Men's Basketball Season Opens Saturday at Army

Friday, November 14, 2008

HANOVER, N.H. ? The Dartmouth men's basketball team opens the 2008-09 season on the road Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. when the Big Green tip off at Christl Arena in West Point, N.Y., against the Army Black Knights.

Dartmouth enters the season with high hopes thanks to senior forward Alex Barnett (St. Louis, Mo.), one of the top candidates for Ivy League Player of the Year. Barnett led the conference in rebounding (7.3 rpg) last year while ranking fourth on the scoring list (15.6 ppg) ? the three ahead of him all graduated. He also led the Big Green in blocks (33), assists (59) and three-point percentage (.361), plus shot hit 58-of-71 (.817) from the foul line.

The squad will be led by co-captains Jarrett Mathis (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Robby Pride (Denver, Colo.). Mathis is a senior who has been limited to just 10 games in his career due to knee injuries. But when healthy, he could be the team's top rebounder. Pride, meanwhile, is a junior who was one of three players to see action in all 28 games a year ago. The point guard is a spark plug off the bench and tenacious defender.

Among the expected starters for the game is freshman Jabari Trotter from Northridge, Calif. The 6-1 guard was the team MVP for Phillips Exeter Academy last year after a stellar career at Harvard-Westlake in California.

Head coach Terry Dunn is beginning his fifth season with Dartmouth. His overall record is 35-74, including last year's 10-18 mark and 3-11 record in Ivy League play to tie for sixth place. Dunn and the Big Green are gunning for the program's first winning season since 1998-99. The results over the past couple years suggest they are headed in the right direction ? after a 6-21 campaign in 2005-06, Dartmouth has improved its record each of the last two seasons.

Army is coming off a 14-16 season last year, and has won 29 games over the past two years, the most for the Black Knights in a two-year stretch since Mike Krzyzewski coached the squad. The top returning scorer for Army is 5-11 junior guard Josh Miller who put up 8.4 points a game last year, plus was fourth in the Patriot League in assists per game (3.97).

The radio broadcast will be available over the airwaves on WTSL 94.3 FM and 1400 AM of the Dartmouth Sports Network with Dave Collins providing all the action from courtside. Each Dartmouth Sports Network broadcast will be streamed live over the internet as well. For the complete broadcast schedule, please check out the DSN web site at www.DartmouthSportsNetwork.com.

Schedules