The Kent State men’s basketball team is gearing up for summer workouts that have begun this week. Team 109 begins their quest for a MAC Championship with a different looking roster in 2024-2025. Let’s take a brief look back to the 2023-2024 season, while also looking ahead.
2023-2024: 17-17 overall, 8-10 MAC (Lost in MAC Championship Game)
Who’s Out: Giovani Santiago, Chris Payton, Julius Rollins, Reggie Bass, Tyem Freeman, Jalen Sullinger, LA Hayes
Who’s In: Cian Medley, Jamal Sumlin, Morgan Safford, Marquis Barnett, Anthony Morales, Jonas Nichols, Deandre Jones
Who’s Back: Von Cameron Davis, Cli’Ron Hornbeak, Rico Gillespie, Brendan Moss, Mike Bekelja, Donovan Hunter, Magnus Entemann
Rebuilding is not in the Kent State Basketball vocabulary. The Flashes haven’t had a losing season in 27 years, but came close last season, if not for a late surge through the MAC Tournament. Everyone in the MAC at the top seems to be re-loading these days, and all over college basketball. The Flashes will also have a new look roster in 2024-2025. Coach Rob Senderoff and his staff addressed deficiencies from the previous season and did their part to fortify the roster and improve on those weaknesses.
FRONTCOURT: Kent State has some veterans returning in their frontcourt for the upcoming season. Senior Von Cameron Davis put his name in the transfer portal before returning to Kent State. Davis emerged as a go to post player for the Flashes down the stretch run of the season, and into the MAC Tournament. The 6-5, 230-pound lefty from Columbus is poised for a huge fifth season in Kent. Cli’Ron Hornbeak returns for his senior season, after missing time last season due to injury. Hornbeak is a very good rim protector defensively and his back to the basket post-game has improved every year that he’s been in Kent. Both Davis and Hornbeak will be seeking their fourth straight appearance in the MAC Championship game and have played a lot of big games in their career.
6-8 Rico Gillespie should be ready to go for the season, after suffering a season ending injury last year. He is a solid backup to Hornbeak, taking strides last year in his rebounding and productivity level. 6-8 Magnus Entemann saved the Flashes last year at times. The walk on played key minutes throughout the season after injuries decimated the front court. Kent has three five men that they believe can play. Anthony Morales transferred in from from Boston University for his graduate year and at 6-8, 200 pounds, provides perimeter shooting and length defensively. 6-8 Donovan Hunter, who took off his redshirt in January is also back in a similar skill set as Morales, a 6-8 stretch four man, with the skill to play on the wing if the Flashes elect to go big. Deandre Jones, a true freshman from hoops factory Garfield Heights High School arrives with a reputation as an elite rim protector and draws comparisons to former KSU MAC Defensive Player of the Year Khaliq Spicer. With three bigs in front of him and being rail thin, Jones seems destined for a redshirt. Although as we saw in 23-24, a team is only an injury or two away from that thought being revisited.
BACKCOURT: The backcourt has been completely rebuilt from last season. Starting at point guard, Cian Medley (transfer from Saint Louis) and Jamal Sumlin (JUCO transfer) will vie for time at the lead guard. Gone are Santiago and Sullinger, who had the ball the majority of the time last year. Kent State will ask Medley and Sumlin to defend and distribute. Marquis Barnett, a transfer from Presbyterian College comes to the Flashes after averaging over 16 a game last year in the Big South. Barnett is a 6-4 tough guard that can defend, get to the basket and he continues to get better after a stellar senior season at Brunswick High School into his college experience. Morgan Safford sat out last season after transferring from Miami (OH). After starting his career at Wofford, Safford is a skilled 6-4 guard who can do a little bit of everything. In 2022-2023 Safford was arguably Miami’s best player. He’ll spend his graduate year trying to lead the Flashes back to the NCAA Tournament.
