KIRKSVILLE, Mo.--The Truman Men's Basketball team is kicking off their season looking to expand upon last year's run to the Elite Eight. The first step on the path is a trip to Quincy for the GLVC/G-MAC challenge, taking on Cedarville on Friday evening at 5 PM and then Findlay Saturday at 4 PM.

Truman was ranked sixth in the NABC preseason poll, after reaching as high as second in the poll last year and finishing seventh in the final poll last season. The Bulldogs finished last season 20-3 overall and were ranked #1 in the Midwest Region, and were Regional Champions after defeating Michigan Tech in the Regional Final; advancing to the Elite Eight for the first time since the 1998-99 season.

The Bulldogs are the only GLVC team ranked in the top 25, though Southern Indiana and Missouri-St. Louis received votes. Topping the poll is reigning national champion Northwest Missouri State, who earned 15 of 16 first place votes. Rounding out the top five are Flagler, West Texas A&M, Colorado Mesa (who earned one first place vote, and finished the regular season ranked number one in the final NABC poll), and Colorado School of Mines.

The Bulldogs are returning multiple award winners from last year—GLVC Coach of the Year Jeff Horner—who is entering his fourth season leading the Bulldogs and has a 57-26 record through his first three seasons at the helm, GLVC Player of the Year Cade McKnight, GLVC Freshman of the Year Masen Miller and Second Team All-Conference Dylan Peeters.

McKnight led the Bulldogs with 18.1 points per game, also averaged 5.4 rebounds and dished out 43 assists. Against Flagler in the Elite Eight McKnight had the best game of his career with 34 points and 13 rebounds, both of which were career highs. He had two other double-doubles on the season--13 points and 10 boards at Lindenwood and 21 points with 11 boards at Southern Indiana. Down 62-61 in the last five seconds in the Regional Final against Michigan Tech, McKnight made the go ahead layup to give Truman a 63-62 lead before Hunter Strait hit two foul shots to close the game.

Miller led the team with 62 made three pointers and was fourth on the team with 11.1 points per game, while also being named to the GLVC All-Defensive Team. In his third career game, Miller scored a career high 25 points and made seven three pointers against UMSL. He also broke the 20 point threshold with a 23 point game against Rockhurst. For the year he shot .435 from the field and .425 from three.

Peeters led the GLVC with 9.4 rebounds per game and was second on the team with 12.2 points per game. He notched nine double-doubles and was named GLVC Player of the Week for the week of December 12^th—after a 21 point and 11 rebound performance at Lindenwood. His 21 points in that game set a new career high and he also grabbed 18 boards against Maryville to set a new career high.

Also returning are junior Hunter Strait, last year's sixth man who averaged 7.3 points per game and shot a career best .444 from the field; sophomores Elijah Hazekamp—who averaged 10.9 points per game and was second on the team with 7.8 rebounds per game, Sam Nissen—who appeared in 17 games and had a career high eight points at Southern Indiana, and Ben Cooper—who made four appearances last season.

Returning players who are still freshmen by eligibility are Sam Lock—who made his first two career appearances last season, Josh Ollendieck—who got a steal in the opener at Lewis and played in eight games total, Devin Fields—who made his first career appearance against Missouri S&T last year, Eric Northweather—who saw action in four games last year, and Keaton Mitchell—who played in eight games last year after redshirting in 2019-20.

New to the team this year are freshmen Trey Shearer, Marcus Kelderman, Caleb Schlaak, Landon Eiland and Joe Knutson.

Glance at the Freshmen: Trey Shearer led his team to a Class A state Championship last season, averaging almost 25 points per game, almost five assists per game and shot over 56% from the field. Marcus Kelderman won a state title his junior year and his senior year averaged just under 18 points per game and over six rebounds per game. Joe Knutson averaged 6.5 points and five rebounds per game as a senior a year ago and was part of teams that made it to the state semi-finals his junior and senior years. Landon Eiland led his team in points per game his senior year with 12.7 and was second on the team in rebounds and assists with 3.4 and 1.8, respectively. Caleb Schlaak led his team with 17.9 points per game, 9.4 rebounds and 3.4 blocks per game. He was named second team all-state.

GLVC Preseason Poll: Despite ranking number six in the nation and being the only GLVC team ranked in the preseason NABC rankings, the Bulldogs were picked second in the GLVC Central Division with Missouri-St. Louis taking first place. The Triton had 15 points to the Bulldogs 14. The Tritons got three first place votes to two for the Bulldogs (a school cannot vote for itself).

Series History with Cedarville: The Bulldogs have met the Yellow Jackets four times before, with each team winning two games. The first meeting came in 2016, and the teams have met every fall since. Truman won in Cedarville in the first meeting, while Cedarville won in Kirksville in 2018. The neutral site matchups have been 1-1 so far, with Truman winning in St. Louis in 2017 and Cedarville winning at Findlay in 2019. Bulldogs have dropped the last two in the series.

About Cedarville: The Yellow Jackets went 12-9 overall last season with a 10-8 record in G-MAC play. They made the final of their conference tournament after beating Kentucky Wesleyan and Findlay in the GMAC tournament before falling to Malone. They came into the season picked fifth in the G-MAC, with Hillsdale the favorite, followed by Ashland, Findlay and Malone. The Yellow Jackets return five players who averaged double figures a season ago, with Quinton Green and Kollin Van Horn who have been named Second Team G-MAC in back to back years.

Series History with Findlay: This will be the fourth meeting between the two schools, with Findlay taking the first two meetings but Truman taking the most recent one. In 2003 the Oilers won in Quincy, won in Kirksville in 2018 before Truman knocked off the 17^th ranked Oilers in the fall of 2019 in the season opener.

About Findlay: The Oilers went 18-5 a season ago and averaged 80 points per game. Nathan Burns returns to lead a potent lineup after being named first team all-conference last year. He averaged 13.7 points per game and 5.5 rebounds per game and shot 55.7%. Anthony Masterlasco also returns, he averaged 11 points and 4.4 rebounds per game and was named second team all-conference. Last year in the G-MAC tournament they blew out Ohio Valley before falling to Cedarville in the semi-final.

Up Next: The Bulldogs will travel to Joplin to take part in the Chris Tucker Memorial Classic on the campus of Missouri Southern University on the 19^th and 20^th. The Bulldogs will face Pittsburg State on the 19^th followed by the hosts, MSSU, on the 20^th.