. 

Lafayette hosts Jordan's alma mater Penn for the home opener on Nov. 22 and will also play his former boss and college teammate Matt Langel of Colgate twice in the League schedule. 

THE PORTAL
Two student-athletes made their way to College Hill after playing 2021-22 for other institutions in sophomore seven-footer Justin Vander Baan (Boston College) and a sophomore guard TJ Berger (San Diego). 

On the flipside, the Leopards will watch last year's point guard Tyrone Perry play for Tennessee Tech (graduate transfer) and leading scorer Neal Quinn play for Richmond. 

KNOCKING DOWN THE THREE BALL
Lafayette ranked second in the Patriot League last season with 263 three-point shots made. The Leopards will bring back some firepower from beyond the arc with senior Leo O'Boyle who knocked down 56 shots from three, sophomore Jon Brantley (44), and sophomore Kyle Jenkins (41). 

The Leopards averaged 8.8 three-pointers made per game a season ago.  During their game against NJIT,  Lafayette knocked down 16 shots from beyond the arc during a 90-86 loss in double overtime.

THE RETURNING STARTERS
Three of the Leopard's starters from last season are back, led by Patriot League All-Rookie performer CJ Fulton. Senior Leo O'Boyle will provide senior leadership for the Leopards, along with his 112 career 3-point field goals entering the season. Junior Kyle Jenkins has valuable experience having started in 35 of the 44 games he has appeared in during his career. 

TAKING CARE OF THE ROCK
The Leopards ranked 19th in the NCAA during the 2021-22 season in assist/turnover ratio at 1.46. Lafayette recorded 485 assists compared to only 333 turnovers over the course of 30 games. The Leopards also ranked second in the Patriot League.

NEW FACES
Lafayette will add four freshman to the roster for the new season in Josh Rivera, Kyle Squires, Gavin Kreitz and Ryan Petit. The new class will hope to follow in the footsteps of sophomore guard C.J. Fulton, who was selected to the Patriot League All-Rookie Team a season ago. 

Lafayette has had at least one player on the Patriot League All-Rookie team in each of the last three seasons.

The Leopards expect big things from freshman Josh Rivera who came from the N.J. basketball powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas before transferring to Putnam Science Academy for his final year of high school. Rivera averaged 16.0 ppg. and 10.0 rpg. during his three season at St. Thomas Aquinas.

INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR
The Leopards have historically featured international talent throughout the years, and the 2022-23 Leopards are no exception with sophomore CJ Fulton (Ireland) on the roster. Fulton competed in this past summer's 2021 FIBA Small Country Games and helped Ireland capture the gold medal.  

The roster also includes sophomore Chris Rubayo who played with Puerto Rico in the FIBA U19 World Cup prior to his time on College Hill and junior Ryan Zambie who received an invite to join the Lebanese Basketball Federation men's national team in the qualifying rounds for the FIBA 2021 World Cup. 

EXPERIENCED COACHING STAFF
Lafayette enters the new season with an entirely new coaching staff that includes associate head coach Mike McGarvey. McGarvey's most recent coaching stop was spent at Lycoming College as the head coach over the last four years which included three-straight MAC Conference Championship games, including two conference crowns. 

McGarvey spent his college days playing at Ursinus where he was a finalist for the Josten's trophy, along with two-time All-American honors, and two-time Centennial Conference Player of The Year. On Dec. 1, 2010, Ursinus retired McGarvey's No. 11 Jersey, honoring a career which included three conference championships. 

FAMILIAR FOES
Lafayette has played 870 games against current Patriot League members, holding a 449-421 overall record. In League play, Lafayette is 198-270 in the regular season and 23-28 in the Patriot League Tournament.

RETIRING WITH A RECORD
With the win over American on March 11, 2015, Lafayette head coach Fran O'Hanlon passed Pat Flannery (Bucknell, 1995-2008) for the top spot in all-time tournament wins with 20. O'Hanlon finished with 22 tournament victories and also holds the record for most tournament games coached at 45. 

O'Hanlon  hands over the reigns to Mike Jordan after 27 years as head coach. He is known for his dedication and commitment to the sport of basketball, O'Hanlon the winningest coach in Lafayette and Patriot League history with 362 career wins. 

G LEAGUE JAWS
Justin Jaworski '21 led the Patriot League in scoring two seasons ago, and was the back-to-back Patriot League Scholar Athlete of the Year. He's playing for the NBA G League OKC Blue, the affiliate of the Oklahoma City Thunder and has appeared in 27 games, averaging 9.8 points, 1.7 assists, and 3.0 rebounds per contest.