The Stockton University men's basketball team heads into the abbreviated 2021 season with an experienced but still young core. Although head coach
Scott Bittner, the 2020 NJAC Coach of the Year, will guide a team with just four upperclassmen, Stockton has six returnees who averaged at least 16 minutes per game last year.
The Ospreys will return quality talent and should be a contender during the shortened season of eight games. Stockton is scheduled to play two contests apiece against The College of New Jersey, Rutgers-Camden, Rutgers-Newark and New Jersey City. The Ospreys went 6-3 against those four opponents last year, tied TCNJ for first place and faced the Lions in the NJAC championship game.
Stockton returns a pair of NJAC All-Conference players in junior
Kyion Flanders and sophomore
DJ Campbell. Flanders, who was chosen to the NJAC First Team last year, led the team in scoring (14.2 ppg) and steals (1.7 spg; 7th in NJAC) while shooting 44.8 percent from the field, 36.3 percent from three-point range and 74.8 percent at the line (10th in NJAC).
Flanders averaged a team-high 28.7 minutes per game and also added 3.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists per contest for the Ospreys.
Campbell was voted NJAC Rookie of the Year, Stockton's first since Mike Menefee in 1988, and NJAC Honorable Mention. The electric guard topped the Ospreys in three-pointers (53) and free throw percentage (.859; 2nd in NJAC). He also finished second on the team in scoring (12.1 ppg) and steals (1.4 spg) behind Flanders to along with 4.2 rebounds per game.
Senior
Luciano Lubrano (5.2 ppg, 33 assists, 16 steals) and sophomore
Rynell Lawrence (18 games, .474 from the field) will add to the firepower and depth for Stockton. Lubrano started 18 games while Lawrence came on strong late in the season last year. Twenty-three of Lubrano's 47 field goals came from three-point range.
Tariq Baker joins Lubrano to form the team's duo of seniors. Baker sank 26 three-pointers and shot 34.7 percent from beyond the arc last year. Sophomore
Jordan Williams, a three-time NJAC Rookie of the Week a year ago, led the Ospreys in shooting at 48.5 percent. The rookie scored 6.4 points and grabbed 4.9 rebounds per game, placing second on the squad.
Junior
Kadian Dawkins started 25 games last season, finishing second on the team with an average of 2.7 assists per game average and pilfering 21 steals. Freshman
Jamar Johnson will be asked to man the point guard position. The frosh is a defensive-minded guard and will be given the task of distributing the ball to the scoring threats for the Ospreys.
Sophomores
Nick Duncsak and
Milo De Los Santos return after playing in 13 and 12 games respectively in their rookie year. Both are threats from long range. At 6-7, Duncsak also provides length for the Ospreys. Sophomores
Amir Landrum and
John Georgiou are back after serving as practice players last season.
The Stockton frontcourt should benefit from an influx of size in 6-5 sophomore transfer
Alan Glover plus 6-7
Jaylen Newton and 6-6
Nick Pellegrini, both freshmen. All three players should help the Ospreys on the glass. Glover saw action in 13 games as a redshirt freshman at Division II Indiana University (Pa.) a year ago.
Rounding out the group of six newcomers will be sophomores
Kyle Jackson and
Tim Petersen. With 13 first- or second-year players out of 17 on the roster, Stockton will try to use the short season as a springboard to build a foundation that can contend in the NJAC for the next few years.