Men's Basketball Season Preview

Tuesday, November 9

Providence, R.I.

7:00 PM

Brown University

Salve Regina

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11/9/2021 9:28:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Season Opener

The Brown men's basketball team will take the court for the first time since March 7, 2020, or 611 days, when it begins the 2021-22 season at home against Salve Regina this Tuesday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m.

The Bears in Seahawks last faced off in 2018 when Brown claimed a 96-64 victory.
Tamenang Choh led Brown with 13 points in that game. Jaylan Gainey and David Mitchell each chipped in four.
Brown used a 50-28 halftime advantage to set the tone and keep the game out of doubt for the remainder.
This season, Salve Regina is 0-1 with a 75-64 loss to Eastern Nazarene to kick things off last Saturday, Nov. 6.
Cameron Collins led the Seahawks with 20 points and seven rebounds.

Head Coach Mike Martin on the season-opener:

"It's with great enthusiasm that we look forward to beginning this season tomorrow night against Salve Regina," Martin said. "They have three terrific seniors, two of which are actually grad students, Cameron Collins, Mikey Spencer, and Kevin Kelly. They have all been huge scorers for them through their careers. We expect them to give us everything we can handle.

"We're excited. We've prepared hard for this. Our players are chomping at the bit to get back in front of our fans. We are really looking forward to it."

Season Overview

Martin and the Bears have packed plenty of challenging games into the early part of their schedule to make sure they are battle-tested and ready to go by the time Ivy League play rolls around in January.

After Salver Regina, Brown will travel down to No. 19 North Carolina to play some of the nation's best this Friday, Nov. 12 at 9 p.m. Other notable nonconference matchups include the Paradise Jam tournament in the U.S. Virgin Islands beginning on Friday, Nov. 19. The Bears will start the event with Creighton that Friday and will play three more games before the weekend is over. Potential other opponents that weekend include Bradley, Colorado State, Northeastern, Duquesne, Southern Illinois, and Colorado.

Other games of note include Bryant (Nov. 26), Rhode Island (Dec. 22), and Maryland (Dec. 30).

Ivy League play starts for the Bears on Jan. 2 at Penn. Brown plays five of its first six conference games on the road, before playing six of the final eight at home. The final game of the regular season will be at Yale on March 5.

The four-team Ivy League Tournament will be played from March 11-13 in Cambridge, Mass.

Preseason Expectations

The results of the 2021 Ivy League Men's Basketball Preseason Poll was a perfect example of what should be expected this season – parity. Five of the league's eight teams received at least two first-place votes.

Brown was picked to finish fifth with a total of 79 points, and two first-place votes, finishing 36 points ahead of sixth-place Dartmouth. The full results can be seen below.

2021-22 Men's Basketball Preseason Poll (First Place Votes)
1. Yale – 115 (7)
2. Harvard – 110 (4)
3. Princeton – 108 (2)
4. Penn – 93 (2)
5. Brown – 79 (2)
6. Dartmouth – 43
7. Cornell – 39
8. Columbia – 25

Brown Bear Captains

This season, Tamenang Choh and David Mitchell will serve as the team's captains for the second time after being named co-captains in 2019-20.

Choh, a two-time second team All-Ivy selection, is the team's top returning scorer after averaging 13.2 points per game in 2019-20. His 8.1 rebounds per game were a team high.

"I've always wanted to win here," Choh said in reference to his decision to return this season as a graduate student. "Finish what I've started. That was always the goal. So, it wasn't hard for me to make the decision to come back and try and get that banner on the wall."

Mitchell played big minutes off the bench in 2019-20 and shot 40.2% from the field. He really made his mark on the defensive end of the court, often drawing the opposing team's top offensive threat.

Together, Choh and Mitchell will look to lead a talented mix of returning players and first-time Bears.

Newcomers

Speaking of those first-time Bears, 10 of the 17 on the roster will be putting on a Brown jersey for the first time. Newcomers by class are as follows:

Freshmen: Lyndel Erold, Kino Lilly Jr., Aaron Cooley, Nana Owusu-Anane, Sam Klores

Sophomores: Malachi Ndur, Kimo Ferrari, Feliz Kloman

Transfers: Senior Noah Meren, junior Paxson Wojcik

Meren comes to Brown from Skidmore where he was an All-Liberty League First Team selection in 2018-19. He led Skidmore with 21.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. As a freshman, he was named to the Liberty League All-Rookie Team.

Wojcik appeared in 45 games in two seasons while at Loyola Chicago. There, he shot 51% from the field and 41% from beyond the arc. Wojcik figures to be a big part of the Brown offensive attacked this season.