Men's Basketball Sets 2019-2020 Slate

Men's Basketball Sets 2019-2020 Slate

The Great Lakes Christian College Men's Basketball Program announced it's 2019-2020 schedule Monday morning, as the Crusaders will host 10 games at the Doty Center this coming season. The Crusaders are coming off the best year in program history going 21-12, finishing ranked #2 in the country after losing to Grace Christian University in overtime of the national championship game 84-83. The Men's Basketball program is looking to build off the success from last season, and will be challenged early and often with the slate they have this season.

The Crusaders open their season on Saturday October 26th at 7:00pm against Asbury University at the Doty Center. Asbury University is coming off a 20 win season and finished the season receiving votes in the NAIA top 25 poll. The Crusaders schedule doesn't get any easier as the blue and white will be on the road 12 of 15 games before break. The Crusaders will also have home games against perennial NAIA DI power William Penn University on November 1st and will host WHAC member Concordia University Ann Arbor after Thanksgiving on November 30th.

GLCC Men's team is taking part of Defiance College Annual Purple and Gold Tournament where the Crusaders will take on Olivet College in the opening game of the tournament. The Crusaders will also travel to Iowa in the middle of November to take on high scoring Grinnell College and will end the weekend in Iowa taking on William Penn for the second time in the season. Continuing their typical travel schedule the men's team will travel to Takoma Park, MD to take part of Washington Adventist's MLK classic on January 10th and 11th. 

 

The Crusaders first rematch against Grace Christian will come in January as the Crusaders and Tigers will battle at the Little Caesars Arena again this season. The date is still to be determined, as the NBA schedule for 19-20 needs to be released before the date is official. GLCC will also travel to Grace on February 11th with tipoff scheduled for 7:00pm.

 

Schedule Notes:

  • Crusaders will take on 12 scholarship schools (NAIA/D2) this coming season, including games against Northwood University and Davenport University
  • GLCC will have 12 NCCAA opponents including: Welch College, Boyce College, Grace Christian, Moody Bible, Maranatha Baptist, Campbellsville Harrodsburg, and Simmons College of KY
  • GLCC will also take on 4 NCAA DIII opponents and 4 USCAA opponents
  • Crusaders schedule breakdown is: 10 home games, 7 neutral site games, 15 true road games

 

Questions with Coach:

 

How do you feel about the schedule your program has this year?

"I think this schedule will challenges us especially early. We are on the road a ton in the first semester. We have so many quality opponents that we really will need to be locked in. Winning on the road is hard enough, but then to have the quality of schedule we have this year I think this will really challenge our group. We were intentional this year in finding games that would push our guys to see where we are at."

 

What are expectations this year for your program?

"We bring a lot of pieces back and have what I think to be an ELITE incoming recruiting class, so I think naturally expectations are high. I don't think we will be surprising anyone this year, but our goals remain the same. We want to change our best and compete at a high level daily. We know if we can do those things winning takes care of itself. I think the biggest challenge for our group is how do we handle expectations this year. It's new waters for us but if you want to be an ELITE program you have to be able to handle success, and also not become complacent because of what we did last year. I believe the leaders on our team understand that and are hungry to show that we have more to prove.

 

How excited are you for this season?

I am very excited. We have a really talented group. I really believe this team has the ability to be very special. It will be a fun group to coach.

 

Can we expect the same brand of basketball this coming season?

We are who we are. We're going to attack people offensively and defensively. We have more length and athleticism this year than we did the last season so I am excited to have some different lineup possibilities, but who we are at our core won't change. We're going to enjoy playing basketball and play a fun brand that people will be entertained with.

 

Check out the full schedule here