SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Drury men's basketball returns to Springfield to open its 2025-26 home slate Wednesday (Nov. 19) with a 6 p.m., non-conference contest against Ecclesia College at O'Reilly Family Event Center.
The Panthers will be opening a four-game home stand Wednesday, with another non-conference matchup against Ozark Christian College slated for Saturday (Nov. 22), followed by games against Concordia-St. Paul and Central Missouri as part of the DoubleTree by Hilton Thanksgiving Classic, Nov. 25-26.
Drury brings an all-time record of 175-43 at O'Reilly Family Event Center into the 2025-26 season, including a 12-3 mark in home openers since moving to The O' in 2010.
Fans may follow the action through the GLVC Sports Network (subscription required), where games will be streamed live throughout the regular season. New for the 2025-26 academic year, viewing access to live broadcasts from GLVC regular season and postseason contests will be available via monthly subscription ($30) or annual subscription ($140). Single-event access can also be purchased for $15. Audio broadcasts for all Drury men's basketball games in 2025-26 will be streamed online through the DU All-Access button via DruryPanthers.com. Fans may access the audio streams by visiting the 2025-26 schedule page for the Panthers and selecting the "Listen" link, or via the DU All Access button located on the home page.
SERIES HISTORY
- Drury and Ecclesia will be meeting for the first time on the hardwood Wednesday.
OPENING STORYLINES
- The Panthers have gone 14-3 against non-conference foes since the start of the 2023-24 season.
- DU has also racked up 21 home victories and a .700 winning percentage at The O' over the same span.
- Drury is off to 2-0 start following wins over Ohio Dominican (Nov. 14) and Thomas More (Nov. 15) at last weekend's season-opening GLVC/G-MAC Conference Challenge in Elsah, Ill.; the Panthers' 2-0 start is their third in the last four seasons and 18th during DU's Division II era dating back to 1994.
- DU last opened a season with three-straight wins two years ago, when the Panthers defeated Thomas More, Trevecca Nazarene and Ozark Christian, Nov. 10-14, 2023.
- Drury also extended its string of opening-night dominance with its comeback win over Ohio Dominican last Friday, giving the Panthers' five consecutive wins in season openers under head coach Chris Foster, as well as a 21-2 mark in openers dating back to the 2003-04 season.
- The Panthers won four of their last six games in 2024-25, including an 89-77 victory over GLVC regular-season champion Missouri S&T in their final regular-season contest.
- Drury welcomes back six total letterwinners from last season, including leading returning scorer Zach Howell, who averaged 13.2 points and 4.6 rebounds per outing in his first year as a Panther.
ABOUT ECCLESIA
- The Royals enter Wednesday's game in search of their first victory of the 2025-26 season after dropping their first six contests.
- Ecclesia fell to Southwest Baptist, 59-48, Monday evening in Bolivar, despite leading by as many as nine points against the Bearcats.
- Junior Christian Ford leads the Royals in scoring (14.5 ppg) and rebounding (6.7 rpg), while Nate Hauglie brings an average of 10.8 ppg and 6.4 boards per outing into Wednesday's game.
- Head coach Cary Shelton is in his second season leading the Royals, and his fifth overall as a collegiate head coach.
- Shelton guided the Royals to a 1-24 year in his first season as head coach.
ABOUT DRURY
- Drury is coming off back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2019-21 after going 14-13 a year ago and 15-13 in 2023-24.
- Now in his fifth season as head coach of the Panthers, Chris Foster brings a 50-61 record as DU's bench boss into Wednesday's contest.
- The Ironton, Mo., native has compiled a 167-141 overall record in his 12 seasons as a collegiate head coach -- all at the NCAA Division II level within the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
- The Panthers won four of their last six games in 2024-25, including an 89-77 victory over GLVC regular-season champion Missouri S&T in their final regular-season contest, giving them wins in six of their last eight contests entering play Wednesday.
- Drury welcomes back six total letterwinners from last season, including leading returning scorer Zach Howell, who hit the ground running in week one of the new season, pouring home all 17 of his points in the first half of game two vs. Thomas More on Saturday to stake the Panthers to the early lead; he finished the day with eight boards, a career-high five assists and three steals in the 71-59 DU victory.
