America East Basketball: UNH Revamps Its Roster

Read Time:2 Minute, 47 Second

Nathan Davis begins his second season as the head coach of the University of New Hampshire. Back in the spring, the Wildcats came within a game of playing for the tournament championship, losing to Vermont in the semi-finals. Since that loss, UNH has had to say goodbye to its best player, Clarence Daniels who graduated and moved on. Now Davis is putting together a team that must find a way to get where this program has never been. Championship Saturday.

So how does Davis get there? By completely overhauling the roster. Eleven new faces have been added to the team. Five forwards and seven guards will now call Durham, NH home. Let’s take a look at the newcomers to the UNH Wildcats.

We will start up front. Dylan Sanders is a 6-8 from Roanoke, Va. He transferred from Iona University, where he played 21 games for the Galls. He averaged 3.1 points a game, with his best game coming on Dec.16 when he scored 16 points in 16 minutes vs St. Joseph’s. Giancarlo Bastianoni is 6-7 from the Dominican Republic and spent three years at North Georgia, He played in 80 games starting 10. For his career, he averaged 8.7 points a game and 3.9 rebounds. Emmanuel Okpomo is a transfer from Temple where he played 45 games in three seasons, and 14 for Wake Forest in one year. He was in 24 games and scored under a point a game and less than a rebound contest.

Jon O’Neill is 6-9 from Kaukauna, Wis. He left Kaukauna High School holding the single-game rebound record at 30 and the career rebound record. Caleb Middleton is a 6-11 center who comes from Brewster Academy in Dover, NH. His size around the rim should be a big plus for the Wildcats.

The seven guards coming in are. Sami Pissis is a 6-3 guard who spent a year at Chipola College where in 18 games he averaged 12.1 points, 4.9 assists, and 3.7 boards. Jawarie Hamelin is a 6-2 guard from Monroe College where he played in 53 games with 48 starts. He helped last year’s team go 23-8 and advance to the NJCAA East District Championship semi-finals. Khalil Badru is 6-3 from Newman School in Boston and hails from New Britain CT. He is a two-time honor roll student, He won the Hoop Group championship and was the leading scorer in 2023. Anthony McCombs is a transfer from Bowling Green who stands 6-3. He played 33 games in two years at BGU with two starts. In high school, he was a 1,000-point scorer at Thurgood Marshall in Dayton. Ohio.

Nicholas Sanford is a 6-1 guard from Brophy College Prep in Phoenix, AZ. He will join the program as a freshman. Antoni Siewruk is a 6-8 guard from Koszalin, Poland played for a club team called SMS PZKosz Władysławowo. He averaged 16 points, four rebounds, and two assists. He also shot 44% from the 3-point range.

With a challenging non-conference schedule that includes games vs the defending national champions UConn Huskies and UMass Minutemen both on the road, this young UNH team will need to grow up in a hurry before league play begins.