Men's Basketball Set for Opening Week

Starting Five

Kansas City enters a new era of men's basketball with Marvin Menzies at the helm on Monday, taking on Lincoln before a road trip for first-ever meetings with Power Five programs LSU and Illinois.
The Roos' roster will have a fresh look to it, with just four players returning from the 2021-22 year. Menzies brings in a recruiting class of 14 players, consisting of three transfers and 11 incoming freshmen.
Senior guards Anderson Kopp and Shemarri Allen will be looked to as steady returning presences on the court. The duo combined for 33 starts last season, averaging 8.3 and 4.8 points, respectively.
Graduate transfer guard RayQuawndis Mitchell will also be an impact player right away for Kansas City. The UIC transfer appeared in 16 games for the Flames in 2020-21, averaging 8.3 points and 2.9 rebounds.
Since 2012-13, the Roos are 3-7 in season openers, with the last win coming in the form of a 105-35 win over Culver-Stockton in 2020-21. In the same time span, KC has compiled an 11-19 record in the first three games of the season.

Lincoln Notes

Lincoln looks to improve upon last year's 4-23 record in Jimmy Drew's second year as head coach.
Monday's game will count as an exhibition game for the Blue Tigers, who will make their official season opener on Nov. 14 against William Woods.
Tre'vion Crawford was the only Blue Tiger to average double-digit scoring last year, but only played in four games.
The only other returning players for Lincoln are Sai Witt and Richard Craddock, neither of whom saw the court last year.

LSU Notes

LSU enters a new era as well, with Head Coach Matt McMahon taking the reins after seven years at Murray State.
Wednesday's matchup will be the season opener for the Tigers.
Last year, LSU went 22-12 and made the SEC Quarterfinals before falling in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament to Iowa State.
Murray State transfer KJ Williams will was named All-SEC Preseason Second Team after averaging 18.0 points and 8.4 rebounds for the Racers last season.

Illinois Notes

Illinois Head Coach Brad Underwood enters his sixth year with the Illini after winning 20-plus games in each of the past three years and winning the Big Ten regular season title last season.
The Illini will host Eastern Illinois for their season opener on Monday before welcoming KC to town on Friday.
Illinois loses each of its top-four leading scorers from last year's team, including First Team All-American Kofi Cockburn.
The Illini are still ranked 23rd in the preseason Associated Press poll, thanks in large part to the addition of Texas Tech transfer Terrence Shannon Jr., who averaged 10.4 points and 2.6 rebounds for the Red Raiders last year and was named to the Jerry West Award Watch List.

Marvelous Resume

Head Coach Marvin Menzies enters his tenure at Kansas City as the most decorated incoming coach in program history.
Entering the season with 12 years of DI head coaching experience and 246 wins to his name, Menzies is no stranger to success.
During his time at New Mexico State, he won three WAC regular season championships.
He also won the WAC tournament championship and qualified for the NCAA Tournament five times, in 2010, and 2012-15. He was named WAC Coach of the Year in 2015.
During his stint at UNLV, Menzies improved the Runnin' Rebels' final spot in the Mountain West standings each year.

International Flair

The Roos are global this year, rostering eight international student-athletes from five different countries.
Only California Baptist has more international players on roster, with nine.
The Roos are tied with Dayton, Hawaii and Utah State for the most countries represented, with five.
Including English, KC's roster can speak 12 different languages. Among the 12 are Arabic, Swahili, Lingala and Wolof.

Fresh(man) Faces

In the era of the transfer portal, Kansas City welcomes 11 freshmen to campus this year.
That mark is tied for the third-most in the NCAA this season, behind Arizona (13) and Dayton (12) and tied with Air Force.
In addition, the Roos' mark of 14 overall newcomers to the roster is tied with Portland and UT Martin for the most in the NCAA this year.
KC's 11 freshmen is the program's most since at least the 2002-03 season.

Big and Tall

The Roos have a distinct size difference from years previous on the roster this year.
KC has four players (Precious and Promise Idiaru, Sidy Diallo and Jeff Ngandu) on roster that are listed at 6'9 or taller.
Last year, the Roos had just two players touch that height, and the pair combined for 34 total minutes played on the season.
The last time Kansas City has four-or-more players standing 6'9 or taller was in 2006-07, when the Roos had five such players.

Family Ties

Kansas City has two sets of brothers on roster this season.
Precious and Promise C. Idiaru are twins, hail from Speyer, Germany and played a year of prep ball at LA Premier Prep.
Allen David and Logan Mukeba are also brothers. Both were born in Charleroi, Belgium to parents Yvonne and David. Logan is a true freshman, while Allen David spent a year at Colby Community College in Kansas.
Despite sharing a last name and hailing from Dakar, Senegal, Babacar and Sidy Diallo are unrelated.
Freshman Abdullah Olajuwon comes from royal basketball blood, as his father Hakeem was an NBA MVP and two-time NBA Champion.

University of Missouri Kansas City Athletics