(WARRENSBURG, Mo.) – The University of Central Missouri Mules basketball team held their annual Meet the Mules scrimmage Monday. This follows the Mules’ first exhibition game of the season against Florida State, an NCAA Division 1 school, that ended with a 116-68 Seminoles victory.
This scrimmage serves as a way to show off their skills and talent to fans before opening the regular season and also give the fans an opportunity to see some of the changes the team has made in the past year. While the 2016-2017 season was a very successful one for the Mules, the 2017-2018 season has the opportunity to be even better.
The Mules finished last season with a very respectable 21-9 record. This included a 13-6 record in conference play, good enough for second overall in the MIAA Conference. It is because of this success that Mules enter the season ranked second in the MIAA preseason rankings, ranked only behind last season’s national champion, Northwest Missouri State Bearcats. While the Mules missed the NCAA Division 2 Tournament a season ago, head coach Doug Karleskint looks to have his team primed for a shot at not only a tournament bid, but a conference title as well.
The Mules return several key players from last season and have also added some new and experienced faces. They return their leading scorer from last season in senior Spencer Reaves, whose 17.1 points per game were good enough for seventh in the conference and earned him All-MIAA Second Team honors. DJ Richardson returns as the Mules third leading scorer from a year ago and also provided some stingy defense out of the guard position. Jakob Lowrance saw action in every game last season and gave the Mules some great minutes coming off the bench, scoring eight points per contest and shooting nearly 50 percent from the field for the season.
The Mules also added some new faces with D-1 experience. Josiah Talbert joins the team from Liberty University where he played in 30 games for the Flames. Duane Clark Jr. transfers in from UMKC where he appeared in 32 games. While Philip Winston comes in from Quinnipiac University. This mix of returning players and players with D-1 experience will be key in the Mules run to another successful season in 2017-2018.
The Mules open their regular season against Minnesota-Duluth Nov. 10 in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. They will then take on Bemidji State Nov. 11 before returning home to begin the Fairfield Inn Classic against Cameron and Maryville. The Mules start their conference play December 10th at home against Northwest Missouri State.