OPENING TIP
The 2023-24 Patriot League slate opens for the Lafayette men's basketball program as the Leopards host Army on Wednesday. The Black Knights are on a two-game win streak, following victories against UTSA, 63-53, and Merchant Marine, 58-50.

Last time out, the Maroon and White fell to Richmond, 59-38 on Dec. 30, 2023. The Spiders completed a perfect 7-0 home non-conference schedule following the contest against Lafayette. Freshman Andrew Phillips finished the game with a career-high eight points. The Downingtown, Pa. native also added two rebounds and three steals in 10 minutes.

The Leopards return nine players from last season, most of whom saw significant game time in the 2022-23 winter season. Lafayette concluded 2022-23 with an 11-23 (7-11 PL) overall record and advanced to the Patriot League championship game.

Next up, Lafayette travels to Boston U. on Saturday for a 1 p.m. tip-off in Boston, Mass.

THE MATCHUP
Army finished the 2022-23 season with a 17-16 (10-8 PL) overall record, progressing to the conference semifinal round and eventually falling to top-seeded Colgate, 91-74 on March 5, 2023.

Kevin Kuwik is in his first season at the helm of the program as the 32nd head coach in the team's 121-year history. Army was selected to finish 10th in the Patriot League during the preseason poll.  Freshman forward Josh Scovens leads the squad by averaging 13.5 points per game. The Greensboro, N.C. native also records 6.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.

LAST TIME OUT
Lafayette closed out the non-conference slate with a loss at Richmond, 59-38 on Dec. 30, 2023. The Maroon and White were cold from the floor, finishing the game shooting 25 percent, including 1-of-20 from long distance against the Atlantic-10 Conference foe, which is undefeated at home through non-league play.

Richmond shot 33 percent from beyond the arc overall and held the Leopards to 0-for-19 in 3-point shots until freshman Andrew Phillips converted the lone successful long-range bucket at 2:19 in the second half. Phillips finished the game with a career-high eight points and also added two rebounds and three steals in 10 minutes.Richmond out-rebounded Lafayette 45-39, including a slim 10-9 margin on the offensive glass. 

FAMILIAR FOES
Lafayette has played 485 games against current Patriot League members. In conference play, the Leopards are 205-279 in the regular season and 25-29 in the Patriot League Tournament.

SAME STARTERS
Lafayette used the same starting lineup for the first 12 contests of the season: guards Devin Hines, Eric Sondberg and Mark Butler, forward Kyle Jenkins and center Justin Vander Baan. The first change appeared against Richmond on Dec. 30, 2023 with Ryan Pettit in for Hines at guard.

BIG BLOCKER
Junior center Justin Vander Baan blocked 31 shots (1.1 per game) last season, good for fifth in the conference. He has already reached his season block total from 2022-23 this winter (averaging 2.38 per game). The Northbridge, Mass. native continues to sit atop the Patriot League leaderboard and ranks 12th in the country for his stops. As a program, Lafayette currently ranks first in the conference in blocks per game with 4.5.

SONDBERG FROM DEEP
Senior guard Eric Sondberg is ranked fifth in the conference for his 3-pointers per game (2.31) and total 3-point FGM (30). The Davidsonville, Md. native recorded a season-high six 3-point field goals made on Dec. 5 at Columbia on 13 attempts.

RECENT RENOVATIONS
Kirby Sports Center, the Leopards' home arena, has seen major upgrades over the past fall semester. A state-of-the art Daktronics control and video display system can now be seen above center court, showcasing exciting promotional team videos and updated branding to enhance the fan experience. By featuring Daktronics' latest version of Show and Venus Control Suite, it allows Lafayette to expand on in-game presentations.

EXCELLENCE IN ACADEMICS
Lafayette's athletic programs stood out among the nation's best on Dec. 6 in the NCAA's Division I annual Graduation Success Rate (GSR) release. College Hill claimed a 98 percent GSR overall for the second straight year based on the 19 sports measured while 17 Leopard teams, including men's basketball, achieved a graduation success rate of 100 percent.

THE PORTAL
One student-athlete made his way to College Hill after playing two seasons for Eastern Michigan. Luka Savicevic is a 6-3 junior point guard from Skopje, North Macedonia. At EMU, he totaled 83 points, 41 assists, 40 rebounds and 12 steals in two seasons and was named to the Academic All-MAC team following his final season with the Eagles.

