Men's Basketball Season Preview
11/7/2022
The Brown men’s basketball team will open its 2022-23 campaign this Monday, Nov. 7 at Vermont at 7 p.m.
The Bears will be looking to open the season with a win for the third straight year, having defeated Salve Regina to open last season and Bryant the campaign before.
This year’s Brown squad is a solid mix of familiar faces and newcomers, both on the roster and the coaching staff.
A closer look at the makeup of this Bears team, important notes for the season, and a preview of their opening matchup against the Catamounts can be found below.
Returners
In total, this team returns 11 players from last year’s iteration, including three with starting experience. Reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year Kino Lilly Jr. started eight of the final nine games last season and 10 in total. Paxson Wojcik started all 27 games in which he played, while Dan Friday made 21 starts last season.
Lilly’s freshman campaign was one for the record books as he led the team in made threes (73), three-point percentage (39.9), and steals (37), and was second in points (13.3) and assists (70). All five marks were in the top ten in the Ivy League as well. His 387 total points were the third most by a freshman in program history and his 73 threes were tied for fifth most by any player to wear a Brown uniform.
Wojcik, in his first season with the team after transferring from Loyola Chicago, made an immediate impact. He was one of just two players on the team to start in every game they played and posted 9.6 points per game, good for third on the team. He was second on the team with 38 made threes and contributed 3.0 rebounds per game as well.
Friday played in 25 games, starting 21. He was, and is expected to be again, a physical presence on the floor for the Bears. He averaged 8.6 points, 2.2. rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game and was second on the team with 29 steals.
Other returners who saw big minutes last year include Nana Owusu-Anane, Perry Cowan, and Kimo Ferrari. Fans can expect to see expanded roles for Aaron Cooley, Malachi Ndur, Felix Kloman, Lyndel Erold, and Sam Klores.
Newcomers
The Bears bring in four talented freshmen to complement their returners this season. The class is made up of Kalu Anya, Drew Kania, AJ Lesburt Jr., and Landon Lewis.
“Each of these four will have the opportunity to contribute and will enhance the culture of Brown Basketball,” Brown Basketball Head Coaching Chair Mike Martin ‘04 said back when the class was announced in June. “We feel as though we have added positional versatility, good athleticism, and a strong combination of skill and size with these newcomers.”
Anya was the lone freshman to see minutes in the team’s exhibition against New Haven last week. He played 15 minutes off the bench and posted 10 points and four rebounds.
Coaching Staff
Mike Martin ‘04 returns for his 10th season at the helm of the Bears. He has guided Brown to double-digit wins in each of the last five seasons, just the fourth time that has been done in program history. His 48 wins over the last three seasons are the second most in any three-year stretch in Brown Basketball history, second only to the 49 victories the Glen Miller-led Bears posted from 2000-03.
T.J. Sorrentine returns for his 15th season with the Bears and his 12th as associate head coach. A member of the New England Basketball Hall of Fame, the Bears will open the season at Sorrentine’s alma mater, where he is also a member of the University of Vermont Hall of Fame.
Sam Hershberger enters his fourth season with the Bears and first as assistant coach after serving as operations coordinator for the last three.
Tyson Wheeler is one of the two new additions to the staff. He joins Brown as an assistant coach after three seasons at UMass and eight at Fairfield.
Sydney Armand rounds out the staff as the operations coordinator.
The Martin File
Martin enters his 10th season leading the charge for the Bears. It is 11th year with the team, but due to the COVID-19 canceled 2020-21 campaign, just his 10th season.
His 10 seasons at the helm are tied for the second most of any coaching in program history. Michael Cingiser also coached for 10 years, while Stanley Ward led the Bears for 15 seasons from 1954-69.
Martin is just 13 wins away from becoming the winningest head coach in program history. He currently sits at 121 career wins, with Ward just ahead of him at 133. The Bears have won at least 13 games in three straight seasons and in four of the last five.
Previewing the Catamounts Matchup
Last season, Brown and Vermont played to a 70-65 Catamount victory. It was a close game throughout, but the Bears trailed for the majority. After a three by Ferrari, a three-point play by Wojcik, and a pair of free throws from Tamenang Choh, Brown took the 65-64 lead with just 50 seconds remaining.
Unfortunately for the Bears, the Catamounts closed the game with six straight free throws to claim the victory.
Vermont returns just one member of its starting five from last season, Finn Sullivan. The fifth year started 23 of the team’s 32 games while averaging 7.2 points and 3.3 rebounds per contest.
Overall, the Catamounts feature four newcomers in their freshman class to go along with 11 returners. Seven of those 11 are either seniors, fifth years, or grad students.
This is the fourth meeting all time between Brown and Vermont, with the Bears holding the 2-1 edge in the first three matchups.
The Bears won the first meeting in 1970 and then again in 2001, but the Catamounts took last year’s contest, the only between the two teams in the last 20 years.
