Bears prepare for matchups at The Show against Milligan (Tenn.), Florida Memorial

Over the first four contests of the 2023 season, the Shawnee State men's basketball program -- having played three teams that are ranked or are receiving votes in the most recent NAIA Men's Basketball Poll -- haven't been shy about testing themselves early.

However, Shawnee State has seen that difficult start, in terms of strength of schedule, play great dividends in terms of the sheer growth of its team over the season's first two-and-a-half weeks.

After dropping their opening pair of contests to Simmons College of Kentucky and (RV) Bethel (Ind.) by a combined seven points, the Bears, under first-year Shawnee State head coach Michael Hunter, have ralled from two second-half deficits, one by 16 points to No. 5 Georgetown (Ky.) and another by five to (RV) Indiana-South Bend, in each of its last two games to even its record to 2-2 on the year.

"It's a testament to the guys and their never-give-up attitude," Hunter said when asked about the two comeback victories. "We have some veteran pieces that have been through some tough battles. It's good that we came out on top, but we also can't keep putting ourselves in those situations. We've just been trying to coach and get ourselves geared up toward having better starts and not just having a lull when we come out, play well, then get behind and have to become cardiac Bears and having to come back and get a close win."

The Show Preview:

Putting together strong starts, and maintaining them throughout, will be crucial as Shawnee State heads southward to Kingsport, Tenn. for the next two days for huge collisions against 3-2 Milligan (Tenn.) and 6-0 Florida Memorial. Both contests commence on Friday at 2:45 p.m. and Saturday at 7:45 p.m., respectively.

For Hunter, his desire is to simply continue moving in the right direction.

"We like to play at a really fast pace, and it hasn't gotten to where I want it to be yet, but the guys that we have are playing really good minutes in crunch time and in clutch games, so when we are able to play at the speed that we want to, and press how we want to, those guys will be ready," Hunter said.

Milligan, like Shawnee State, has been battle-tested in its first five affairs against NAIA competition. The Buffaloes, whose five games have all been against Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) foes, have defeated Bluefield (Va.), Truett-McConnell (Ga.) and Union (Ky.) and have only suffered setbacks to (RV) Pikeville (Ky.) by two points and St. Andrews (N.C.) by five so far in its own 2023-24 slate.

"None of those games were just knockoffs that they lost to by accident," Hunter said. "It was all games against tough teams and tough competition. St. Andrews is a very hard place to go into and get a win, and we know the pedigree that Pikeville brings, having been in the conference with them and being a local rival, so they're a good team. We're going to have to be prepared for them mentally and physically."

As a team, Milligan sports a highly-proficient offense of its own, as the Buffaloes come into Friday's contest shooting 48 percent from the field en route to averaging 86.2 points per game as a team. Follie Bogan, a graduate student transfer from Lees-McRae (N.C.), is averaging monstrous numbers of 26.4 points, 8.4 rebounds, three assists and 1.8 steals per outing on 55.7 percent shooting from the field and 60 percent shooting from three-point range, while freshmen talents McCaskill Rivers and Luke Lentz are quickly acclimating themselves to the college game as Rivers is averaging 14 points and 3.2 rebounds on 45.1 percent shooting while Lentz is averaging 12.8 points per game while shooting 41.2 percent from the field and 37.8 percent from three-point range.

"We haven't been able to take any nights off yet, so this is going to be another one where we're facing a really good team," Hunter said of Milligan. "We're going to have to really put our minds to it defensively to keep them from shooting that high of a percentage. When you shoot that high of a percentage through four or five games, it shows that you can really do it. It's not a fluke. They've got a bunch of different guys that can score, and they're playing a different style this year than they normally have."

Beyond Friday's affair against Milligan, Saturday presents a massive showdown between a host of well-known Shawnee State figures in Hunter, former Shawnee State head coach DeLano Thomas and Thomas' head assistant, Lindal Yarbrough, when the Bears and Florida Memorial clash for a 7:45 tipoff in Kingsport Saturday evening.

