Offseason Review: Coastal Carolina Continues to Build Upward
All eyes are on the Costal Carolina baseball team, but what does the Chanticleers' basketball team look like coming into the 2025-2026 season? Can Justin Gray keep rolling?
The spot light is on Costal Carolina’s baseball team as they punched their ticket to the College World Series Finals with a dominating 11-3 win over Louisville to take on LSU. Don’t forget, this is the same Coastal Carolina team that won the whole tournament back in 2016 when they were members of the Big South. Ironically, they took down LSU 2-0 in the Super Regionals that year, so there’s already some history between those two teams.
Coastal Carolina’s baseball team has reached the NCAA Tournament four years in a row and 20 out of 25 years since 2000. While the school has had an enormous amount of success on the baseball field, has the same translated to basketball? No.
It hasn’t been all doom and gloom as the Chanticleers have put together seven 20+ win seasons since 2000. Their final few years in the Big South were by far the most successful. They had back-to-back 28 win seasons in 2010 and 2011, then they reached the NCAA Tournament in 2014 and 2015 both as 16 seeds. Since joining the Sun Belt, the results have been mixed.
They have finished .500 or better just four seasons since joining in 2016, while their highest win total was 19 which came in the 2021-2022 season. Had it not been for COVID, they probably would’ve had their best record in the 2020-2021 season, but they didn’t play a full schedule and finished 18-8 on the season.
During the 2023-2024 season, Costal Carolina started off 3-5 and long-time coach Cliff Ellis announced his retirement. After 17 years at Costal Carolina, he finished 297-227 with two NCAA Tournament Appearances. Benny Moss finished out the seasons going 5-16, then they announced the official hire in Justin Gray as the next head coach of the Chanticleers.
Gray had previously coached three seasons at Western Carolina, building the Catamounts from an 11-21 record in his first season to finishing 22-10 in year three. There’s no doubt, the Coastal Carolina administration is hoping that he can do the same thing.
Now, in year two, Gray is already piecing together a team that looks like it should take another step forward from their 10-22 record last season. Let’s take a look at their roster.
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Roster Turnover
The Chanticleers lost the following players:
Jordan Battle (Old Dominion)
12.8 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists
Noah Amenhauser (Oregon State)
10.8 points, 6 rebounds
Joshua Meo (Winthrop)
8.5 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists
Denzel Hines (UC Riverside)
7.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists rebounds
Naz Brown (Uncommitted)
3.1 points, 1.9 rebounds, 1.2 assists
Da Houston (Texas A&M - Corpus Christi)
1 game
Henry Abraham (Ineligible)
3.1 points, 1.9 rebounds, 1.2 assists
Marcus Watson (Ineligible)
DNP
Colin Granger (Ineligible)
7.2 points, 4.4 rebounds
Mabor Majak (Ineligible)
0.8 points, 1.4 rebounds (7.5 minutes/32 games)
In this era of college basketball, it’s no surprise that Coach Gray is going to be starting with a nearly completely new roster heading into next season. Looking at the data, they lost five of their top six scorers from last season.
Jordan Battle is a star in the making who is now heading to Old Dominion. He led the season in scoring last season while shooting 42.3% overall and 42.7% from deep on 5.3 attempts per game. The 6’3 guard played in a complimentary ball handling roll alongside Joshua Meo who is headed to Winthrop.
Noah Amenhauser had an incredible sophomore season. The 7’2 center shot 55.7% from the floor and even flashed some potential to expand his offensive potential by knocking down four out of his ten shots from three point. He averaged 2.2 offensive rebounds, and six rebounds overall. He’ll be headed to Oregon State where he’ll look to take his game to the next level.
Denzel Hines is transferring out to UC Riverside after the 6’7 sophomore had a strong sophomore season. He averaged 7.2 points and 6.2 rebounds while shooting 43% overall. UC Riverside is assembling a nice squad and Hines is a hurtful loss for the Chanticleers considering his career potential.
