UMKC men’s basketball opens regular season at Minnesota

UMKC men’s basketball coach Kareem Richardson trusts the exhibition game allowed his team to shake off some newcomer rust and start the regular season fresh.

The Kangaroos, who open at Minnesota on Friday, rallied past Hawaii Pacific on Monday. UMKC trailed by nine at halftime, caught the Division II program with about 10 minutes remaining and won 72-61.

“I think there were some early jitters and guys getting used to playing together,” Richardson said.

The Kangaroos have seven newcomers on the 13-man roster, although, at least early on, UMKC will rely heavily on returning talent, starting with point guard Martez Harrison.

Harrison, a junior point guard, is coming off a Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year season in which he averaged 17.5 points. He had 20 in the exhibition game with forward Darius Austin chipping in 15.

Others who figure to start are center Thaddeus Smith, forward Broderick Newbill and guard Noah Knight, all returning from last season.

“We have a good nucleus of returning players,” Richardson said.

Junior-college transfers make up the bulk of newcomers who figure to be part of the playing rotation, such as forward Kyle Steward, a first-team All-Jayhawk Conference selection from Butler County, center Darnell Tillman from Florida State College-Jacksonville, guard LaVell Boyd of South Suburban College (Ill.) and swing Dashawn King from Erie Community College (N.Y.).

UMKC women open at home

The UMKC women’s basketball team opens the regular season with a 1 p.m. tipoff against North Florida on Friday at Swinney Recreation Center.

This story was originally published November 12, 2015 at 5:31 PM with the headline "UMKC men’s basketball opens regular season at Minnesota."