Hunter was Thomas' first assistant on staff when Thomas took the head coaching reins in 2017, and Thomas -- a 2018 Shawnee State Hall of Fame inductee who was an all-conference and NAIA All-American talent for the Bears before heading overseas for his playing career -- along with Hunter, laid key and significant building blocks as the Bears began to climb the ladder toward a national championship by recruiting talents such as EJ Onu, Justin Johnson, and Tim Biakapia to SSU while also developing Selby Hind-Wills into a night-in and night-out threat. Yarbrough, a native of Nashville, Tenn., joined the staff after Hunter advanced in his career and took his first head coaching position at Lakeland Junior College, and, in recruiting guys like Kyree Elder, James Jones, Donoven Carlisle, and Miles Thomas to campus among various others, helped to finish the job.

One of those key national championship pieces, Latavious Mitchell, has been paramount in Florida Memorial's success as the Lions are out to a 6-0 start. Mitchell is averaging 10.4 points and 15.2 rebounds per game in six games, while former SSU forward Felix Uadiale is averaging 10.7 points and 8.3 rebounds per game on 59.1 percent shooting off of the bench.

Guards Raheem Carter (13 points, 5.5 rebounds, 54.7 percent shooting) and Derrius Ward (11.8 points, 59.1 percent shooting) are also averaging in double figures for Florida Memorial.

"To look at that game, it's just human nature," Hunter said. "Everybody around here's asking me about that game. They're asking me about FloMo, and I'm like, 'We've got a game on Friday.' We're just trying to keep ourselves focused on Milligan. It's going to be a good opportunity to go against Coach DeLano, but I'm focused on Milligan right now, getting a win there, and going 1-0, then having the opportunity to go after a win and go to 2-0. That's the biggest thing for us."

Reviewing Shawnee State:

Shawnee State, however, is no slouch either. It starts with Hunter and his two assistants, Chandler Fointno and Brent Gaither.

Fointno, a 2017 graduate of Huber Heights Wayne High School in Dayton who was recruited by Hunter when Hunter was an assistant at Shawnee State, has already proven himself as a strong player development coach just two years removed from his final season of college ball at NCAA Division II Edward Waters in Jacksonville, Fla. Gaither, meanwhile, has done much the same. Just two years removed from the college game himself, Gaither, a Jonesboro, Ga. native, played at Milligan's fellow AAC foe, Point (Ga.), during his days as a player.

"I was lucky to hit it out of the park with those two guys wanting to join us," Hunter said. "Chandler played at a place that I coached, and one of my good friends was his coach prior, so we have a lot of familiarity on different levels, Chandler and I. He's been with me in the past. Brent was more of guy whose reputation spoke for himself. I had some college coaching buddies that interviewed him and went a different direction, but they told me, 'Hey, this guy's great. I used to look at him and I interviewed him.' It's been nothing but good things. I appreciate both of those guys and the effort that they put in. There's never a time where there's something that they can't do. They're going to find a way to get it done, however it may be. I don't have to worry so much with them. They are big development guys."

The core group that the Bears have, however, have already grown up and shown a willingness to compete early on.

A roster that rolls 10 deep, Shawnee State is averaging 73 points per game while shooting efficient numbers from the field (45.5 percent from the field and 39.5 percent from three-point range). The Bears are also matching their opponent's rebounding numbers at 33.3 per game, and have posted a positive assist-to-turnover ratio while averaging 13.3 assists per game on 26.5 made shots per contest.

Five players on the roster are averaging at least 6.5 points per game or more through four games, and Keith Germain (24.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, 58.6 percent shooting), along with Tyreke Johnson (14.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, two assists, 47.5 percent shooting) have been big from a scoring and rebounding standpoint while Tre Beard has set the table wonderfully for his teammates with a gaudy 11-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio so far to start the year.

"With our schedule, we could've easily went 0-4 with the Top 25 talent that we were playing," Hunter said. "We got it rolling here. Now we play two more tough teams, come back and play a tough conference game (against Alice Lloyd), then got another conference game on the road (at undefeated Point Park). It could've gotten ugly, but the guys really dug in, and that's a testament to our players, their buy-in, and my staff and their ability to rally the troops and not let guys get down and feel sorry for themselves because we lost our first couple of games. Those guys are all strong-minded and I think we're starting to gel together a little bit. I think we're heading in a positive direction and it should be good down the line."

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