EXPLOSIVE OFFENSIVE ATTACK TO IGNITE RELOAD FOR UT MARTIN MEN’S BASKETBALL IN 2018-19
10/29/2018 2:41:00 PM | Men's Basketball
2018-19 Media Guide
MARTIN, Tenn. – Tipoff to the 2018-19 college basketball season couldn't get here soon enough for the University of Tennessee at Martin men's basketball players and coaching staff, as a revamped Skyhawk roster is out to prove the critics wrong after being selected to finish 11th out of 12 Ohio Valley Conference teams in the league's preseason poll.
Just one season removed from back-to-back appearances in the OVC tournament championship game, UT Martin head coach Anthony Stewart hit the recruiting trail and added seven newcomers to an impressive crop of returners for the upcoming season.
"We have a bunch of new guys so they don't know anything about last year," said Stewart, who is in his third year at the reigns of the Skyhawk program. "You look at our season last year and we didn't achieve the results that we expected. We have set certain expectations for UT Martin Skyhawk basketball. We readjusted, turned the roster over a little bit and got the kind of players in here that meet our culture that has made us successful in the past."
What Stewart sees now while he is observing practice is a squad that should have no issues lighting up a scoreboard.
"I think this year's team is much more skilled offensively than any team that I've had since being a head coach," Stewart said. "We have guys who can really score the basketball at all five positions. We were very cognizant of recruiting players that could score at a high clip - I have a philosophy that you recruit offense and you teach defense. It wouldn't surprise me if we have 10 different leading scorers in a game this season."
The 2018-19 roster includes six returners - although two players did not play due to NCAA transfer rules. That duo and the remaining four will look to help carry UT Martin back to the top of the OVC standings after finishing 10-21 last season.
Fatodd Lewis is the team's leading scorer (12.4 points per game) and rebounder (7.3 per game) from last season, as the 6-8, 230-pound southpaw was selected to the 12-man Preseason All-OVC team by the league's head coaches and sports information directors. The redshirt senior snared a triple-double, six double-doubles and had five 20-plus performances in 2017-18.
"Fatodd is a fifth-year guy whose numbers have gone up every year he has been in our program," Stewart said. "We will be looking for his leadership this season. We want to send him out on a winning note."
The Skyhawks' other returning starter is Delfincko Bogan, who emerged as one of UT Martin's top playmakers down the stretch last season. He paced last season's team in three-point field goal percentage (.402) and assists (3.0 per game) while becoming the first Skyhawk since two-time All-American Lester Hudson to lead the OVC in steals (1.9 per game).
"Delfincko is steady," Stewart said. "He's going to give you everything he's got on both sides of the ball. I'm looking forward to his senior season - he's really improved his strength and conditioning this year."
Manning the middle for most of the season last year was Jailen Gill, who made 14 starts as a junior. He topped the OVC in field goal percentage (.662, 51-of-77) against league opposition while swatting away a team-best 29 blocked shots last season.
"As we saw last year, Jailen is one of the most athletic players in our league," Stewart said. "He really worked hard on his game over the summer and we are counting on him to have a big year."
Parrish Hewitt showed prodigious potential as a rookie in 2017-18, pouring in at least 15 points on four different occasions. The rest of the league noticed as well, as he was named adidas OVC Freshman of the Week on Dec. 11 of last season.
"As good as Parrish was last season, he has taken a big step forward as a sophomore," Stewart said. "He has really impressed our staff with his play during the preseason."
Two of the most intriguing talents on the 2018-19 roster are a pair of Division I transfers will make their long-awaited UT Martin debuts.
