Young and versatile Rangers squad aim to play exciting brand of basketball in 2023-24

Nov 07 | By: David Wilson, Assistant AD-Communications

DENVER, Colo. — In an era of college basketball where dunks and dimes grab the headlines, the Regis University men's basketball program has spent its offseason adding depth, size and quickness with the hopes of creating a dynamic defensive squad that can turn just as many heads during the 2023-24 season.

Though the roster is young — featuring 12 players who are juniors or younger — the new-look Rangers profile as a deep, versatile and relentlessly competitive bunch that will get their first taste of game action this weekend with Division II Conference Challenge games against Lone Star foes, St. Mary's University and Lubbock Christian.

"We've got a really exciting group. I think we've improved our depth and we've done a good job recruiting quickness, length and guys who should be a really fun, active defensive group," said Regis head men's basketball coach, Brady Bergeson. "I think I'm having more fun coaching the defensive side of the ball than I have in a long time with this group and we're really excited about that. We're going to be a young team, but I think this group is shaping up to be one of those, in my opinion, that will play a fun brand of basketball to watch and be a part of."

RETURNING PIECES
Regis returns a young core that saw instrumental playing time in 2022-23, headlined by the return of redshirt junior guard Eddy Egun. After being limited to seven games in 2021-22 due to injury, Egun started 25 of 29 games for Regis last year, posting career-highs in minutes played (25.6), assists (1.2), steals (19) and points per game (10.6) while shooting 46.5% from the field.

"Eddy is a junior, but last year was really the first year of his college basketball career that he was healthy and played extended minutes. He was kind of our go-to defender and I think what we'll see from him this year is just another step forward in maturity taking on a bigger leadership role and a bigger piece as an offensive threat."

Egun is joined by experienced back court mates CJ Reed, who averaged 7.8 points in 23.7 minutes per game last year in his first season with Regis, as well as the sophomore tandem of Chase Mayo Harmon and Vojin Mastilovic, each of who logged over 25-plus games and 450 minutes as true freshmen.

Mayo Harmon worked his way into the starting lineup, making eight starts in the month of February and scoring a career-high 16 against perennial powers Black Hills State, while Mastilovic made six starts in 2022-23 with a pair of 11-point efforts.

"Chase was another guy who really came on strong towards the end of the year and he's had a huge offseason. I think we'll see a significant jump with him, as well, on both sides of the ball," Bergeson said. "Then guys like CJ and Vojin both logged some really significant minutes for us. Vojin is a really good shooter and I'm excited about CJ's role and how it has changed. He's doing a little bit more play-making for us now, which was a little bit of a weakness for us last year."

Regis also welcomes back a trio of sophomores in Dylan Forbord, Joshua Pearre and Aaron Ofstun, all of whom saw time on the floor in 2022-23 as true freshmen.

NEWCOMERS
Entering the fold for the Rangers this year are six newcomers — four freshman and two transfers — who fit the mold of quick, lengthy defenders and impact pieces this winter.

Regis added experience and depth to its front court with the signing of Tarig Eisa, who comes to Denver after spending his junior season at the Division I level with Florida A&M.

Standing at 6'8 and 215 pounds, Eisa averaged 13.9 minutes played, made seven starts for Florida A&M, and brings a versatile skillset that allows him to play on the perimeter or with his back to the basket.

"Tarig really fits our style that we like to play, being long and disruptive defensively," Bergeson said. "He's got the ability to be successful in the paint, as well as outside, and stretch the floor for us offensively."

The Rangers also added a veteran point guard in junior Trey Bryant, who played in 50 career games at the Division III level for Linfield University and averaged a career-high 15.2 points and 6.8 rebounds last winter.

That duo is flanked by a four-man freshman class that includes guards Jalen Brown and Ty Cox — son of Regis alumnus Ed Cox (1994-95) — and two stretch forwards in Olafur Styrmisson (6'7) and Quinn Lambert (6'8) out of Iceland and Australia, respectively.

"I think we've really nailed it with this freshman group. I think we'll have a couple guys who log some real minutes for us this year," Bergeson said.

LOOKING FORWARD
The Rangers are just one of many teams in the RMAC that are welcoming in a ton of new faces in 2023-24 as the conference as a whole, which had four teams ranked inside the nation's top-25 last winter, experienced massive roster shakeups in the offseason.

Colorado Mesa tops this year's RMAC Coaches' Preseason Poll, with Fort Lewis College, Colorado School of Mines, Black Hills State and Chadron State College rounding out the top-5 voting.

The Rangers, coming off an 8^th place finish at 12-16 overall last year, have been preseason picked No. 8 in this year's poll. But with so many unknowns around the conference in 2023-24, the Rangers are hoping to keep their heads down, plug away and see how the chips fall when the calendar flips to March.

"For me, it'd be a mistake to try and make predictions for this team. I don't think that's fair to them. But we always have dreams of big things around here. We try to keep a championship standard and always will," Bergeson said. "I know the guys looked at the No. 8 pick and there's a little meat on the bone there for us to chew on. I think this is a very young and hungry group and a team that's got a lot to prove."

The Rangers will get their first opportunity to start that climb this weekend when they take on St. Mary's University on Friday (3 p.m. Mountain) and Lubbock Christian University on Saturday (2 p.m. Mountain).

Regis will then host three non-conference games to conclude November, with matchups against Barclay College (Nov. 18), Simon Fraser (Nov. 24) and Seattle Pacific (Nov. 25), before jumping into RMAC action at home the weekend of December 1-2 against No. 17 Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines.
"I'm really going to challenge our group early in the season on being as consistent as we can, be prepared to compete for 40 minutes, and make the game look like it does in practice," Bergeson said. "If we're stringing more and more quality minutes together, and seeing less and less slippages, as games go on, I'm going to be really happy about that. We need to see that arrow pointing in the right direction."

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