- The Panthers' lineup will also be bolstered by the return of sophomore guard Colin Hardrick, who earned GLVC All-Freshman and All-Defensive team honors last winter after posting 10.2 points per game, as well as team-leading averages of 6.7 boards and 2.0 steals, the latter of which led the conference.
- Drury also benefits from the return of junior guard Luke Stubbs, who missed all but three games a year ago due to injury, as well as senior forward Aladji Gassama and senior guard Ethan Whatley; redshirt junior guard Kanon Gipson returns as well, but sustained what is believed to be a season-ending injury during the preseason.
- Drury men's basketball will welcome eight new student-athletes as part of the Panthers' 2025 signing class, which includes three transfers and five prep standouts.
- Joining the Panthers for the 2025-26 season will be 6-9 junior forward/center Gezim Bajrami (Tampere, Finland), 6-3 junior guard Avante Nichols (Atlanta, Ga.), 6-7 redshirt freshman Isaiah Otyaluk (Cary, N.C.), 6-5 freshman guard Wyatt Carr (Lebanon, Mo.), 6-0 freshman guard Keion Epps (Springfield, Mo.), 6-0 freshman guard Brenley Hagewood (Republic, Mo.), 6-5 freshman forward Kevin Sargeant (Missouri City, Texas) and 6-6 freshman forward KeShaun Thomas (Quincy, Ill.).
OFF AND RUNNING
- Drury picked up wins in its first two games of the season last weekend at the GLVC/G-MAC Conference Challenge, marking the third time in the last four years under Foster the Panthers have accomplished the feat.
- The Panthers' last 3-0 start came in 2023-24, when they edged Thomas More, Trevecca Nazarene and Ozark Christian to start the season en route to a 15-13 campaign.
- DU has gone on to win its third contest of the season in 12 of the previous 17 seasons in which it has started 2-0 as a Division II program (since 1994).
- The Panthers, who rallied from an 18-point first-half deficit vs. Ohio Dominican Friday night, enjoyed balanced contributions from up and down its roster in the first two games of the season, seven different double-digit scoring performances in all.
- Additionally, five different newcomers combined to score 61 points in the two games, led by freshman KeShaun Thomas's 16.0 ppg average.
PANTHERS TABBED FIFTH IN GLVC PRESEASON POLL
- Drury was tabbed fifth in the GLVC 2025-26 Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll in late October.
- The Panthers received 121 points in the poll, finishing behind preseason favorite Missouri S&T (196) -- which received 14 first-place votes -- as well as Lincoln (174), UMSL (161) and Rockhurst (141).
- Rounding out the poll was Indianapolis (115), Lewis (114), McKendree (109), Illinois Springfield (97), William Jewell (96), Upper Iowa (78), Truman State (69), Quincy (51), Maryville (33) and Southwest Baptist (20).
ROOKIE NO MORE
- Hardrick will look to make an even bigger splash in his second year on the court for the Panthers, despite a standout rookie campaign that netted the Milwaukee native GLVC All-Freshman and All-Defensive Team honors.
- Hardrick led the GLVC in steals (2.0 spg), while pacing the Panthers in rebounding (6.7 rpg) and assists (2.7 apg), in addition to scoring at a 10.2 ppg clip.
- He was at his best late in the season during conference play, posting season-best totals for points (26), rebounds (12), assists (6), steals (5) and blocks (2) in GLVC play in the months of January and February.
- The Milwaukee native picked up right where he left off in DU's season-opening trip to Illinois, logging 21 points and seven rebounds in the opening game, before posting a 14-point, 15-rebound double-double against Thomas More in game two.
A FINE HOW-ELL DO YOU DO
- Howell, the other multi-faceted half of Drury's potent 1-2 punch, also turned in a memorable debut season in Scarlet and Gray last winter.
- The Springfield native, averaged 13.2 points and 4.6 rebounds per outing following his return home after competing for two seasons at Division-I Milwaukee.
- Howell was not only the Panthers' top long-distance threat with his team-best 72 3-point field goal makes, but also DU's No. 2 rebounder to go along with the fourth-best steal (23) total on the club.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Panthers will host Ozark Christian College Saturday (Nov. 22) in a 5 p.m. matchup at The O', before taking on Concordia-St. Paul next Tuesday (Nov. 25) to open play in the DoubleTree by Hilton Thanksgiving Classic.
For all the latest information on Drury men's basketball, visit DruryPanthers.com. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow the Panthers on X and Instagram.
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