HUDSONVILLE, Mich. – The Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) men's basketball coaches have voted in the preseason poll to determine the favorite heading into the 2023-24 season. The Trine University men's basketball team was selected to finish second in the conference with one first-place vote and 13 total points.
The regular season champions from last season Calvin University were chosen as the preseason favorites by garnering all seven of the available first-place votes. Behind Trine in second were Hope College in third with 19 points, followed by Alma College (34 points), Kalamazoo College (35 points), Albion College (37 points), The University of Olivet (38 points) and Adrian College (41 points).
The Thunder had a stout record of 22-4 last season and were second in the MIAA standings with a 12-2 mark in conference play. The team would drop their MIAA Tournament Semifinal contest to the eventual tournament champions in Hope College, 67-56. 22 wins is the most in program history for a single season. They enter this season receiving votes in the D3hoops.com Preseason Top 25.
This is a Thunder team that will rely heavily on their defense. In 2022-23, Trine was ranked fourth in NCAA DIII with a scoring defense that allowed just 57.4 opponents points per game. The team defended the three-point arc well by allowing the opposition to hit just 28.2% of their shots from long range, good for 12th in NCAA DIII. They also led the conference in steals by averaging just under 10 per contest. Trine had the 23rd best turnover margin in the country one year ago.
Returning from last year's team are five players that started more than 10 games. Senior forward Brent Cox, senior forward Emmanuel Megnanglo and junior guard Aidan Smylie were each in the starting lineup for 22 or more games. Junior guards Grant Pahl and Ryan Preston each received starts in 11 games one year ago as well.
Cox became a two-time First Team All-MIAA recipient after he was third in the league in scoring last season at 17.4 points per game and his 17.7 points per game in MIAA games put him second in the conference. Cox also was named to the Third Team All-Region 7 by D3hoops.com. He scored in double figures in 25 of 26 games overall and netted a career-high 26 points versus Adrian College. Cox had a pair of double-doubles in 2022-23 and in the team's 67-64 victory at then-number three ranked University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Cox tallied 23 points to lead the squad.
Megnanglo was named Second Team All-MIAA in the 2022-23 season and is a former MIAA Defensive Player of the Year in 2020-21. He was 18th in NCAA DIII with his 67 blocked shots last season and in his career, already holds the program's NCAA DIII era record for most blocks with 147. With another season like last year, he will become the program's all-time leader in blocked shots.
Joining Cox and Megnanglo as seniors on this year's team is transfer guard Cortez Garland as well as guard Cameron Awls. The veteran presence runs deep in this year's squad with four seniors, five juniors, five sophomores and one freshman. The first men's basketball game is on Saturday, November 11 at the Lauren Hill Classic on the campus of Mount St. Joseph University where the Thunder take on Hanover College at 7 p.m.