ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team officially opens its 2023-24 season this Thursday, November 9 for an 8 p.m. tip at Cortland. The Bombers are coming off a 18-8 campaign last season, which resulted in a Liberty League regular season title and a trip to the conference semifinals.
Head coach
Waleed Farid, now in his third season on South Hill, has guided the Bombers to 35 victories thus far. Farid, along with assistant coach
Matthew Smith, have assembled a roster of 15 players this season, which consists of four seniors, three juniors, three sophomores and five first-years.
"The team has already taken a lot of positive strides throughout the preseason," said Farid. "One of the biggest questions we had going in was how the team was going to look after losing so many key contributors from last year's team and we have already started to see some of those answers take shape."
Those losses include the graduation of five fifth-year players in
Luka Radovich,
Skylar Sinon,
George Sikoryak III,
Zach Warech and
Liam Spellman. The loss of those five will be filled with this year's captains
Noah Downing,
Andrew Geschickter,
Aidan Holmes and
Logan Wendell.
Wendell was a Liberty League Second Team selection last season after averaging 14.5 points. He will be the Bombers' returning leading scorer. Downing played in all 26 games last year in a reserve role and scored 89 points, with 54 rebounds and 27 assists. Geschickter added 85 points over 20 games and Holmes shot 50-percent from the field in 15 games played.
The Bombers took advantage of the earlier start to their preseason this year as IC took a fall trip to Canada and played in three exhibition games, which results in three victories.
"The trip to Toronto during Fall Break allowed us some extra time and opportunities for guys to grow into new roles as well as gel and build team chemistry."
The Bombers also welcome back
Triston Wennersten,
Gavin Schauder,
Bryce Bleibtrey,
Blake Haber,
Cole Wissink and
Laurence Brady.
"This is a really fun group to coach every day," Farid continued. "The level of competition in each practice has been really high. I'm really excited to see them form their identity as the year goes on and go out and compete against some of the great teams we have on our schedule."
Along with that returning group are the additions of first-year players
Jaylon O'Neal,
Alex Penders,
Evan Cabral,
Jose Padilla and
Yoav Regev.
"Our first-years are a great group," Farid stated. "Each guy brings something different to the table from their experiences to their backgrounds to their abilities. They've each made an impact on our program in their own way and I look forward to seeing them develop as people and as players."
Following the opener at Cortland, the Bombers will travel to Hamilton on November 14 and then head to Massachusetts for a two-day tournament at Bridgewater State where they will play the Bears on the 17th and either WPI or Johnson & Wales on the 18th.
IC will return to South Hill and host Utica for its home opener on November 27 at 7 p.m. From there, Ithaca closes out 2023 with road games at Vassar and Bard to begin Liberty League play on December 1-2 and finishes out the calendar year with a home matchup against Rochester on December 6.
The New Year begins with a trip to Pittsburgh to take on Carnegie Mellon on January 2, followed by three straight home Liberty League contests against Union (January 5), Hobart (January 6) and RIT (January 9).
On January 12-13, the Bombers travel to the North Country for matchups with Clarkson and St. Lawrence. The next weekend, Ithaca entertains RPI and Skidmore on the 19th and 20th as students return to campus from winter break.
Ithaca will the play its next five league games on the road as the Bombers head to Hobart (January 26), Union (January 27), Skidmore (February 2), RPI (February 3) and RIT (February 6). The Bombers close out their regular season at home with four consecutive games on February 9-10 against St. Lawrence and Clarkson and then February 16-17 with Bard and Vassar.
The Liberty League Tournament will begin on February 20 with first round matchups and then the semifinals take play on February 23, with the final commencing on February 25.
