This article is the sixth in a series previewing each team in the Ohio Valley Conference.
The only returner in the OVC that averaged double-digit points last season belongs to the Screaming Eagles, and his name is Kaden Brown.
“Last year, I felt like one of the biggest things we struggled with was team unity,” head coach Stan Gouard said. “We didn’t have great unity as a team, and after a team meeting last night, I was happy to see Kaden Brown standing up and having a conversation with the team about doing things as a team off the basketball court. That’s how we’re going to be great. We as coaches touched on accountability with our team in that team meeting, but it was great to see KK.”
Brown is thrust into a leadership role with USI after playing just 13 games last year, in which he averaged 11.1 points in 12 starts under Gouard. The squad he is leading? Almost completely new from top to bottom.
“We started from scratch basically in the portal,” Gouard said. “We had to put our heads together here as a staff, and we looked at what happened last year, some of the things we struggled with. I think the biggest thing was experience. Of course, to get some guys in here so that we could have an experienced group with some size. You look at some of our guys on the roster who had a great run at JUCO but didn’t play at their respective universities… Now, this is kind of a comeback season for those guys as well, and there’s hunger in those guys… We get to go out and put it all together as a team and focus on us as as a team.”
Gouard and his new-look coaching staff with the addition of Stefan King from Tennessee Tech brought in 11 transfers, eight of which came from Division-I programs. For them, the story looks to be just as Gouard expects, to prove that they belong in Division I. Almost all of them have shown the ability to produce at a higher level.
At the guard position, Afan Trnka transfers across the conference from UT Martin and LA Hayes comes in from UTEP to surround Brown in the backcourt. Trnka was a productive table-setter for the Skyhawks last season and will look to provide Gouard with a true point guard this season. On the other side, Hayes was a productive scorer at Frank Phillips College before moving to UTEP in Conference USA and taking a reduced role. It will be up to the 6-foot-5 guard to find that scoring prowess again if the Screaming Eagles want another scoring threat on the outside.
“Anything But Mid” OVC Men’s Preview
“Anything But Mid” OVC Women’s Preview
On the inside, the acquisitions of Yuto Yamanouchi-Williams from Oral Roberts and Fredy-Salam Sylla from Arkansas State round out the expected starting lineup for USI. Yamanouchi-Williams has been a starter at the Division-I level for most of his college career, starting 16 games last year for the Golden Eagles as a strong interior defender and stretch five. Sylla averaged four points and 1.9 rebounds per game in limited minutes as a freshman for the Red Wolves last season.
Of the other transfers, Ari Gooch (UAB), Josh Smith (Lee College) and Malachi Knight (West Los Angeles College) project to be rotational guards for Gouard. Donovan Hunter (Bellarmine), Johann Pautsch (Three Rivers College) and Didier Maleng (Denver) give the Screaming Eagles depth on the interior.
“What I want to do with all these guys is get these guys to understand the game,” Gouard said. “It doesn’t matter who finishes the game. We’re just long. We’re athletic. I think we’re shooting better this year, and hopefully we’ll play better this year as well from a team standpoint.”