Expectations back to normal for Mercer basketball teams, who open at home Wednesday
Things feel a little more normal for the basketball teams at Mercer entering the 2020-21 season, even if things aren’t very normal for everybody.
The men open the season at home on Wednesday at 1 p.m. against North Georgia of the Division II Peach Belt conference, and the women follow five hours later at home against Georgia.
The men finished 17-15 overall and 11-7 in Southern Conference play in Greg Gary’s first season as head coach. They’re picked to finish fourth by both the media and coaches.
Mercer men’s first five games
Wed., 1 p.m. North Georgia
Friday, 8 p.m. at Georgia Tech
Monday, 7 p.m. vs. Georgia State
Dec. 3, 7 p.m. at Elon
Dec. 6, 5 p.m. Middle Georgia State
Senior Ross Cummings begins the season 140 points from 1,000 for his career, one that was stymied last season by an injury. Base on his career average of 13.6 points a game, it won’t take Cummings long – perhaps by Christmas? - to crack 1,000, and then pass Dartez Talbott, who is 42nd on Mercer’s career list with 1,014 points.
Cummings is fourth on the Bears’ all-time 3-pointers list, 17 behind E.J. Kusnyer.
Cummings tops a veteran starting lineup of two seniors, two juniors and a sophomore. The Bears have 17 players listed on the roster, with six newcomers (five freshman and a transfer).
Of the 17, eight played last year. Jeff Gary, a preseason all-Southern Conference pick along with Cummings, is the top scoring returnee with 11.5 points a game in 22 games. Maciej Bender, Kamar Robertson, and James Glisson III each averaged at least 17 minutes and 6.3 points
Bender is the top returning rebounder at 5.4 boards for a team outrebounded by 4.3 a game last year. Ball distribution will be big with the graduation of Djordje Dimitrijevic, who had 111 assists in 30 games, best on the team by 32 (Ethan Stair, who’s also gone).
North Georgia finished 14-15 last year, 9-11 in the Peach Belt in Dan Evans’ first year as head coach. The Nighthawks have had three winning seasons in the last 10, but only once won less than 10 games.
Expectations for the Mercer women are back to normal: high.
After a brutal 8-23/4-10 season, the Bears are again the Southern Conference favorites, picked by coaches to finish first and media to finish third, in the mix with Chattanooga and Samford.
Mercer women’s first five games
Wed., 6 p.m. Georgia
Sat., 2 p.m. Tennessee State
Dec. 2, 12 p.m. at Clemson
Dec. 10, 6 p.m. at Presbyterian
Dec. 13, 2 p.m. Alabama
Last year’s down year broke a streak of four straight Southern Conference regular-season titles and two straight conference tournament championships.
Mercer returns four starters, including preseason Southern Conference player of the year Shannon Titus.
Jaron Dougherty, also a preseason all-conference pick, led Mercer with 15.8 points a game, and shared rebounding honors with Titus with 7.3 boards. Amoria Neal-Tysor’s return gives Mercer its top three scorers back.
Mercer lost 13 games by 10 points or less, and went 0-3 in overtime games.
Georgia beat Mercer 76-60 last year in Athens, on Nov. 21.
The Bulldogs return four senior starters and their top four scorers from last year’s 17-14 team, the sixth for head coach Joni Taylor, who is 98-58 with the Bulldogs.
A whopping 90 percent of the scoring and rebound is back, boosted by newcomers that include Connecticut transfer Mikayla Coombs. Georgia was picked to finished eighth in the SEC by the media.