By: Andrew Roberts '26, athletics communications student assistant
ITHACA, N.Y. - The Ithaca men's basketball team will kick off their season on Saturday evening when they host SUNY Brockport at Ben Light Gymnasium at 7:00 p.m.
The team is coming off a year in which they went 19-10, won the Liberty League title, and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament before falling to WPI in Worcester, Massachusetts. This was the first NCAA tournament appearance under coach Waleed Farid, who had coached the men's basketball team since 2021. This offseason, Farid left Ithaca to become the new head coach at Division III basketball powerhouse New York University.
To take Farid's place, Ithaca hired Mike McSloy to lead the program. McSloy comes from Drew University, where he coached the Rangers for three seasons and led them to their first NCAA tournament bid in school history. He'll now look to lead Ithaca back to the NCAA tournament for the second straight season. McSloy is joined by Mike Sasso on the coaching staff, who returns for a second season.
"If we continue to trust the process, not be concerned about the results early on, and just try and get a little bit better each day, I think we'll put ourselves in a good position," McSloy said.
The Bombers will face a difficult non-conference schedule in the month of November. After the matchup with Brockport, who went 14-2 in the Empire 8 Conference, they'll have three straight games against teams who made last year's NCAA tournament. They'll start that stretch at Cortland on November 13, before traveling to Hamilton on November 15 and returning home to host Western New England on November 22.
"We're going to be challenged from night one," McSloy said. "I think as long as we play hard, we'll put ourselves in a position to win, but ultimately these games are to get us ready for when it matters most in conference play."
Ithaca lost 2024-25 lead scorer Logan Wendell and fellow starter Aidan Holmes to graduation, which could additionally make things challenging early.
However, despite these losses and the new coaching regime, McSloy feels the team has come into form fairly quickly. A big factor in that is Ithaca's sole transfer this season, junior forward Matthew Zenker. Zenker played for McSloy at Drew last season, where he played in 24 games, starting 10, and averaging 11.5 points per game.
"I think having Matt [Zenker] makes the transition [to Ithaca College] easier because there's a familiar face in the program," McSloy said. "[He] knows our play style more specifically than other guys so he's trying to help get other players up to speed on what we're doing."
In addition to bringing on Zenker, the Bombers return nine players who played for the team last season. They will also bring back senior forward Gavin Schauder and junior center David Luberoff, who missed last season with injuries. Schauder last played for the team in the 2023-24 season, while Luberoff will look to make his Ithaca debut after spending the 2023-24 season at Division II Adelphi.
The roster consists of 18 players, including three seniors, seven juniors, two sophomores, and six freshmen.
Ithaca's returnees include three of last year's starters: junior guard Evan Cabral, junior guard Jaylon O'Neal, and sophomore forward Chris Leysath.
Cabral took a major step up in his second season on the South Hill, starting all 29 games and averaging 13 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 2.7 assists. He recorded five double-doubles, including one in the Liberty League title game and one in the first round of the NCAA tournament, both games that Ithaca won. His performance earned him a second team all-Liberty League nod.
O'Neal was the team's third leading scorer behind Wendell and Cabral. He averaged 10 points per game, bolstered by three 20+ point performances. He added 4.1 rebounds per game and 1.6 assists per game to that total.
Leysath burst onto the scene as a first-year, establishing his paint presence as the tallest player in Ithaca's starting five. He started all 29 games, averaging 7.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, going on to win Liberty League Rookie of the Year.
All three returning starters have been key leaders within the locker room, and will look to build on their performances from last season.
"The three of them have gotten themselves into really good shape," McSloy said. "I think their leadership combined with the returning seniors and other juniors have made the transition more seamless and helped the freshmen get up to speed more quickly."
The team returns most of the bench players who received regular minutes last season, primarily juniors and seniors. This includes junior forward Alex Penders, senior guard Cole Wissink, junior guard Jose Padilla, and junior guard Yoav Regev. McSloy was complimentary of Penders' leadership and additionally pinpointed Padilla and Regev as players he expects to see an expanded role.
"I think Jose [Padilla] is shooting the ball at a high clip and playing with a lot of confidence which is great to see," McSloy said. "[Yoav Regev] is a good shooter, he's athletic, and I think with our playstyle he could present some problems for the opponents."
Rounding out Ithaca's returnees are senior forward Laurence Brady and sophomore guard Thomas McKiernan.
Ithaca's recruiting class consists of Tylar Ola-Koi, Nick Lemmond, Gavin Rendle, Dom Penzello, Cole Wood, and Yoav's younger brother Dan Regev. McSloy expressed his excitement about the entire freshman class.
"[The freshmen have] all provided something a little different," McSloy said. "Dan [Regev} has some great size and length, Nick Lemmond can really, really shoot the ball, Dom Penzello has a knack for scoring, and Tylar Ola-Koi is a great athlete who's super coachable and plays extremely hard, so I think he could make an impact for us defensively."
After their difficult stretch of non-conference opponents in November, Ithaca will face a mix of non-conference and Liberty League opponents in December. They'll host Rochester on December 2 before three tough Liberty League road games. First up will be Vassar on December 5, who returns Liberty League Player of the Year Shea Fitzgerald. That will be followed up by a game at Skidmore on Dec. 6, who returns five of their top seven scorers. They will round out the December schedule with a game at Hobart on December 9.
Their final non-conference games of the season will come in early January, when they travel to Hoboken for a pair of games. They'll face Kean University on January 2, followed by St. Joseph's College of Maine on January 3.
The rest of the regular season will consist of 15 Liberty League matchups, including rematches with Hobart, Skidmore, and Vassar and two matchups against every other Liberty League team. Much like Skidmore and Vassar, Union and RPI return significant talent from last year's rosters. Union brings back all seven of their top scorers from last season, and RPI returns the trio of Andrew Deppe, Dylan Matchett, and PJ Scalisi. Nonetheless, McSloy has his eyes on a second consecutive Liberty League title.