Returning Players
The following players are returning to the Chanticleers:
Rasheed Jones (Redshirt Junior)
11.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists
Andre Mulibea (Redshirt Senior)
4.8 points, 3.2 rebounds
Connor Martin (Redshirt Junior)
0.6 points (1.8 minutes/5 games)
Charles Dunlap (Senior)
1 points, 0.2 rebounds (1.8 minutes/6 games)
Jackson Keil (Senior)
DNP
Braden MacVicar (Junior)
DNP ~ Injury
There isn’t a ton of talent that’s returning to Coastal Carolina for next season, however, the return of Rasheed Jones is huge. Jones initially entered the transfer portal, then decided to return back for next season. The redshirt junior spent his freshman season at Northwest Florida State College before transferring to Coastal Carolina. Last season, he was a large piece of the offense as he shot 38% overall from the floor and 34% from beyond the arc on 6.1 attempts per game. For a 6’6 guard, he handles the ball well as he featured a 2.1 assist to 1.2 turnover ratio. I’d love to seem him get to the line a bit more as he averaged just 2.2 free throw attempts, but he shot 80% overall.
Andre Mulibea is another returning player that will play an important role on the team. He appeared in 18 games last season and averaged 16.8 minutes per game. He shot 45.2% overall and 37.2% from 3pt on 2.4 attempts per game. He’s another 6’6 guard with a strong ability to knock down shots. His best game came against Georgia Southern where he shot 5-7 from the floor and 2-4 from three point with five rebounds. If he can stay healthy, he’ll be a great additional shooter.
As for the rest of the returning players, Keil and Dunlap are both walk-ons. Connor Martin appeared in just five games last season after transferring in from Trevecca. We haven’t seen enough of Martin to fully grasp what his potential contributions could be on the team. Plus, he had a minimal role in his freshman season at Trevecca and then he redshirted his sophomore year.
Macvicar actually had a successful freshman year for the Chanticleers in the 2023-2024. He appeared in 26 games, starting in 16 and averaged 6.1 points and four rebounds. The 6’11 forward shot 37.7% from the floor and 34.8% from deep on 3.4 attempts per game. He didn’t play last season due to an injury, so he received a redshirt. If he can regain his form, he’ll be huge for Coach Gray.
Additions
The Chanticleers have added the following players for next season:
Joshua Beadle (Senior) - Boston College
5.9 points, 1.8 rebounds, 2 assists
Jerry Ngopot (Grad-Senior) - Louisiana - Monroe
6 points, 4.3 rebounds
A.J. Dancler (Junior) - LeMoyne
15.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.1 steals
Derrick Green (Sophomore) - Brunswick CC
11.3 points, 7.4 rebounds
DaJohn Craig (Sophomore) - Oregon State
1.9 points, 0.7 rebounds (6.2 minutes/10 games)
Nadjrick Peat (Grad-Senior) -Hawaii Hilo
8.1 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.1 blocks
Tristan Thompson (Freshman)
Devin Brown (Freshman)
Building up a program that’s stalled out doesn’t happen overnight. Coach Gray has brought in some intriguing pieces. Starting with the best addition in my opinion, A.J. Dancler. Dancler spent his first two seasons at Le Moyne and he took a huge step forward last year. After averaging 5.7 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists as a freshman, he jumped and nearly 3x’d his contributions. He shot 44.5% overall on 11.5 attempts per game and 40.4% from three point on 5.5 attempts per game. He’s a lights out shooter, but he can also handle the ball. The 6’2 guard averaged 3.4 assists per game. He did however average 2.6 turnovers per game, so I’d like to see him trim down on the turnovers and make better decisions, but that’ll come as he gains more experience. In conference play, he was unstoppable. He averaged 20.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.3 steals, and three turnovers per game. His assist to turnover ratio was a bit better, but again, if he could cut down on the turnovers he’ll take a huge leap as a play maker. His offensive capabilities provide him with a high ceiling for Coastal Carolina.
Joshua Beadle has spent the last three seasons bouncing around the power conferences. He spent two seasons with Clemson, averaging 10-12 minutes per game and 2-3 points. Last year, he transferred to Boston College where he appeared in 31 games, starting in 16. He shot 49% from the floor and 47.2% from deep on 1.2 attempts per game. Notably, he averaged two assists and 1.5 turnovers per game. The 6’3 guard is going to provide the Chanticleers with some much needed experience against some of the top talent in college basketball. Against North Carolina, he finished with 14 points, five rebounds and six assists. Against Syracuse, he finished with 17 points, six assists, two rebounds.
