Coastal men's basketball picked to finish 10th in Sun Belt

On Oct. 25, Sun Belt came out with the 2018-19 men’s basketball preseason rankings and Sun Belt honors, Coastal Carolina finished 10 out of 12 teams, and senior forward Zac Cuthbertson, earned preseason second team.

The Chants finished 15-18 overall and 8-10 in SBC play. They are returning eight players from last year with the addition of six new faces. After losing 66-73 to Texas State in the first round of playoffs last season, the Chants are looking to start fresh and go far this season.

On Oct. 8, the 2018-2019 schedule for the upcoming season was released. The schedule features 13 home matches. The Chanticleers will also participate in the Northern Kentucky Men’s Basketball Tournament from Nov. 16 to Nov. 18.

The Chanticleers’ schedule features rematches with Wofford, College of Charleston and South Carolina. All those games will be played on the road.

The schedule also features two former Big South foes in Campbell and UNC-Asheville. The Chanticleers will travel to Buies Creek to take on Campbell on Nov. 9 while their matchup with UNC-Asheville will be played in the tournament at Northern Kentucky on Nov. 17.

The Chanticleers trail in the series against Campbell, winning 19 games compared to the 22 games that Campbell has won. Meanwhile, Coastal still holds a slim 38-34 series lead over UNC-Asheville.

Cuthbertson, who averaged just over 14 points and almost seven rebounds last season, is in the spotlight for this upcoming season. Finishing second team last season, he comes in at second team for preseason as well. He scored double digits 25 times and recorded five double-doubles.

With the loss of Jaylen Shaw, the Chants have some big shoes to fill but with the addition of new faces and with the help of returners, they should be able to do big things this year.

Coastal played South Carolina State in an exhibition game on Saturday, Oct. 27. The Chanticleers defeated the Bulldogs 74-54 with junior forward Amidou Bamba leading the way for Coastal scoring 16 points.

The team will start their season Nov. 6 when they host Ferrum at 7:30 p.m. at the HTC Center. This game is part of a double-header with the women who will host Western Carolina at 5 p.m.