BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – The Gardner-Webb University men's basketball team will get their 2023-2024 season underway on Monday, Nov. 6 when they host Erskine College at 7:00 p.m. in Paul Porter Arena. Monday's game will stream live on ESPN+ (WatchESPN.com), with the radio call broadcast live on 730 The Game (ESPN Charlotte 730 AM) and ESPNCLT.com. Assistant Athletic Director for Broadcasting & Strategic Communications Phil Constantino and former Penn State Head Coach Jerry Dunn will be on the ESPN+ broadcast. Mark Binetti will be on radio.
 
HEAD COACH TIM CRAFT
Head Coach Tim Craft enters his 11^th season at the helm of the Gardner-Webb University men's basketball program in 2023-2024. He has firmly established himself as one of the Big South Conference's premier basketball minds, winning 171 games through 10 seasons and leading the program to its first NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament in 2018-2019.
 
DQ NICHOLAS
Senior guard DQ Nicholas was named to the Big South's 2023-2024 Preseason All-Conference First-Team on Oct. 17. A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Nicholas returns to the Runnin' Bulldogs following a season in which he earned second team all-conference honors. Nicholas played in 31 games making 28 starts in 2022-2023. He averaged 12.5 points per game, the 14th most in the Big South Conference and dished out 98 assists, the seventh most in the Big South, averaging 3.2 assists per game. He also recorded 41 steals, the sixth most in the Big South. Nicholas scored a season-high 27 points vs High Point University (Jan. 28) while shooting 10-for-12 (83.3 percent) from the field. He also made five three-pointers in that game.
 
RETURNERS
In addition to DQ Nicholas, Gardner-Webb returns four players that made significant contributions during the 2022-2023 season. Julien Soumaoro played in 30 games last season while starting in 24 games for 798 minutes. He led the team in 3-point makes (55) and percentage (37.7) Lucas Stieber played in played in all 31 games making seven starts on the year with an average of 23.5 minutes per game. He was second on the team in 3-point percentage going 26-72 (36.1) from deep. Quest Aldridge played in 31 games with four starts averaging 6.1 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. Caleb Robinson played in 31 games averaging 8.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.
 
NEWCOMERS
A number of new Runnin' Bulldogs join the team this season. The 'Dawgs are joined by freshman guard Darryl "Buddy" Simmons II who led the Putnam Science to a 39-3 mark as a senior and the program's fourth national title since 2018, averaging 12.8 points, 5.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game while shooting 94.4 percent from the free throw line. He finished his career at Putnam Science as the program's all-time leader in made threes (147) and played in 94 games – which is second in program history. Shahar Lazar joins Gardner-Webb after a redshirted season at New Mexico State. In prep school Lazar suited up for Elitzur Ironi Netanya; one of the 12 teams which comprise the Israeli Basketball Premier League. He logged minutes for one of the 12 best teams in his home nation while averaging 5.5 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. Cheickna Sissoko joins the team after redshirting last season. He played the 2021-2022 season at the Academy of Art where he totaled 148 points, 134 rebounds, 10 assists, two steals, and 20 blocks.
 
SCHEDULE
Gardner-Webb will play a 31-game slate in 2023-2024 that features 13 home games, eight in conference play and five in non-conference play. Following the opener with Erskine, the 'Dawgs will travel to the University of Arkansas (Nov. 10) and Baylor University (Nov. 12) to round out the opening week.

GWU will then travel to Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada for the Atlantic Slam tournament where the 'Dawgs will meet Weber State University on Friday, Nov. 17, Yale University on Saturday, Nov. 18, and Colgate University on Sunday, Nov. 19 in the program's first trip to Canada.

Other notable non-conference matchups include a neutral site meeting with Appalachian State University on Dec. 16 and a road game versus Virginia Commonwealth University on Dec. 30.

The non-conference slate also features home games versus local foes Limestone University (Nov. 25), Western Carolina University (Dec. 2), Wofford College (Dec. 6), and Erskine College (Dec. 12).

In the remaining non-conference road games, the 'Dawgs travel to Queens University (Nov. 29), UT Chattanooga (Dec. 16), and the University of Akron (Dec. 21).

The Runnin' Bulldogs open Big South play at High Point University on Jan. 6 before a pair home games against Charleston Southern University on Jan. 10 and Presbyterian College on Jan. 13. GWU then travels to Radford University on Jan. 17 prior to hosting local rival Winthrop University on Jan. 20. A trip to Longwood University is next on Jan. 24 with a pair of home games to follow versus USC Upstate (Jan. 27) and UNC Asheville (Jan. 31).

The Big South Conference schedule features a 16-game double round-robin format, with return trips against each conference opponent throughout February. This season's Big South tournament will be held March 6-10 at the Qubein Center in High Point, North Carolina.
 
Times and television coverage for all Gardner-Webb men's basketball games can be found at gwusports.com. For more information on the Gardner-Webb men's basketball team, fans can follow the team on Twitter at @GWU_MBK or on Instagram at @gwu_mbk.