It will be a season of firsts for the California Baptist University men’s basketball team.
Seven months after a historic run to a WAC tournament championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament, CBU enters the 2026-27 season with a new coaching staff and 10 new players competing in a new conference.
“First-year coach and a lot of first-year guys on our team,” CBU head coach Kyle Getter said. “It’s our first year as a staff together, and add on to that the first year in the Big West. It’s a lot of ‘firsts’ all at once.”
Getter, hired in April after three years as the lead assistant at Notre Dame, is the second head coach in the school’s Division I era and the first to lead the Lancers in the Big West Conference.
“The challenge that it brings is huge,” Getter said. “I’m excited for us because of that challenge and how it’s another way for us to be tested.”
Last season, all-time leading scorer Dominique Daniels Jr. was sixth in the nation with 23.2 points per game for CBU (25-9 overall, 13-5 WAC).
The Lancers went on to beat Utah Tech 86–72 in the WAC semifinals before edging out top-seeded Utah Valley 63–61 in a back-and-forth championship game. Daniels Jr. sealed the victory with a dramatic runner in the closing seconds to secure the program’s first NCAA Division I tournament appearance.
CBU’s defense ranked 31st nationally, allowing just 67.6 points per game. The Lancers also went 7-0 to start the year and finished 15-0 at the Fowler Events Center.
A first round 68-60 loss to the No. 4 seed Kansas Jayhawks on March 20 proved to be former coach Rick Croy’s final game. Currently embroiled in a lawsuit against CBU, Croy now is an assistant coach at Arizona State.
“Coach Croy and his staff did a great job last year, and we were able to retain five returners which in today’s era is pretty good,” Getter said.
The program entering into the Big West this season also provides a fresh start for everyone.
“It’s an opportunity to really just focus on us and how we can get better,” Getter said. “Being in the Big West, there are so many schools within driving distance of each other and I think that creates rivalries and excitement for traveling fans.”
Senior combo guard Terry Coner, Jr., a transfer from Oklahoma Baptist, played in the Division II Final Four and was an D2 All-American last season. Redshirt sophomore Justas Stonkas, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard from Lithuania, will see his first collegiate minutes this season.
“(Coner) knows what winning looks like and he’s a veteran who has played a lot of minutes who can create some havoc at the defensive end,” Getter said. “(Stonkas) is a big, strong guard who can score it at all three levels, and I know he’s excited to play after sitting out last season.”
Four-star freshman guard Steven Reynolds III is the jewel of Getter’s first recruiting class.
“I’m very excited for him and what he can bring to the table as a young guy, and we have a young group,” said Getter, who has eight freshmen and three sophomores on the roster.
The Lancers host North Florida at the Fowler Events Center on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. before traveling to Oregon State on Friday.
The team returns home for games against Chicago State (Nov. 11), Arkansas-Pine Bluff (Nov. 13) and Seattle University (Nov. 17) before playing Loyola Marymount and Portland at Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs on Nov. 21-22.
HIGHLANDERS HIT THE PORTAL
Devon Malcolm, right, played at California Baptist University last season, but he has moved across town and will suit up for UC Riverside this season. (File photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
UC Riverside coach Gus Argenal enters his second season having proved he’s willing and able to work inside the NCAA’s transfer portal.
The Highlanders will feature at least six high-impact transfers, and three who played in Division II last season.
“I feel really comfortable with Division 2 players and trying to get local high school players and then, you know, see what else is out there in the transfer market,” Argenal said. “I think it’s finding what fits.”
Argenal’s incoming group includes Easton Reagan, a senior guard from Northwest Nazarene who led the entire D2 West Region in scoring at 19.6 points per game.
“He’s a legitimate scorer and he does a little bit of everything but he knows how to win. He makes the right play,” Argenal said. “He’s so smart that you can throw him in a position like (power forward) and go small-ball.”
Along with Reagan, Tyus Parrish-Tillman, a floor-stretching big man from Biola who provides both shot-blocking and outside shooting, and Aiden Rice, a shooting guard from Western Washington who averaged 18.6 points per game last season, arrive in Riverside this season.
Tony Duckett, a versatile former West Coast Conference all-freshman selection from St. Mary’s, James Evans Jr., a Big West veteran from CSUN, and Devon Malcolm, a 6-foot-5 wing who led CBU in steals last season, also moved over to UCR during the summer.
“Our staff did a good job early on with signing three of the best D2 players in the West Region,” Argenal said. “Now it’s up to these players to prove it to themselves that they belong in D1.”
Stepping in after a 21-win season and an NIT appearance the previous year, Argenal inherited a vastly reconfigured roster that lost five of its top six scorers. The Highlanders (10-22 overall, 5-15 Big West) ultimately struggled to find consistency as the schedule intensified.
The squad’s roster turnover was evident in double-digit losses to CBU, BYU and UCLA.
UCR flashed potential bright spots in home victories over Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State and Cal State Northridge, but prolonged losing streaks hampered the team’s progress last season.
“I think we have to be a better defensive team,” Argenal said. “Defense stops slumps and runs and so we have to be really focused on the defensive side of the ball.”
The Highlanders opened the season against La Verne at the SRC Arena on Monday at 7 p.m.