MBB SEASON PREVIEW: Men’s hoops tips off 2024-25 season by hosting Purple & Gold Tournament

DEFIANCE, Ohio - Defiance College men's basketball returns to action with the 49th annual Purple & Gold Tournament at the Karl H. Weaner Center on Friday and Saturday. The Yellow Jackets welcome IU East, Great Lakes Christian and Miami Middletown with dual sessions beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday and 1 p.m on Saturday.

Season Outlook
Last season was the Yellow Jackets' farewell tour to the NCAA and finished 1-23. Now back in the NAIA where the program grew into prominence, Defiance is ready more than ever for the fresh start in a landscape that fourth-year head coach Josh Gibson is very familiar with. Gibson is entering his 12th season as a college head coach and has thrived at the NAIA level with a conference title at Brescia and building the program at Lourdes into a winner in just three seasons. The 2024-25 season is Gibson's first at the NAIA level since 2018-19. Alongside Gibson is fourth-year assistant coach Reggie Gallant and Will Garlock, who has been with the program as a student assistant since 2020-21 and is now a full-time assistant following graduation from DC in the spring. The continuity gives the Yellow Jackets' men's basketball team the longest-tenured coaching staff among all Defiance teams.

This season features 22 conference games in the WHAC, meaning Defiance will have a limited non-conference slate before the league slate begins on Nov. 16 at Siena Heights. Defiance has three games against USCAA programs Miami Middletown and Penn State Shenango, plus their season-opener against Great Lakes Christian of the NCCAA. Aside from a visit to NCAA Division III Spalding next week, the Yellow Jackets' Nov. 13 game against Goshen will be the lone NAIA non-conference game of the season. DC also has four Division I exhibitions against Purdue Fort Wayne, Toledo, Miami Ohio and Oakland, which will be the Grizzlies' season-opener with Defiance native and Oakland head coach Greg Kampe sitting at 699 career victories. 

About the Team
The Yellow Jackets will have a good mixture of important pieces returning with an infusion of experience and youth coming into the program. Defiance brings back just two players who spent the majority of last season in a starting role in sharp-shooting guard Will Gehlhausen and Evan Park on the interior. Gehlhausen was the top three-point shooter on the team last year with 45 makes beyond the arc and had two breakout performances with seven treys. Park worked his way into the starting lineup as the year went on with four games in double-digits and was one of the team's strongest rebounders. Alongside them are the brothers Jury, Jordyn and Ried, who also have 28 starts combined through their first two years at Defiance.

To help bring some experience with immediate impact, the Yellow Jackets attracted four junior transfers in Connor Bush, Zahyem Bradwell, Devonte Curry and Parker Chatman. Bush, Bradwell and Curry all came from the junior college ranks and were solid contributors to their teams. Bush averaged 19.1 points per game at Lansing Community College two seasons ago and was an all-conference and all-region player. Curry can score in buckets and set a program record with 47 points in a game for Edison State in 2023 and averaged double figures in his two years there. Bradwell got stronger and stronger as his career at Lake Michigan CC progressed and nearly averaged a double-double down the stretch last winter. Chatman is a Toledo native and has 40 career games under his belt from Spalding and Lawrence Tech.

Defiance recruited Northwest Ohio well and brought in several local standouts. Four all-conference big men in Carter Sudhoff from Spencerville, Evan Angstmann from St. Marys, and Ahmir Ruffin from Bowling Green, and Tillman Brown from Chippewa are now donning purple and gold. Sudhoff and Ruffin were All-Ohio in 2024. DC also dipped into the well in the Toledo area by securing the services of former Emmanuel Christian guard Jalen Brown and Christian Burton from Cardinal Stritch, who both were All-Ohio selections as seniors. Coach Gibson also hit the recruiting trail in his home state of Kentucky to sign guards Donovan Stone, an all-state player and triple-jump runner-up, and Drake Skeen, a 1,000-point scorer at Hopkins County Central.

Conference Outlook
The WHAC was a very competitive league last year and sent three schools to the national tournament in Madonna, Lourdes and Cornerstone. Madonna is the defending regular-season champs and are the preseason favorite according to the conference coaches poll. The Crusaders lost the tournament title game to Cornerstone but were the last team in the standing and reached the Sweet 16. Indiana Tech, Cornerstone, Rochester Christian and Lawrence Tech round out the top 5 of the preseason poll with Defiance checking in 13th as the league's newest member.

-JACKETS-