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TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology opens the 2014-15 men's basketball season with a trip to the Case Western Reserve University Tipoff Tournament on Friday and Saturday.
The Fightin' Engineers will face the host Case Western Reserve Spartans to open the season at 8 p.m. on Friday night. Rose-Hulman will face either SUNY Geneseo or Wilmington on Saturday at either 5 or 7 p.m., depending on the result of Friday's games.
Rose-Hulman returns two starters and 11 letter winners from a team that reached the NCAA Division III Tournament for the third consecutive season last winter. The Engineers won the last two HCAC regular season league championships and earned the last three conference tournament titles.
Rose-Hulman must replace three starters, including All-American Julian Strickland, from last season's team that finished 22-6 overall. Rusty Loyd, taking over as head coach after spending the last five seasons as assistant, has added a recruiting class of seven freshmen in addition to 12 returnees for the 2014-15 season.
Junior all-conference forward Jimmy Miller leads the returning players after averaging 10.8 points per game last season. Junior Tyler Duffy also returns to the starting lineup after scoring 5.8 points with 2.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists per contest.
Five of the team's top eight scorers from last year return, including senior forward Michael Hallstein (4.4 ppg), sophomore guard Collin Wojcik (3.4 ppg) and junior forward Matt Loesing (3.3 ppg).
Case Western Reserve returns three starters from a team that finished 14-10 last season for the third-best record in program history. The Spartans return two all-conference starters in senior Dane McLoughlin and senior Julien Person.
SUNY Geneseo finished 21-7 last season and qualified for the NCAA Division III Tournament with an at-large bid. The Knights return five seniors led by preseason All-American Gordon Lyons.
Wilmington won the Ohio Athletic Conference championship and made an appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament after finishing 19-9 last season. The Quakers must replace five seniors, including All-American and OAC Player of the Year Malcolm Heard, from last year's squad. Senior R.J. Leppert leads the team's returnees in scoring at 13.5 points per game.
After the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Memorial Tournament presented by InterContinental Hotel & Conference Center concludes this weekend, Rose-Hulman returns to action at in-state rival DePauw University on Tuesday night at 8 p.m.
