By Connor Gray, Senior Reporter
The Northwestern men’s basketball team will start its season Friday in North Dakota and looks to continue the success from last season.
The Rangers finished 20-9 last season under Vinay Patel, but the team is now under a new head coach, Robbie Harman.
Harman was an assistant coach at Davenport University for five years where he was the defensive coordinator along with being in charge of recruiting, scouting opponents, academic assistance, the team’s social media and the alumni/fan newsletter.
Harman also played at Central Michigan University during his college years.
“You’re kind of a jack-of-all-trades as an assistant,” Harman said. “It helped me prepare to be head coach doing all of that.”
Having control of the defense at Davenport has helped shape his coaching philosophy, Harman said.
“We rely on our defense to help fuel our offense, and I want to play fast,” Harman said. “You can’t play fast if you are not playing hard defensively.”
Defense is important to Harman, and he wants fans and opponents to know that defense is in the Rangers’ wheelhouse, he said. He also talked about how the team is getting better and better, and he said he is proud of the effort to adapt to his philosophy.
Last season, the Rangers lost in the first round of the Great American Conference tournament to Southern Arkansas.
The Rangers lost Bubba Furlong, Ravel Moody and Anthony Jones to graduation, while some players left the team. The team was able to keep some of the roster this season.
Larry White, Malik Parsons, Brian Free, Eric Hancik, Chance Love and Thomas Douglas-Stanley all return from last season.
Northwestern’s first two games will be in Bismark, North Dakota, for the MIAA/GAC challenge against Northeastern State and Central Oklahoma.
“Both are experienced teams as they have many returning players,” Harman said. “But it’s more about what we do, not so much about what they do.”
Harman also said he wants teams to adjust to his players, not the other way around, and wants his players to take care of what they can do.
Northwestern will play Northeastern State Friday at 3 p.m. and then Central Oklahoma on Saturday at 3 p.m. Northwestern’s first home game is Nov. 22 at 7 p.m. against Manhattan Christian.