DURANT, Okla. – The Southeastern men's basketball program opens the 2025-26 season hosting the GAC/NSIC Challenge. The Savage Storm will face two teams across two days, beginning on Friday, Nov. 14, at 7:30 p.m. against Minot State, and will later battle Minnesota-Duluth on Saturday at 8:30 p.m.
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SERIES NOTES
- Southeastern and Minot State faced each other for the first time in last year's GAC/NSIC Conference Challenge, and the Beavers would come out on top with a 77-69 win.
- SE and Minnesota-Duluth are tied 1-1 in the all-time series, heading into the third matchup on Saturday. Last season, the Bulldogs got the upper hand on the Storm with a 115-81 win at the conference challenge.
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STORM REPORT
Southeastern enters the 2025-26 season off the back of a 10-18 campaign last year and finished 8-14 in GAC play. Ahead of the start of the new season, the Savage Storm were voted ninth in the preseason poll by the league's coaches. This marks the first time the blue and gold were picked to finish outside the top five since the 2017-18 season.
The Storm brings back nine players from the roster last year, including three starters. Highlighting the returners is veteran Chandler Dickinson, who is one of three players to start ten or more games back. Dickinson was one of SE's more efficient shooters last year, converting at a 46.3 percent (74-160) clip from the field for 8.2 points per game. The Rockwall, Texas native also ranked second on the team with 35 triples and shot 36.8 percent (35-95) from beyond the arc.
In addition to Dickinson back, Southeastern returns Santiago Camacho Gomez, Jalen Williams and Ethan Wilkerson. All three played in at least 20 games last season, led by Wilkerson, who is the only player returning to play in all 28 games. Gomez is the leading scorer back for the Storm, having averaged 9.4 points per game in 2024-25, while Williams saw 4.3 points per game and 2.2 rebounds.
SE added a pair of transfers in the offseason with the addition of Ethan Scott from Oklahoma Baptist and Deondre Dunn from Southwestern Christian. Scott played three seasons with the Bison and averaged 7.0 points per game on 42.0 percent (134-319) shooting from deep, including a team-high 64 triples last season. Dunn averaged 17.7 points per game with the Eagles in 24-25 and posted ten 20-point games last season, with a high of 29 scored against Mid-America Christian.
SCOUTING MINOT STATE
Ahead of the start of the 2025-26 season, the Beavers were voted 11th overall in the NISC Preseason Poll and third in the Northern division. Minot State finished last season 26-10 and 14-8 in the NSIC, but is under new leadership this season, led by head coach Randall Herbst. Additionally, Minot's Darik Dissette was tabbed as a Preseason Player to Watch after transferring in from Division I North Dakota State, where he spent his last two seasons.Â
SCOUTING MINNESOTA-DULUTH
Minnesota-Duluth was picked to finish first in the North Division of the NSIC and was selected tied for fifth overall. The Bulldogs ended last year tied for third in the conference standings with 15 wins, helping them to a 20-9 overall season. Leading the returners for the Bulldogs is junior guard Caleb Siwek, who was selected as UMD's player to watch. Siwek averaged 12.7 points per game in 2024-25 and ranked third on the team in three-pointers with 32.
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