Men's Basketball | 12/15/23 | 12:51 PM

HELENA , Mont. - The Carroll College Men's Basketball team will ditch the brisk December air of Helena for a warm weekend in Chandler, Arizona where they will take part in the annual Cactus Classic Saturday through Tuesday.

The Fighting Saints (4-5) are a team finding their stride.

New coach
Several new players
New systems
New normal

While the team certainly hasn't seen the full on-court success that they might like through the season's first nine games, they have shown flashes of being a team that can win at a high-clip.

Establishing expectations, roles, and responsibilities takes time for any program, and a unit that has four "new" starters from the 2022-23 team has had some growing pains through the early portion of their non-conference slate.

Early results have been mixed, but the 2023-24 Saints have a little more offensive firepower than last season's squad. Three different guards have led the Saints in scoring over the first nine. Andrew Cook (Huntington Beach, Calif. / JR), a household name in Helena who is leading the team in points per game, Kendall Moore (Dayton, Ohio / JR) an electric transfer point guard who can score with the best of them, and James Lang (Portland, Ore. / R-SO) a program guy who is shining with his hard-earned court time.

The trio of guards, paired with Sao Paolo swing-man Gui Pedra (Sao Paolo, Brazil / SR) and seven-foot tall rim-rocker Zane Foster (Puyallup, Wash. / JR) have seen the majority of minutes for the Saints on the season.

Through nine games, the Saints are averaging 81.8 ppg, up nearly six full points form the 2022-23 season. Another encouraging metric is the 38.2 rebounds per game, nearly five more per game over the prior year.

The pieces are in place, and now the execution must take over. Carroll has a prime opportunity this weekend in Arizona to put their talents to the test against non-traditional opponents in Chandler, and build some momentum heading into the always grueling Frontier Conference regular season, starting next month.

First up for the Saints is Huntington (Ind.) (5-5), Saturday at 12 p.m.
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The Foresters are a complete unknown to the modern day Saints, as the teams have not met dating back to at least 2003. The Foresters have been involved in some high-scoring affairs through their first ten games, averaging 90 points per game, led by Zach Goodline's 18.4 ppg, and Lane Sparks' 18.3 ppg.

Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m., the Saints will take on No. 18 The Masters (Calif.) (8-2).
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The Mustangs will be the toughest matchup of the weekend for the Saints. The Mustangs are another high-powered offense, averaging just shy of 90 points per game. They have one top-25 win already on the year, and are led by guard Ty Harper, who is averaging 20.7 ppg and is shooting 54 percent from the field on the year.

A break in the action on Monday will give Carroll a day of rest before a 12 p.m. Tuesday matchup with MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) (6-3)
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The Pioneers are an interesting matchup for the Saints, averaging nearly the same points per game (82.0), while boasting a higher rebound per game number (43.1). Guard Mekhi Elmore leads a group of four double-digit points per game players, averaging 18.7 per game.

All three games this weekend will provide their own unique challenges for the Saints, but a good showing in Arizona can help set Carroll up for a strong run come conference play in January.

Each game this weekend will be live streamed HERE.

Visit www.carrollathletics.com each night for a full recap of the action, and to stay up to date with everything going on in Carroll Athletics.