Saint Leo will get their season started with a matchup with Point Loma Nazarene University at 4:30 p.m. (ET) on Nov. 3. Following their season opener with Point Loma, the Lions will play Humboldt State on Nov. 4 at 2:15 p.m. (ET) and close the weekend trip with Concordia-Irvine on Nov. 5 at 8:45 p.m.
 
Sunshine State Conference foe Palm Beach Atlantic will head to California as well to participate in the tip-off classic.
 
The Competition in California
Point Loma Nazarene: website // Conference Affiliation PacWest
Humboldt State: website // Conference Affiliation CCAA
Concordia-Irvine: website // Conference Affiliation PacWest
 
Get to know the Lions
Saint Leo will look to senior leaders Tyreece Brice, in his third season with the Green and Gold, and Drago Popovic, in his second season with the Lions, for leadership on the court.
 
Brice started 15 of his 28 games played last season where the 5-foot-10 guard scored 334 points. In his career at Saint Leo, Brice has scored 815 points for the Lions and will look to join the 1,000 point club this season to close out his career. In all, Brice enters his final year of playing with 981 total points thru three seasons and two schools.
 
Popovic looks to make an impact for his final season where the Belgrade, Serbia native scored 61 points a year ago with 44 rebounds. Popovic played in 24 games last season with five starts for the Green and Gold.
 
Gary Hector, who will sit out his final season, will return to the Lions for his fourth season and will look to be a leader off the court. Hector played in 25 games in his career, over two seasons, and scored 34 total points with 30 rebounds.
 
Behind the two seniors, Brice and Popovic, the junior class is the deepest with six players, made up of three forwards, two guards and one center. Returning in the junior class to the hardwood is Junior Searcy. Searcy, the 6-foot-4 junior from Stuttgart, Germany appeared in the final 19 games for the Green and Gold scoring 145 points.
 
Joining Searcy is a 6-foot-8 forward from Warrington, England, Earl Russell. Russell comes to the Lions via the transfer from Western Wyoming Community College. With Searcy and Russell, also coming to the Green and Gold via the transfer is Jesse Huff. Huff stands at 6-foot-5 and hails from St. Cloud, Fla., and joins the Lions' squad from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
 
Adding two at the guard position, the Lions get ready to see DeAndre King in action, after spending one season with the Lions off the court. King, a 6-foot-4 guard from Kansas City, Kansas is lights out from downtown. Head Coach Vince Alexander added State College of Florida transfer Daniel Duarte to the roster. Duarte, a 6-foot-3 guard from Hialeah, Fla. looks to add depth behind returner Tyreece Brice.
 
With Drago Popovic returning to the Lions for his senior season, Saint Leo brings in St. Petersburg Community College transfer Pape Ngom. Ngom stands at 6-foot-9 and comes to the United States from Dakar, Senegal.
 
The Lions see four sophomores on the roster behind returner Malik Fuller. Fuller, a 6-foot-4 guard from Joliet, Ill., played in 17 games last season, scoring 18 points off the bench for the Green and Gold. Joining Fuller in the sophomore class are three transfers Isaiah Hill, from Gordon State Community College, Kyran McClure, from Navy, and Ty Forman, from Olive-Harvey Community College.
 
Hill is a 6-foot-6 guard from Richmond Hill, Ga. McClure is a 6-foot-2 guard that hails from Concord, N.C. Forman is the lone forward of the sophomore class where he stands at 6-foot-7 and is from Tampa, Fla.
 
Coming in fresh this season for the Lions are three freshman, two forwards and one guard. Saint Leo added 6-foot-9 forward Troy Sav to the lineup, a freshman out of Istanbul, Turkey, where the Lions went to Ohio to find 6-foot-10 forward Jake Montgomery. Joining Sav and Montgomery in the freshman class is Labis Filippou. Filippou is a 6-foot-3 guard from Athens, Greece and will look to add depth for the Lions in shooting and ball control.
 
Sunshine State Conference
Sunshine State Conference men's basketball coaches select Barry University to win its third consecutive regular season championship. The Buccaneers take the top spot following 95 total votes and six first-place votes in the preseason poll.
 
Barry edges out Rollins College for the top spot in the coaches poll. The Tars, last year's SSC tournament champs, tallied 87 total votes and three first-place votes. Three votes separate teams three through five, with the University of Tampa grabbing 68 votes, Eckerd College receiving 67 votes, and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University garnering 65 votes. Embry-Riddle and Lynn University split the final two first-place votes.
 
Both Barry and Rollins were joined by Eckerd in the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball National Championship Tournament where the Buccaneers defeated the Tritons in the opening round before falling in the next round to Ala.-Huntsville. Rollins advanced all the way to the Elite Eight in the tournament.
 
This season, Barry and Rollins were ranked in two preseason polls where the Buccaneers were ranked 12/16 (NABC / DII Bulletin) and the Tars 13/10.
 
Coach A
Under the direction of third year head coach Vince Alexander, the Lions are 2-2 in opening weekend play as the Lions posted two wins his first year over North Alabama and No. 12 Alabama-Huntsville. The Green and Gold dropped their first two games of the season in 2016-17 with a losses to No. 5 Ala.-Huntsville and North Alabama.
 
Alexander enters the season with an overall coaching record of 316-215 for a .595 winning percentage. After two complete seasons with the Lions, Alexander has a record of 31-28 while directing the Green and Gold.
 
Coaching Staff
Casey McMasters returns to the staff this season where he will assume the role of Alexander's right hand man. After having played for Alexander at USC-Aiken (2007-2010), McMasters joined Coach Alexander in the move to Saint Leo and enters his third season on staff.
 
Emmanuel "Manu" Diyoka Mulowayi enters his second season on the men's basketball staff and fourth overall with the Saint Leo Athletic Department, having spent two seasons on the women's coaching staff. Coach Manu will work along the side of head coach Alexander with the guards.
 
Jesse Ver Velde, a graduate assistant for business services, joins Alexander, McMasters and Diyoka on the coaching side and will assist McMasters with the post players. Ver Velde is in his second year on the department staff and enters his first with the men's basketball program.

Saint Leo Home Games:
Wed. Nov. 15 at 7:30pm vs Florida Southern*
Wed. Nov. 29 at 7:30pm vs Tampa*
Wed. Dec. 6 at 7pm vs Edward Waters
Tues. Dec. 19 at 7pm vs Thomas (Ga.)
Sat. Dec. 30 at 4pm vs Lynn*
Sun. Dec. 31 at 2pm vs Southern New Hampshire
Wed. Jan. 10 at 7:30pm vs Florida Tech*
Wed. Jan. 17 at 7:30pm vs Eckerd*
Sat. Jan. 20 at 7:30pm vs Palm Beach Atlantic*
Sat. Jan. 27 at 7:30pm vs Embry-Riddle*
Wed. Feb 7 at 7:30pm vs Nova Southeastern*
Sat. Feb. 10 at 7:30pm vs Barry*
Sat. Feb. 24 at 7:30pm vs Rollins*
* - Sunshine State Conference Game
-- all times are Eastern (EST); dates, times, locations are subject to change – 
 
For the latest news, updates, and information on the Saint Leo men's basketball, be sure to visit SaintLeoLions.com.  Fans can also stay up-to-date on the latest Lions news by following Saint Leo Athletics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.