Thursday, November 7
8 p.m. ET  – Kennesaw State (0-1, 0-0) at Drake (0-0, 0-0)
Location: Des Moines, Iowa | Knapp Center
Links: ESPN+ | Live Stats
Game Notes: KSU 
 

TOP STORYLINES
» The Kennesaw State men's basketball team continues its season-opening road swing through the midwest with a Thursday night showdown at Drake. The game marks the first ever meeting between the Owls and the Bulldogs.

» The Owls look to take the lessons from Tuesday's season-opening loss at Creighton and put them towards Drake. KSU put a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of new faces in the opener with four players making their debut and sophomores Adili Kuerban, C.J. Washington and Antonio Spencer earning their first career starts.

» Antonio Spencer had arguably one of the best games of his young career, tying his career-high in points (6) and rebounds (8) while adding one block and one assist. 

» Three Owls finished the first game of the year in double-figures, led by Danny Lewis with 15 points. Lewis finished the game 7-of-13 from the floor. He was joined by Bryson Lockley who recorded 12 points, sinking a career-high two buckets from three-point range. Tyler Hooker logged 10 points.

» The Owls' two freshmen, Armani Harris and Terrell Burden each put in over 20 minutes of work in their first collegiate game. The duo combined for 10 points, six rebounds, two assists and a steal.

» KSU hit the reset button this season with an all new coaching staff and the addition of seven new players. Head Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim was hired as the seventh head coach in KSU men's basketball history in April. A hometown product out of Cobb County, Abdur-Rahim rounded out his coaching staff with the addition of Associate Head Coach Ben Fletcher and assistants Pershin Williams and Tanner Smith.

» The Owls will be tested early and often with seven NCAA Tournament teams on the schedule, including four who made it to the second round of play. The 2019-20 slate also includes nine teams who finished last year in the top-100 RPI, six in the top-50, as well as 10 teams who won 20 or more games.

NEW YEAR, NEW LOOK
The Owls have a whole new look in 2019-20. With the addition of first-year Head Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim, KSU looks to build a brand new foundation for the men's basketball team.

Abdur-Rahim and the new coaching staff hit the ground running in their first few weeks at KSU, inking Georgia standouts Terrell Burden and Armani Harris to the 2019-20 freshman class. Not done there, they added transfers John Ogwuche, Glenn Robinson II and Josh Leone before rounding out the squad with walk-on Bobby Miller.

The seven new additions will look to fill the void of the five players KSU lost from a year ago due to graduation or transfer. The Owls returned only three players who averaged over 20 minutes per game last season, redshirt seniors Tyler Hooker and Bryson Lockley and redshirt sophomore Danny Lewis who played only the second half of the season due to transfer rules.

SETTING THE TONE
Redshirt Sophomore Antonio "Tone" Spencer earned his first career start in the Owls' season-opener at Creighton. The Dallas, Texas native was a huge factor for KSU, tying his career-high with six points and a team-high eight rebounds. He also added an assist and logged one of the Owls' two blocks on the night.

Spencer's eight rebounds is tied for second most in the ASUN after the league's season-openers.

He'll look to continue to elevate his game after ranking second on the team and eighth in the ASUN with 27 total blocks last year.

Spencer will see a lot more minutes this year, already logging 24 at Creighton, two shy of his career-high. He averaged 13.4 minutes per game last season. 

EYES ON THE FUTURE
The 2019-20 men's basketball roster is one of the youngest in recent history with 10 of 16 players either freshmen or sophomores. Of KSU's six upperclassmen, only Tyler Hooker and Bryson Lockley have played major minutes heading into the year. 

Two of the Owls' most highly touted recruits, Armani Harris and Terrell Burden, enter the collegiate level coming off major prep careers. Harris was named First-Team All-Region and All-State his senior year at Newton High School, leading the Rams to a 22-8 overall record. The local talent averaged 19.7 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game during his senior campaign.

Burden, a four-year letter winner at Campbell High School out of Smyrna, Ga., was named the 2019 Region 2-7A Co-Player of the Year after averaging 23.2 points, 5.8 assists and 5.1 rebounds per game.

Both have already had an impact, logging over 20 minutes in KSU's season-opener. Harris finished with four points, five rebounds, two assists and a steal while Burden logged six points, going 3-of-6 from the floor, with one rebound.

OH DANNY BOY
After becoming eligible in the second half of the 2018-19 season, Danny Lewis put up prominent numbers in his first season-opener for the Owls. 

Lewis, one of only two Owls to finish last season averaging double-digits in scoring, led the team with 15 points on the night, going 7-of-13 from the floor. His 15 points was the fourth-highest points scored by a player in the ASUN on opening night.

GOT IT ON LOCK
Redshirt senior Bryson Lockley filled up the stat sheet in KSU's season-opener, recording 12 points, seven rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal.

Lockley did it all for the Owls last season as well, running the boards with a team-high 225 rebounds to place him seventh in the conference. 

For offensive rebounds alone, he was ranked fourth in the conference, averaging 2.7 a game. He finished the season second on the team with 53 assists and was one of two players to capture at least 20 steals (21) and blocks (21). 

LOOKING AHEAD
After Thursday's game the Owls return to Georgia to square off with in-state rival Mercer. The Owls take on the Bears in Macon on Monday (Nov. 11) at 7 p.m.

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