On the flipside, the Leopards will watch last year's Third Team All-Patriot League guard CJ Fulton play for the College of Charleston and second leading scorer Josh Rivera play for Fordham.

ONCE A LEOPARD
Army's current assistant coach Jarren Dyson was also an assistant coach at Lafayette under Fran O'Hanlon in 2021-22. Dyson served as the program's recruiting coordinator, who was involved in player development with perimeter players and with student-athlete academics, while also managing administrative duties and the day-to-day operations of the program.

CONFERENCE OPENERS
Lafayette is 11-22 all-time in Patriot League openers since men's basketball joined the league for the 1990-91 season. On Jan 2., 1991, the Leopards fell to Navy, 78-75, for the first contest in the new conference.

FRESH MEAT
Lafayette brings five first-year student-athletes aboard this season in Mark Butler, Joshua Wyche, Luke Rasmussen, Mike Bednostin and Andrew Phillips. All incoming players have seen the court during multiple games so far.

Butler is a four-year varsity point guard out of Philadelphia, Pa., who attended William Penn Charter School. While starting in all games of his rookie campaign so far, he has the highest scoring average out of all the Lafayette underclassmen. His career-high 15 points came against Columbia on Dec. 5.

Wyche is a three-year varsity guard/forward from Philadelphia, Pa., who attended Cristo Rey Philadelphia High School. He has seen consistent second-half minutes against each opponent.

Rasmussen, a 6-7 guard, is a Haverford, Pa. native who lists three years of basketball experience at the Hill School and the Haverford School. He averages 16.7 minutes per game, most notably 27 at Columbia, this season.

Bednostin, who attended Trinity High School and Crestwood Prep, stands in as a 6-11 center from Dillsburg, Pa./Kyiv, Ukraine. He tallied his first collegiate points in the home-opening victory versus Wilkes on Nov. 19.

Phillips is a 6-4 wing who hails from Downingtown, Pa. with three years of varsity experience at Malvern Prep. He posted a career-high eight points and added three steals in 10 minutes of play at Richmond on Dec. 30.

ONE B1G GRADUATE
Leo O'Boyle '23 entered the transfer portal following his spring undergraduate commencement date, landing on the 2023-24 Penn State University men's basketball roster as a graduate student. He made his first start for the Nittany Lions on Dec. 2 at Bucknell. During his final tour at Lafayette, he led the team in scoring with 384 points (an 11.6 ppg. average) as a co-captain. The Scranton, Pa. native netted 23 points versus American in the Patriot League championship semifinal round to reach 1,000 career points, only the 48th Leopard to do so. He left College Hill with a grand total of 1,027 points, 147 assists, 309 rebounds, 71 steals and 20 blocks.

GEARING UP FOR MCGARVEY
Mike McGarvey took over as the 20th head coach in Lafayette men's basketball history on March 29, 2023, following a one-year tenure as the associate head coach and acting head coach. Last season, he led the Leopards to Patriot League Tournament victories over Lehigh in the quarterfinal round and American in the semifinal, before falling to Colgate in the championship game.

He arrived on College Hill after a four-year tenure as the men's basketball head coach at Lycoming College where he led the program to three-straight MAC Freedom Conference championship games, including two conference crowns. McGarvey guided the Warriors to a remarkable resurgence in his second year as head coach, taking the team from a 5-11 conference record in 2018-19 to a 10-6 mark in 2019-20 while managing a roster filled with a school-record 11 freshmen.

As a player, McGarvey was a finalist in 2006 for the Jostens Trophy. He was also a consensus two-time All-American and two-time Centennial Conference Player of the Year.

Ursinus retired McGarvey's No. 11 jersey on Dec 1, 2010, honoring a career where his teams won three conference championships. He started every game of his career, and finished fourth on the school's all-time scoring chart with 1,460 points and he is still 14th in the Division III record book with 754 career assists. McGarvey holds the Centennial Conference records for career assists and steals, and single-season assists and steals. He was inducted into both the Ursinus College Hall of Fame (2016) and the Sam Cozen Philadelphia Area Small College Hall of Fame (2015).