Game Notes: Miners vs. Westminster
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ROLLA, Mo. -- The 2013-14 men's basketball season at Missouri S&T appears to be one where the Miners have the opportunity to hit the reset button as they look to make a climb up the standings in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

Things appeared to be on the upswing last November, as the Miners scored an exhibition game win over Division I Western Illinois and had an impressive early season victory over Southwest Baptist. But then, the injury bug hit the Miners shortly after the win over SBU and the season was short-circuited from there.

The return of senior Bryce Foster (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central) and redshirt freshman Aaron Emmanuel (Brampton, Ont./LaLumiere School) to a squad that returns two other double figure scorers and the addition of a host of talented newcomers figure to give the Miners a good opportunity to improve on last year's 7-18 mark.

"At this time last year, we felt like we were in a position where we could match up pretty well with most of the teams in the GLVC," said head coach Jim Glash, who is beginning his fifth season at the helm of the program. "But when we lost Bryce and Aaron, we had to restructure things in the flow of the season. The plus that came out of it is that some of our players gained a lot of valuable experience that should help us moving forward this year."

S&T brings back an All-GLVC performer from last season in senior Mudiaga Eruteya (Chicago, Ill./Notre Dame), who led the Miners in several statistical categories during his first season as a Miner. Eruteya averaged 13.6 points a game and ranked among the league leaders in rebounding with 7.5 a game, assists with 87 and steals with 40.

He will be paired up on the wing with Foster, who averaged 13.2 points a game through the first six contests before his season came to an end due to an injury. Foster has averaged in double figures in every season he has played at S&T.

"Bryce has been in our program for five years and has grown into being a team leader," Glash said. "He has matured a great deal from year to year and Mudiaga and Nusrath (Khan) have joined with Bryce to set a great example for our younger players. This is a team that is basically seniors and freshmen and those three will provide us some great leadership on the floor."

Losing Foster last season provided an opportunity for two others to shine in his absence. Khan, a senior, became a bigger offensive force for the team, averaging better than 11 points a game and finishing second on the team to Eruteya in steals with 36. Freshman Zach Ellis moved into the starting lineup after Foster went down for the year and averaged 8.6 points a game in a season that included 10 double figure performances – including four in a row to finish the year.

Another top perimeter shooting threat back in the fold is Michael Nesbitt (Evansville, Ind./LaLumiere School), who connected on 36 percent of his team-high 28 three-point attempts as he scored seven points a game as a redshirt freshman. Fellow sophomore Mike Miller, who played in 12 games as a freshman, also figures to contend for a larger role this winter and freshman Cliff Dunigan will also seek to earn a spot in the rotation.

At the point guard spot, the Miners will regain the services of Emmanuel, who averaged 6.7 points and dished out 10 assists in the three games he played in before his season-ending injury. He will be challenged by newcomer Danylo Zuikov (Kiev, Ukraine/LaLumiere School) – who like Emmanuel, spent a season playing at prep powerhouse LaLumiere Academy in Indiana – for the starting role along with Khan.

"Having Aaron back is going to be a key component and teaming him with Danylo, who is a player that does everything well, at the point will provide us the best depth we've had at that position since I've been here," Glash said. "I really believe that we have two GLVC-caliber point guards."

While the Miners have plenty of experience back on the perimeter, the inside game consists of just one returning player and three newcomers.

The returner is junior Curtis Okafor (Kansas City, Mo./Bishop Miege), who shot 58 percent from the floor last season. He will be joined by a trio of freshmen in Chinomso Ebube (Round Lake, Ill./Mundelein), Justin Kurash (Elmhurst, Ill./York) and Tyler Anderson (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit North).

Ebube averaged 19 points and 8.4 rebounds a game as a high school senior last season, where he was a teammate of Dunigan's, while Anderson averaged a double-double as a senior at Lee's Summit North High School in the Kansas City area.

The third freshman, Kurash, also averaged a double-double as a senior, but will miss the early portion of the season while recovering from a pre-season injury.

"We're really going to need our players to be overachievers in the low post," Glash said. "We're really not blessed witih numbers there at the moment, especially with Justin out with the injury. We need everyone – including our guards – to help in areas such as low post defense and rebounding."

The Miners will open their season Nov. 8 against Westminster, then faces Southeastern Oklahoma State – picked to finish third in the Great American Conference on Nov. 13. S&T's early season slate also includes an exhibition game at Southern Illinois on Nov. 21 and a trip to Kentucky Wesleyan's Thanksgiving Classic, where they will face a Young Harris team that won 17 games last year and possibly KWC, who was picked as high as third nationally in one pre-season poll.

S&T's conference schedule will also begin with a bang – a trip to Springfield, Mo., on Dec. 5 to face defending NCAA Division II champion Drury in the first of two meetings between the teams; the return game in Rolla is the regular season finale on Feb. 27. The Miners' first home conference game will be Jan. 3 against Indianapolis.

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