Mike Bekelja is back for his senior year after a solid season last year. Bekelja’s spot in the rotation was earned during the start of league play. Senderoff raved all season about the hustle and intangible plays he made. Bekelja hit some big shots for the Flashes in their MAC Tournament run, but really made his mark on defense, emerging as KSU’s top perimeter defender. He will have help this year as Barnett and Safford are both capable of defending big wings and scoring guards. Brenden Moss will be back from injury at some point this season. The 6-4 lefty from Minnesota showed promise last year as a combo guard before being hurt in the first Toledo game. Jonas Nichols is another true freshmen from Hoban High, who at 6-4 is a typical Kent guard, capable of playing multiple spots and is skilled, competitive and comes from a winning program. The common theme with the guards is size, length, versatility and defensive willingness, want to and ability, along with an ability to draw contact and play in the paint.
OVERVIEW: Kent State had deficiencies last year. Offensively, they didn’t draw enough fouls. It was the most three-point dependent team that Senderoff has had. Santiago at 6-0 tall and Sullinger around 5-10, were shooting, scoring guards, often reliant on the three ball. They didn’t draw enough fouls and didn’t have the ability to post up. Chris Payton unfortunately had a disappointing senior season. It wasn’t until later in the season the Flashes decided to play through Davis, as he continued to develop. Injuries decimated the roster unlike any time in Senderoff’s career. To their credit, no excuses were made, and it was next man up. This led to all 13 scholarship players on the roster starting at least one game, an inconsistent rotation and you weren’t sure who could be relied on. A lack of two-way players also hurt. Reggie Bass for as prolific as he was offensively at times, was a huge liability defensively. Bekelja could be counted on for defense then subbed out on offense, and so on.
Kent played two small guards in Santiago and Sullinger for 30 minutes plus a night, because they had to, they were easily two of the top five players. Not only did it lead to a lack of fouls drawn, but it also hurt them defensively. Teams with big, physical guards could drive it into the paint, post it and draw fouls. In the MAC Tournament, Kent simplified. They played slower, they played through Davis every trip and they defended better than they had all year. The pace, defense and scoring on top of the basket all went hand in hand.
The roster was addressed to bring in more physical guards with size who can defense multiple positions, draw contact on offense and have two-way ability. The point guards they brought in are more distributors and defensive minded. With guys like Morales and Hunter, Kent can pick how they wish to play, bigger or smaller. A potential starting lineup of Medley, Barnett, Safford, Davis and Hornbreak is possible, with Sumlin, Bekelja, Morales, Hunter and Gillespie fighting for time along with a healthy Moss. As we have seen through two decades of Kent State basketball, it really doesn’t matter at all who starts, the rotation, who finishes a game and what groups play best together matter a lot more.
With the pieces and the parts they have, Kent State has a chance to be elite defensively. A typical Championship level Senderoff team is elite on defense, has a back to the basket go to guy, is tough physically and mentally, and closes out games late. The Flashes will be old, Kent is set to have six seniors this year (Safford, Davis, Hornbeak, Bekelja, Morales, Barnett). Its June, but the Flashes appear to have the roster to do it. So much of coaching in college basketball nowadays is getting teams to play with cohesion, chemistry along with role acceptance and recognition. If the Flashes can come together, they will be competing with the likes of Akron, Toledo and Ohio once again.
COACHING STAFF NEWS: The program officially announced the hiring of Tommy Luce as an assistant coach. Luce comes from Purdue after a stellar career and two years as a graduate assistant coach and is expected to work with the KSU frontcourt.
“Tommy came to Kent highly recommended,” said Senderoff in a department release . “Tommy spent seven years at Purdue as a player and graduate assistant. Purdue had one of the best men’s basketball programs during that time. Tommy has worked closely with their post players and all facets of their program. I am excited to bring him along.”
Luke Trondson is back as an assistant coach after serving as a GA at Kent last year. “Luke was our graduate assistant last season and assisted with all of our video and film work,” said Senderoff. “He will continue to do that along with the day-to-day operations with our basketball program.”
CALLING ALL ALUMS: The men’s basketball alumni game is set for August 2 at 4:00pm at the MAC Center. The event ‘Hoops ‘N Hops’ will be in the evening and details on that will be released at a later date.
If you have missed any of the off-season articles that Golden Flash Report has written, please catch up down below!
Culture and Staff attract hometown Nichols to Kent State
Medley brings winning pedigree and leadership to KSU hoops
Safford brings toughness and two-way ability to Flashes
Sumlin expected to sign this week