ROCK HILL, S.C. — Rise and shine for a new season of App State Men's Basketball.
The Mountaineers will begin their 2026-27 schedule — and the eighth season under the direction of head coach
Dustin Kerns — at the Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon event being held Monday at the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 a.m. — yes, 6 a.m. — against Merrimack, a reigning Metro (formerly the MAAC) regular season champion that is bringing a unique, effective zone defense south from Massachusetts.
To celebrate the first day of official college basketball games, this event features six games being played throughout the day, starting at 12:01 a.m. (High Point vs. Liberty) and continuing with a 3 a.m. game (Grambling State vs. Northern Illinois) before the Mountaineers and Warriors take the court. That contest will be streamed on the Field of 68's YouTube channel, and
Matt Present will call the game live on radio for the App State Sports Network.
Kerns and his staff have overseen the Sun Belt Conference's best scoring defense in each of the previous five seasons. In an era when rosters change dramatically each offseason, the staff put an emphasis on adding players with high-level shooting ability as the Mountaineers unveil a roster with nine scholarship newcomers, so the team could have different strengths or a different identity this season.
Of the eight returners from 2025-26, three appeared in the starting lineup last season: guard
Eren Banks (16 starts in 30 appearances), forward
Chad Moodie (seven starts in 32 appearances) and forward
Andrin Njock (two starts in 23 appearances). Banks led the team with 24 points in a 76-67 exhibition win against Winthrop at the Rock Hill Sports & Event Center on Oct. 17, and he had a team-high 28 points in an 83-76 exhibition loss to Western Carolina three days later.
Merrimack went 23-11 overall and 17-3 in its league last season for head coach Joe Gallo. The Warriors, who completed their transition to Division I in 2023, employ what's been described as a 4-1 zone defense because it often has four defenders above the 3-point arc. It's an active zone known for forcing turnovers and preventing 3-point attempts.
Last season, Merrimack ranked among the national leaders by forcing turnovers on 20.4 percent of an opponent's possessions and limiting opponents to 30.3-percent shooting from beyond the arc, with only 32.6 percent of an opponent's field-goal attempts coming from 3-point range. Given the scheme, the Warriors did rank last nationally out of 365 teams by allowing opponents to grab offensive rebounds on 39.9 percent of their misses.
An early morning tip time isn't new to Kerns, who was a Wofford assistant in 2014, when the Terriers beat Iona in a 7 a.m. game that was part of ESPN's College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon.
Kerns' coaching staff for 2026-27 includes two assistants who have been with him since he arrived in Boone, following him from Presbyterian in 2019: associate head coach
Bob Szorc and
Bradley Fey. The coaching staff also includes three first-year App State assistants in
Jonathan Mitchell (from Mercer), N.C. native
AJ Clark (from Eastern Kentucky) and
Carson Barrett (from Purdue).
Of the nine scholarship newcomers on the roster, that group is made up of one international freshman, one freshman from the U.S. high school ranks, three Division I transfers, one transfer who ranked as a top-20 scorer at the Division II level (Concordia St. Paul's
Ben Kopetzki) and three transfers from the junior college ranks (
Mason Costello,
Da'Mori Lytch,
Jaylen Colon). Of the three Division I transfers,
Hermann Koffi was a double-figure scorer for Stonehill in the NEC, and the two others (UConn's
Rrezon Elezaj, Kansas'
Corbin Allen) were redshirting true freshmen last season at power conference programs.
In addition to Banks, Moodie and Njock, the returners include two players who were newcomers to Boone last season: guard
KJ Vasser, a JUCO transfer who missed 2025-26 with an injury, and forward
Ted Neal.
After beginning the season Monday morning in Rock Hill, the Mountaineers have a quick turnaround by hosting Christendom for their home opener Wednesday night. That game is the second part of a women's/men's doubleheader in Boone.
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