Basketball season is underway at California University of Pennsylvania. While the women’s team is known for securing plenty of PSAC titles, the men’s team looking toward a new season under brand new head coach Kent McBride.
McBride has plenty of success. He won the Mountain East Conference last season with Concord, where he coached for the last five seasons. McBride was hired by Cal U in July and was quickly put to work, as he was sent right into the recruiting process.
McBride had a lot of holes to fill. He only had five players on the roster in Luka Andjusic, Nick Miller, Cordell Smith, Tony Richardson and Daniel Sapp.
McBride found himself a few transfer students in Robel Teckle, Rashawn Browne, Jay Tucker, and Michael Stevenson. He also found three freshman in Jacob Thibodeau, Ramon Creighton and Jordan Gessner.
The Vulcans are a brand new team with a brand new coach. With that, it takes time to find team chemistry on and off the court. The Vulcans aren’t looking for immediate success, with just wins. The team, especially Coach McBride, knows that it will take time.
“Our goal every season is to be as good as this team can be,” McBride said. “If that’s good enough to win a national championship, then great. All we can do is maximize our level. That’s what our goal is. The way we do that is attacking practice like it’s a game.”
The Vulcans opened up their season with the Virginia State Trojan Tip-Off Classic tournament. The Vulcans opened up their first game against Virginia State with a 78-53 loss. However, the team rebounded and put up a win against St. Augustine’s, with a final score of 71-69.
In their regular season, the Vulcans have dropped their most recent three games, but won their home opener against Davis & Elkins in a 100-92 overtime win. Against Kutztown, Cal U fell 80-65 and against Mansfield the Vulcans lost 73-70. Against Ashland, the Vulcans fell 80-67.
The Vulcans are clearly a much different team under McBride than they were under former head coach Bill Brown. The team has plenty of new players and a younger approach to a new season. The Vulcan’s next home game will be against Cheyney on Dec. 3 at the Convocation Center. Before Cheyney, the Vulcans will face Davis & Elkins on No. 30.