The Fort Hays State men's basketball team opens the 2012-13 season with McPherson College on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 10) at Gross Memorial Coliseum in Hays. Game time is set for 4:30 pm. McPherson has a record of 3-0 and plays Friday night before making the trip out to Hays. McPherson made it to the national semifinals of NAIA Division II last year.
Fort Hays State has no starters returning from last year and has just three players back from that team, which includes
Lance Russell,
Jason Ball, and
Chase Waldman. Also returning after redshirting last year is
Ben Congiusta, who was a key member of the 2010-11 team that won the MIAA Tournament and made it to the South Central Regional Semifinals. The Tigers have 10 newcomers to the squad this year. Eight are transfers, while two are true freshmen.
Fort Hays State went 19-9 overall and 12-8 in the MIAA last year. They finished fifth in the MIAA regular season standings and then made the semifinals of the conference tournament. It marked the fifth year in a row that the Tigers reached 19 wins in a season. FHSU was ranked nationally for the third consecutive year and saw a consecutive regular season poll streak reach 36 before getting snapped on January 31. The Tigers were in every regular season poll dating back to the third poll of the 2009-10 season until the streak was snapped last year. The Tigers reached the Top 10 of the national poll in each of the last three years, moving as high as No. 3 in 2009-10 and 2010-11.
McPherson is coming off one of its best seasons in school history, going 33-4 in 2011-12. The Bulldogs reached the NAIA Division II national semifinals before falling to Northwood (Fla.). The Bulldogs were the KCAC regular season and tournament champions last year. McPherson returns three starters from last year's team, led by all-conference selection Samson Shivers.
Fort Hays State has won its last four season openers, but have not played a season opener at home since 2009-10. Last year they won at Nebraska-Kearney in the season opener and the year before defeated Midwestern State, which eventually went on to the Elite Eight, on a neutral court.