Jerry Ngopot is an interesting pickup. He spent his last two seasons at Louisiana-Monroe and previously was at Saint Peter’s for one season. He appeared in 32 games, starting in 26 last year while shooting 43.2% overall and 27.1% from three point. He’s 6’11, so he provides some solid height and he’s not a albatross with fouls. Sometimes, you’ll find these types of players struggle with staying out of foul trouble, but he averaged just 1.7 last season.
Derrick Green is coming out of the JUCO ranks from Brunswick Community College. He averaged 11.3 points and 7.4 rebounds as a freshman while shooting an incredile 69% from the floor. He’s not a three point threat as he shot just ten times, but he did knock three down. Brunswick was a solid team this season, finishing 28-5 overall and 12-2 in their conference, so it’s not like he was having an incredible freshman season on a bad team. There’s a lot to like about his potential and he is going to be a menace in the paint.
DaJohn Craig spent his first two seasons in college basketball at Oregon State. He appeared in 25 games combined and averaged 2.4 points while shooting 37% overall and 33.3% from deep. It’s hard to gauge the impact he can have with his minimal playing time and he had just one other offer from Kentucky Wesleyan coming out of high school.
The last addition to the portal is Nadjrick Peat out of Hawaii Hilo. He appeared and started in 32 games last season while shooting 55.3% from the floor and racking up 8.7 rebounds per game, 2.8 of which were offensive. The 6’11 center isn’t a three point threat as he has attempted just one three, however, teaming up with Ngopot & a hopefully healthy Macvicar and Coastal Carolina has some strong players down low.
Looking at the freshman, Tristan Thompson had quite a few offers coming out of high school including: George Mason, Georgia Southern, ETSU, UNC Greensboro, Texas A&M, Charleston, and more. Some had him listed as a three-star and the consensus is this kid was completely underrated. Looking at his highlights, I’m going to have to agree. This is the type of player that could be competing for the Sun Belt All-Freshman team. The 6’5 guard plays well as a wing with an ability to knock down shots from outside and slash to the paint.
Devin Brown is another incoming freshman that was highly regarded coming out of high school. He held offers from schools like Arizona State, Nevada, UIC, Toledo, Ohio, Bradley, Arkansas State, and more. Brown was listed as a three-star recruit per 247 sports and the 8th best player out of Wisconsin, 271st in the nation overall. The 6’8 forward is a monster in the paint and his ceiling is high. Brown is going to be a force in the Sun Belt this season and I hope to see him develop at Coastal Carolina because he seems to be the type of player that could be something special and help his team get over the hump. He’ll be playing quite a bit in year one of his college career.
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Expectations
There’s a lot to like about the potential growth that Justin Gray should have Coastal Carolina leading towards in year two. He rebuilt his roster while returning his budding star Rasheed Jones. He’s added strong players in the portal and two freshman that could make an impact in their first seasons in college basketball.
Looking at a potential starting line up, you could foresee:
A.J. Dancler
Joshua Beadle
Rasheed Jones
Devin Brown
Braeden MacVicar
From here, you’d have Derrick Green, Andre Mulibea, Jerry Ngopot and Tristan Thompson coming off the bench as your main secondaries in the rotation. You should even swap out Beadle and have him come off the bench to have him as a secondary ball handler to help relive Dancler, however, I think they’d limit themselves too much on perimeter shooting if they did that.
Overall, this is going to be a physical team. They have quite a few players with solid height that play well in the paint. Derrick Green, Nadjrick Peat, Devin Brown, and Braeden MacVicar all can play well down there, breaking away from the trend of teams being offensively minded from beyond the arc. This is going to be a solid rebounding team, both on the offensive and defensive ends.
Their three point shooting is one thing that I’m concerned about. Dancler and Jones are their strongest two shooters coming into next season. Mulibea can provide some help and Beadle can knock down some, but he just doesn’t take a lot of threes. I’m curious to see if freshman Tristan Thompson can provide some assistance from beyond the arc in year one. I’d be shocked if he didn’t get an opportunity to carve out a role in year one and helping unlock a dangerous combination of perimeter shooting and offense in the paint for Coastal Carolina would be huge.
The jury is still out on what the results will look like this season, but regardless we will not be seeing another 3-15 Sun Belt record. I’d be shocked if we see anything less than a .500 record with the roster that Justin Gray has assembled here. He’s added a lot of fire power down low and brought in two solid freshman that many among the non-power conference ranks would be vying to have. If you want an up-and-coming coach to keep an eye on, watch what Justin Gray can do with this Coastal Carolina team.