SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State basketball team opens its 2014-15 season this weekend by hosting Oklahoma Panhandle State and Texas A&M International at the Ed Messbarger Tip-Off Classic on Friday and Saturday at the Junell Center.

The Rams are coming off a 19-9 record last season and enter the new campaign with four returners and 11 newcomers on their active roster. ASU is led by head coach Chris Beard and associate head coach Cinco Boone who are entering their second season with the Rams after leading the team to its first postseason win in 13 seasons and to an 11-2 home record last year. ASU opens the season at 7 p.m. on Friday against Oklahoma Panhandle and will then play at 7 p.m. on Saturday against Texas A&M International. The season-opening event will also include Eastern New Mexico playing at 5 p.m. on Friday against TAMIU and at 5 p.m. on Saturday against OPSU.

The Angelo State program is honoring former head coach Ed Messbarger by naming the event after him and will also have a halftime presentation to recognize coach Messbarger and his family during halftime of Saturday's game. Messbarger, who passed away last summer, coached at ASU from 1978-98 and led the Rams to 267 wins and to two Lone Star Conference championships. He was inducted into the LSC Hall of Honor in 2006 and to the Angelo State Hall of Honor in 2012.

ASU opens this season on a five-game home stand which will also include playing McMurry at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Arkansas Tech on Saturday, Nov. 22 and Oklahoma Wesleyan on Tuesday, Nov. 25. The team will make its first road trip of the season when it travels to Grand Junction, Colorado to play Colorado Mesa on Friday, Nov. 28 and Western State Colorado on Saturday, Nov. 29.
 
Quotes: Chris Beard, Angelo State head coach

On the development of the team throughout preseason practices:
"Our team is a work in progress.  We have 11 new players and it is a process that takes time and game experience to develop into a good team. We have had a good month of preparation.  Our guys have played hard and competed each day.  We are beginning to develop a team chemistry with guys playing for each other.  Our 5 seniors have brought leadership to the team.

On honoring former Angelo State head coach Ed Messbarger this weekend:
"We are excited and proud to start our season with a new tradition, the Coach Messbarger Classic.  Coach had a hall of fame coaching career and lived a great life as a family man with high character.  He was a winner in basketball and even a bigger winner in life.  He was great to me and our team during our first season at ASU.  He went out of his way to help us.  Cinco and I valued and appreciated our friendship with Coach.  This weekend's classic is a small way we can honor Coach Messbarger and his wife Jane and their family. It's impossible to put into words everything Coach means to our basketball program.  But simply stated, in my opinion, Phil George and Ed Messbarger were and still are ASU basketball.  It's our current jobs to make sure we keep the program at a high level."

On playing against Oklahoma Panhandle and Texas A&M International this weekend:
"We don't talk much as a team about goals. But we do talk about standards and our own expectations.  We are working hard towards building a championship level basketball program at ASU.   We respect our competition and understand how difficult it is to win but we are looking forward to the challenge.  This weekend our objective is to play 80 minutes of good team basketball and to try to improve as we go along."
 
RAM REPORT
The Angelo State basketball team enters the season with 15 players on its active roster, including five seniors, eight juniors, one sophomore and one freshman. The senior class includes returner Tommy Woolridge who is coming off a junior season where he averaged 9.1 points per game and led the team with 37 3-pointers. Demario Mayfield, Marsell Holden, Raijon Kelly and Chris Jones are seniors who transferred in this season to play their final collegiate season with the Rams. Mayfield is a 6-foot-5 forward from Royston, Georgia who started his career at the University of Georgia before transferring to Charlotte where he played two seasons. Holden is a 5-foot-11 guard from Farell, Pennsylvania who played three seasons at Morehead State, while Kelly is a 6-foot-3 guard from St. Paul Minnesota who played three seasons at Samford University before transferring to ASU this season. A Dallas native, Jones played at the University of North Texas the past three seasons and will play at the guard position for the Rams this season. Jones received three votes for the LSC Preseason Player of the Year.

The junior class includes DeQuavious Wagner, Brentine Taylor, Dakota Rawls, Thomas Brandsma, Omari Gudul, Bilal Richardson, Kyle Vasher and Patrick Mound. Rawls redshirted with an injury last season and returns to the Rams lineup to play at the forward position, while Brandsma is coming off a sophomore season where he played in all 28 games and averaged 3.1 points per game. Gudul stared 23 of 28 games for the Rams last season as a sophomore and averaged 4.9 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. At 6-foot-10, Gudul is the tallest player on ASU's roster for the second straight season and is the lone starter returning from last year's team. Wagner transfers from the University of Arkansas where he played at the guard position the last two seasons for the Razorbacks, while Taylor is a 6-foot-6 forward who transfers from Central Georgia Tech. The team also adds size with Richardson who is 6-foot-8 and played the last two seasons at Wallace Community College-Salem and a versatile player in Vasher who transferred in from Hartnell College.

Underclassmen on this year's roster include sophomore Brendan Logsdon and freshman Jovan Yancy. Logsdon transferred to ASU from Ottawa University, while Yancy played at Clear Brook High School in Houston. Yancy is a 6-foot-4 guard who was last year's District 23-5A MVP. Clayton Baumgart, a 6-foot-9 freshman forward from Burnet, will redshirt this season.
 
OPSU & TAMIU NOTES
ASU opens the season against a pair of Heartland Conference opponent in Oklahoma Panhandle State and Texas A&M International. The Aggies of OPSU are coming off a 2-26 overall record and went 2-16 in Heartland Conference play last season. OPSU is led by head coach Jerry Olson.

The Dustdevils are coming off a 22-9 record last season where they advanced to the NCAA Division II South Central Championships. TAMIU went 13-5 in Heartland Conference play and won its conference tournament with a 76-72 win over Texas-Permian Basin. TAMIU was 3-1 against Lone Star Conference opponents last season with two wins over Texas A&M-Kingsville and another victory against Cameron. The lone loss against an LSC team came in the regional tournament where they dropped a 92-56 decision to Tarleton State. The Dustdevils are led by head coach Bryan Weakley.