Men's Basketball Season Preview 2023-24

San Dimas, CA – Life Pacific University's Men's Basketball team enter the 2023-24 season, following an off-season where they graduated 7 seniors. In 2022-23, the Warriors finished their season with an overall record of 8-18 and were 1-17 in the GSAC. They started off their 2022-23 season with a significant undefeated preseason for the first time in program history. However, due to multiple injuries in their starting lineup, conference play did not turn out the way they hoped, as they finished 10^th in conference. The Warriors will look to build off of their growth last year, as they aim for a bid to the GSAC tournament this season.

As they enter the 2023-24 season, they return notable starters from last year, led by junior, Austin Cook, who was 7^th in the GSAC in scoring last year with 15.6 points/game. Other notable starters that are returning from last year include Daniel Hernandez, Albert Matute, and Derrick Anthony.

The returners are joined by a recruiting class of eight newcomers, with three of the newcomers poised to red-shirt this season.

• Rico Hopping
• Wes Clarkson
• Vince Fier
• Jordan Jones
• Daniel Liese
• Nate Cipriano
• Lenox Lavallee
• Jacob McKinn

LPU kicks off their season next month on October 26^th with a home game scheduled against Stanton University at 7:30pm. Their schedule features many non-conference contests against fellow NAIA opponents in the CalPac, but the schedule is headlined with the 6 exhibition games against NCAA DI and DII opponents. The first exhibition game will be against Cal State Fullerton on October 28^th. LPU is then slated to face BYU on November 1^st, shortly followed by a game against Southern Utah University on November 9^th. Following these exciting games, they will face CSUN on November 17^th and Long Beach State on December 6^th. They round out their exhibition games with a final contest on December 19^th as they will play Biola. The conference schedule poses to be rigorous and competitive as it always is, with multiple GSAC programs having high national standings within the NAIA.

The Warriors are led by Coach Tim Cook, who is entering his 8^th season as the Head Coach for LPU. When asked to share his thoughts about the upcoming season, Coach Cook stated, "After a tough bout with injuries on a senior-led team in 22-23, we had to go out and identify certain positions in our program.  We did it in a variety of ways, hitting the NCAA portal with two APU Grad students, a GSAC intra-conference transfer, and by recruiting some dynamic high school kids that will develop as redshirts.  With our leading statistical scorers and best defensive players back, along with an incoming redshirt class from last year, this could be our deepest and most talented roster that we have fielded at LPU.  We have an incredible test in the preseason with 5 NCAA DI games, a cross town rivalry game with La Verne, and 2 big games against Westmont and Biola.  This will be an awesome season to see how we can continue to grow and advance as a program together."