Kevin Little, who averaged 13.6 points over two seasons at Maine, will be eligible to play as a senior after sitting out the last two seasons (Colorado State in 2016-17, UT Martin in 2017-18). The 6-0, 170-pound sharpshooter captured All-America East Conference All-Rookie honors and went off for 20-plus points 11 different times at Maine. Eligible to play after the fall semester this season is Preston Parks, who was one of the NCAA's most prolific scorers in two years at The Citadel. The 6-2, 190-pound lefty tossed in 17.4 points over 36 career games, winning Southern Conference Freshman of the Year accolades in 2016-17 after becoming the first freshman to lead the league in scoring (22.1 points per game) since two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry accomplished the feat for Davidson in 2006-07. That duo will undoubtedly provide Stewart with plenty of scoring punch out of the backcourt.
"Both Kevin and Preston are high-level scorers and very accomplished players," Stewart said. "They learned our culture and the intricacies of what we are trying to do offensively and defensively while sitting out last year. Any time you can be here for a year to absorb everything you can from a knowledge standpoint, that's huge."
Stewart's first signee of the season was junior forward Quintin Dove, who inked with UT Martin last November. The bouncy 6-8, 200-pound forward was a first team NJCAA Division II All-American after averaging 18.9 points and 8.4 rebounds per contest last year at Cuyahoga Community College.
"Quintin is tenacious on the glass, especially on the offensive boards," Stewart said. "He is a winner - he came from a program that earned two conference championships and lost five total games in his two years at junior college."
Derek Hawthorne, Jr. was Stewart's next signee out of John A. Logan College. The 6-3, 210-pound junior guard scored 20 or more points four times over his final nine games last season while helping the Volunteers to a conference championship.
"Derek is very tough and can really guard the ball," Stewart said. "He will play multiple positions for us as a combo wing."
Five additional Skyhawks joined the fold after May, starting with 6-4, 210-pound guard Charles Henderson, Jr. He shot at nearly a 40 percent clip from three-point range while leading Trinidad State Junior College in rebounding in 2017-18.
"Charles brings good size at the wing position," Stewart said. "He shoots the ball pretty well and we believe he can make an immediate impact."
Trenten Williams also looks to make a splash in the Skyhawk backcourt this season after ranking sixth in the NJCAA Division I ranks with 7.7 assister per game to go along with 13.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per outing. He helped Gillette College to a 27-5 record and a national ranking last season.
"Trenten is very versatile, extremely athletic and is a good defender," Stewart said. "He stuffed the statsheet at junior college and he's shown that those numbers can translate at this level."
Stewart then beefed up his frontcourt by adding a pair of centers in Jeremy Joyner and Minfeke Sanoe. Joyner averaged 11.4 points on a .628 field goal percentage to go along with a team-best 6.8 rebounds per game last year at Roane State Community College. Sanoe is a 6-10, 250-pound sophomore who nabbed all-conference honorable mention accolades after averaging 8.6 points and 8.3 rebounds per game at Mt. San Antonio College.
"Jeremy is a good post defender who will give us a presence under the rim," Stewart said. "Minfeke got here in late August but he has really developed and is getting better every single day on both sides of the ball."
Coach Stewart didn't have to go far to round out his recruiting class as UT Martin secured one of the most sought-after transfers in the nation. His son Parker Stewart will sit out the 2018-19 Skyhawk season after transferring in from Pittsburgh, where he started 20 games and ranked in the top-five in the Atlantic Coast Conference in three-point field goal percentage (.425) and three-point field goals made (2.7 per game) as a freshman.
"Parker had some remarkable opportunities and luckily he felt it in his heart that he wanted to be home and be a part of what we are doing," Stewart said. "He's going to take this sit-out year and use it to his benefit. He's always been a gym rat but he's taken it to the next level with his nutrition and film study."
Toss all the Skyhawk ingredients together and Stewart likes what he has seen since official team practice began on Sept. 25.
"I'm very pleased with this year's team," Stewart said. "Everybody is battling for minutes and competing at a high level. You're going to see a hardworking, blue-collar type of team - 13 young men who are representative of our university, our community and our fan base. We're going to give it everything we have for all 40 minutes on a nightly basis."
