The Prairie View A&M University men's basketball team will open the 2018-19 season on the road Friday at Santa Clara.
 
Tipoff for the game is at 9 p.m. CT, with links to watch live and get live stats available at pvpanthers.com.
 
Byron Smith enters his third full season as head coach, as PVAMU is coming off a 16-18 season, including a 12-6 mark in SWAC play. The Panthers' win total was the highest since the 2009-10 season.
 
"Preseason practice went great for us," Smith said. "It's one of the best ones I've been associated with. I've been pleased with these past six weeks in terms of the strength and conditioning, working hard on the court, and our accountability. The effort has been great, and the attitude has been unbelievable. We feel good about the upcoming year and opening the season."
 
Gary Blackston, Dennis Jones, and Iwin Ellis are the top returners for the Panthers. Blackston (G; 6-2, 185; Sr., Baltimore, MD/Angelina CC) was a second-team All-SWAC selection last year and a second-team preseason All-SWAC selection this year. He led the conference in scoring at 19.5 points per game, and was also fifth in assists (3.5/gm), fifth in steals (1.5/gm), ninth in FG% (43.9%), t-13^th in rebounds, (5.3/gm), and t-14^th in FT% (71.9%). He had 17 games of 20+ points and scored in double figures in 29 of 33 games last season, including twice scoring 32 points (at Alabama A&M, vs. Texas Southern).
 
Jones (G; 6-1, 170; Sr., Fort Worth, Texas / Platt JC) led the SWAC in assists last season with 5.2 per game while averaging 12.5 points per game (14^th/SWAC), 1.9 steals (4^th/SWAC). He had 23 double-digit scoring games last season and 19 games with five or more assists, including a career-high 14 vs. Alcorn in the SWAC Tournament win vs. Alcorn.
 
Ellis (F; 6-7, 205, Sr., Fort Worth, Texas / Southwestern Christian College) was primarily a defensive force for Prairie View A&M and is the only returning player to play in every game last season.
 
Among the newcomers, Gerard Andrus, Devonte Patterson, and Taishaun Johnson are expected to be in the starting lineup. Andrus (G; 6-5, 192; Jr., Lafayette, La.) averaged 26.0 points and 8.9 rebounds per game last year at Feather River CC. Patterson (F, 6-7, 205; Jr., Bridgeport, La. /Ranger College) averaged just under 11 points and four rebounds last season. Johnson (G; 6-0, 176; Sr., Indianapolis, Ind. / Kent St.) is a graduate transfer.
 
"I think everyone in the country is kind of dealing with that right now, obviously some more than others in terms of numbers," said Smith of the establishing chemistry with 12 newcomers on the team. "That's where your culture kicks in, and we've been working really hard at establishing our culture. Our returning players have been good about that, talking about the do's and don'ts to get acclimated to our program. The effort has been unquestioned each day. The other part is learning what we do, and we have pretty good basketball IQ with the new guys as well as our returners. It's been a very smooth transition. Now it's just about execution night in and night out."
 
Santa Clara (11-20, 8-10) finished seventh in the West Coast Conference last season. Guard KJ Feagin, and forwards Henrik Jadersten and Josip Vrankic are the only returning rotational players. Feagin, a three-year starter, is a two-time All-West Coast Conference selection who averaged 17.5 points per game (fifth in the league) and 4.0 assists pg (ninth in the league) in 2017-18. Jadersten has appeared in 84 career games and Vrankic was one of the more productive freshmen in the WCC during 2017-18, ranking third on the team in both scoring (10.4 ppg) and rebounding (4.6 pg).
 
"They have a heck of a coach in Herb Sendik who should be in the mix for the Hall of Fame," said Smith of his coaching counterpart Friday night. "He's been a part of great programs at Miami (Oh.), North Carolina State and Arizona State. They'll be well prepared. They've got experience, guys that can really shoot the basketball, and about six guys that can stretch the floor. We'll have our work cut out for us on the defensive end. They have a really good shooting basketball team."
 

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