ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T begins its third season under head coach Bill Walker this weekend with a Friday afternoon contest against Trevecca Nazarene of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference at 3 p.m. at Gibson Arena. The Miners open their new season looking to improve from last year's 4-16 mark with a retooled roster for the 2021-22 season.

S&T heads into the new campaign with seven returning lettermen from last season, including scorer Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) and two other double figure scorers in Kevin Legardy (Las Vegas, NV/Canyon Springs) and Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln).  Smith averaged 17.8 points per game during his freshman season at S&T -- the second-most by a freshman in program history -- while Legardy averaged 10.6 points per contest and Froebe scored 10.3 per game and also led the Miners in rebounding with 5.9 per game, assists with 70 and steals with 50.

The Miners also return their top shot blocker from last season in Mahamadou Kaba-Camera (Conakry, Guinea/Balboa City (San Diego, CA)), who had 28 blocks in 19 games while making 56.6 percent of his shots from the field, as well as Ryan Parker (Bloomington, IN/Bloomington South), Micah Johnson (Ankeny, IA/Centennial) and Kelly Vaughn (Mount Vernon, MO/Mount Vernon) from last season's squad.  All seven returners made at least one start over the course of the 2020-21
campaign.

The Miners also have six newcomers to the roster, including transfers Alex Strating (Wassenaar, Netherlands/American School of the Hague) from the University of Colorado and Saheem Anthony (Brooklyn, NY/Westinghouse) from Hampton University.  Four freshmen have been added to the roster – Dylan Singleton (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln), Froebe's teammate at Lincoln High School in Illinois; Kyle Renkoski (Pierce City, MO/Pierce City), Andrew Ellinghouse (Dexter, MO/Dexter) and Michael Appiah Brefo (Jefferson City, MO/Jefferson City).

ABOUT TREVECCA NAZARENE: The Trojans finished the 2020-21 season with a 5-17 record and a 5-15 mark in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, losing to top seed Hillsdale in the opening round of the G-MAC Tournament.  Trevecca played three exhibition games prior to the start of the season and led all three games at the intermission, including holding a two-point lead over Tennessee State and a four-point advantage over Ole Miss.

Trevecca ended up losing those two games -- 76-55 to Tennessee State and 83-76 to Ole Miss -- before beating Fisk in its final exhibition contest Saturday by a count of 81-61. The Trojans shot 50 percent or better from the floor in the last two exhibition contests.

Trevecca returns seven players from last season's roster, including its top two scorers in 7-2 center Brendan Newton and guard Chris Rogers.  Newton averaged 11.1 points and 7.3 rebounds per game last season and also blocked a team-high 27 shots, while Rogers aveaged 9.5 points per contest. 

Rogers also hit 27 three-pointers last year, the most of any returning player to the Trojan roster and had a team-high 16 points in the Tennessee State contest.  Newcomer CJ Pehna, a transfer from Taylor University who averaged 20.1 points a game at that school a year ago, scored 24 points in the Ole Miss contest and then posted 26 points and 11 boards in the victory over Fisk.

Trevecca Nazarene will also play at Gibson Arena on Saturday against Southwest Baptist in a game that gets underway at 1 p.m.