RU basketball tickets
The 2018-19 season produced more historic performances from the Radford men’s and women’s basketball teams. Women’s NCAA Tournament appearance, back-to-back Big South Championship game appearances, 48 combined wins, Power-5 victories, Top-25 upsets and votes in the AP Poll for the first time in school history, it will go down as one for most successful combined basketball seasons in program history.
Season tickets for the 2019-20 Radford men’s and women’s basketball campaigns are on sale now through RadfordTickets.com or by calling the ticket office at 831-7889.
RU gains Rider transfer
Radford University men’s basketball head coach Mike Jones announced the addition of graduate transfer Devine Eke to the 2019-20 roster on Tuesday afternoon.
Eke is a versatile 6-8 forward transferring from Rider and is eligible to play immediately for one year.
The Plainfield, N.J., native competed in 62 games in two seasons at Rider and averaged 10.5 minutes per game. He made the most of his minutes by shooting 65 percent from the floor and totaled 2.2 boards per outing. Eke made his presence known on the defensive side of the ball with 35 career blocks, including 25 last season.
Eke joins a group of five talented newcomers that will mix into a star-studded lineup of players for the Highlanders who have reached the Big South Tournament championship game in back-to-back seasons.
Radford also gets the help of Lewis Djonkam, a redshirt junior center who transferred from VCU a year ago and had to sit out the 2018-19 season due to NCAA transfer rules.
BC players in senior classic
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announced the rosters for both east and west teams for the inaugural Senior Football Classic, set to be held on December 14 in Savannah, Ga. and Bluefield College’s Tyrice Henry and Logan Hinnant are among the 116 seniors from around the country representing 42 schools were chosen to take to the gridiron to play in front of fans and pro scouts alike.
Nichols associate head coach
Roanoke College Head Women’s Basketball Coach Carla Flaherty announced Tuesday that Allison Nichols has been promoted to Associate Head Coach.
Nichols is entering her third season with the Maroons. In 2018-19 Nichols teamed with Flaherty to lead Roanoke to 18 wins, the most for the program since 2011. Roanoke also earned the seventh seed in the 2019 ODAC Tournament and would knock off second-seeded and nationally ranked Emory & Henry in the quarterfinals.
The Lynchburg native has coached at all three NCAA levels following a brief stint in the high school ranks. She served as the assistant women’s basketball coach at Augusta State University (Augusta, Ga.) from 2006-2008 where she was responsible for assisting in all aspects of the women’s basketball program.
Nichols played at ODAC rival Bridgewater College, where she was part of a team that won two regular-season conference titles and had a 76-32 overall record.
Griggs promoted at Roanoke
Roanoke College Head Men’s Basketball Coach Clay Nunley has announced the promotion of Matt Griggs to Associate Head Coach.
Griggs is starting his fourth year on the bench with Nunley and during his tenure with the program the Maroons have amassed 54 wins. Last season the Maroons won 19 games and finished No. 6 in the final NCAA South Regional rankings.
Prior to arriving in Salem, Griggs spent three seasons on Pat Kelsey’s staff at Winthrop.
RU men picked sixth
Four-time defending Big South men’s cross country champion Campbell University has been voted the favorite in the conference’s annual preseason poll by the league’s head coaches, the conference office announced Thursday. The Camels are the preseason favorite for the fourth consecutive year.
Campbell, which has also had the individual champion during its current four-year title run, claimed the top spot in this year’s poll with eight first-place votes and 118 points. CU is led by 2017 Big South Champion and two-time All-American runner Amon Kemboi, who finished seventh in the 2018 National Championship. Also returning for the Camels this season is 2018 All-Conference finisher Hunter Gilbert.
Charleston Southern, which was runner-up in last year’s conference meet, finished second in the poll with 110 points and collected the three remaining first-place votes -– the Buccaneers’ highest preseason ranking in more than 17 years. High Point placed third in the voting with 101 points, while UNC Asheville claimed fourth in the poll with 82 points. USC Upstate followed in fifth place with 67 points, with Radford in sixth at 64 points. Winthrop garnered seventh-place with 49 points, followed by Longwood (eighth, 41 points), Presbyterian College (ninth, 39 points), Hampton (10th, 28 points) and Gardner-Webb (11th, 27 points).
RU women picked fifth
Two-time defending Big South women’s cross country champion High Point University has been voted the favorite in the conference’s annual preseason poll by the league’s head coaches, the conference office announced Thursday.
The Panthers received 10 of the 11 first-place votes and 120 total points to claim the top spot. HPU is led by two-time defending Big South Champion Famke Heinst, who will attempt to become the Big South’s first three-time winner since 2010-12. She is joined by multiple All-Conference performers Zoe Geis (2016-17-18) and Julia Hellman (2017-18), plus 2018 honorees Lindsey Ickes and Franzi Jakobs. Campbell received the reamining first-place vote and 111 points to finish second in the poll, while Charleston Southern was third with 98 points.
UNC Asheville finished fourth in the voting with 83 points, ahead of Radford, which placed fifth in the poll with 73 points. USC Upstate claimed sixth-place with 55 points, followed by Winthrop in seventh with 52 points and Presbyterian College in the eighth position (38 points). Hampton landed in ninth (37 points), followed by Longwood (10th, 34 points) and Gardner-Webb (11th, 26 points).