Hear from Head Coach Chris Dial as he discusses the season: https://youtu.be/axK_ioop6vI
The men’s basketball team began its 13th year and fourth season under Head Coach Chris Dial. The Saints return to a normal schedule after a COVID-19 impacted season in 2020-2021.
2020-2021 season
The Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) was comprised of only five teams, excluding the Saints, during the shortened COVID-19 season. OLLU played a few regular-season games, plus some exhibitions. They lost to the NCAA D1 University of the Incarnate Word 71-84 and came back to defeat Texas State University – also an NCAA D1 school – 61-58. In their final game of the season, they lost to Rice University 77-80.
Returners
The Saints bring back nine returners, including eight seniors and junior Estevan Trevino (JR/San Antonio, Texas). The senior returners are Jordan Embry (SR/Paris, Texas), Charles Johnson III (SR/San Antonio, Texas), David Johnson (SR/Pflugerville, Texas), Lennox Jones (SR/Richmond, Texas), Darin Minniefield (SR/Houston, Texas), Ruben Monzon (SR/San Diego, Calif.), Joshua Williams (SR/Houston, Texas) and Marlon Williams (SR/Jacksonville, Fla.). Monzon led the team last season with 12.67 points per game and 43 total rebounds.
Newcomers
Three freshmen join the Saints for the 2021-2022 season. Tommie Law (FR/Semmes, Ala.) and Xavier Purnell (FR/Stafford, Va.) add guard depth to the roster, while 6’7″ Cedric Cook (FR/Houston, Texas) comes in as the second power forward on the team. OLLU also welcomes seven transfer athletes, including five seniors.
The group includes juniors Ellis Jones (JR/Houston, Texas) (Texas A&M University-Kingsville) and Oscar Maldonado (JR/Greeley, Colo.) (Northwest Oklahoma University). Senior transfers are Joseph Anderson (SR/Houston, Texas) (Albany University), Georges Darwiche (SR/Bucharest, Romania) (Siena College), Jamal Gaines (SR/Red Oak, Texas) (University of Texas Rio Grande Valley), Jonathan Sanchez (SR/McAllen, Texas) (Rice University) and Kesean Warren (SR/Atlanta, Ga.) (Waldorf University). Anderson, Jones and Sanchez are graduate students.
Staff
Former Saints point guard Marcus Thompson joins the staff as an assistant coach after a head coaching job at Coastal Bend College. Thompson played for OLLU from 2010-2014, and he holds the all-time NAIA record for steals in a game with 15 (2/15/14). He owns career records at OLLU for most games played (128), assists (630) and steals (315). In a season, Thompson has the best assists average (7.1 2012-2013) and most steals/average (131/4.1 2013-2014).
Dial addressed the hiring, “We couldn’t find a better person to come in and contribute to this program and culture. Coach Thompson brings a passion for basketball, and this is his home.”
The rest of the staff features assistant coaches. Fourth-year member BJ Alzaid, second-year member David Smith, second-year member Sean Patterson and third-year member Eric Bitoni will help guide the Saints.
Nonconference schedule
(Numbers after schools indicate series record.)
The Saints start the season on Oct. 30 at home against Southwestern Christian University (0-2). They travel to Arkansas shortly after to face two programs for the first time. Arkansas Baptist College hosts the Saints on Nov. 3 and Central Baptist College, who received votes in the NAIA Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, plays OLLU on Nov. 4.
Wayland Baptist University (4-2), who also received votes, comes to OLLU on Nov. 13. The Saints embark on a five-game road trip with games in Montana and Colorado next. They start with Carroll College (1-1) on Nov. 17, No. 10-ranked University of Providence (1-0) on Nov. 19, Montana State University-Northern on Nov. 20, Colorado Mesa University on Nov. 26 and Western Colorado University on Nov. 27.
OLLU plays at local NCAA D1 University of the Incarnate Word (1-2) on Dec. 1 to complete a lengthy road trip. They welcome North American University on Dec. 4 and head to NCAA D1 Lamar University on Dec. 5. The last three nonconference games are away at NCAA D1 University of Texas at San Antonio (0-1) on Dec. 22, St. Thomas University on Dec. 29 and Keiser University on Dec. 30 in Florida.
Conference schedule
The RRAC split into two divisions for the first time this season. The Saints will compete in the west division, which is comprised of Huston-Tillotson University (HTU), Paul Quinn College (PQC), the University of the Southwest (USW), Texas A&M University-Texarkana (TAMUT) and Wiley College (WC). OLLU will face these opponents twice while playing the east division programs once.
The east division includes RRAC newcomers Louisiana College (LC) and Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA). Texas College (TC), Jarvis Christian College (JCC), LSU-Alexandria (LSUA) and LSU-Shreveport (LSUS) round out the rest. The Saints were picked sixth in the RRAC Preseason Poll.
The Saints start conference play at home against HTU (19-3) on Dec. 18. OLLU goes to Louisiana a few weeks later to face LC on Jan. 6 and (RV) XULA on Jan. 8. The first homestand of the season includes games against PQC (20-2) on Jan. 13, USW (18-6) on Jan. 15, TC (16-7) on Jan. 20 and JCC (17-6) on Jan. 22.
OLLU takes a four-game road trip starting at WC (16-9) on Jan. 27, No. 17-ranked TAMUT (1-1) on Jan. 29, PQC on Feb. 3 and USW on Feb. 5. The schedule then flips to a tough four-game home series against No. 3-ranked LSUS (10-13), No. 19-ranked LSUA (2-12), WC on Feb. 17 and TAMUT on Feb. 19. The final game of the regular season is against HTU in Austin, Texas, on Feb. 22.
Fan attendance
“We bring a lot of joy and passion in what we do, and we think the fans will see that,” Dial said. Saints fans will be able to attend games in-person. Masks and social distancing are currently required. The admission price for games is $5 for adults, 12 years and older. Faculty, staff and students will receive free admission with their ID cards. The OLLU community will have the opportunity to join the OLLU Halo Club, which will include free admission to games, Saints gear, golf tournament admission and much more. Stay tuned for information that will be posted to the website and social media later this month.
Live-streaming
All Saints home games will be live-streamed at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ollusaints/. “There are some silver linings that came out of the pandemic, and that includes remote viewing and engagement,” Dial said. “We will have entire subsets and populations who are over 7,000 miles away cheering for their local athletes on the team.”