BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The start of the 2023-24 Illinois Wesleyan University men's basketball season kicks off this weekend Friday-Saturday, Nov. 10-11, with the third annual Sikma Hall of Fame Invitational inside the Shirk Center. This year's tournament will see the Titans welcome Ohio Wesleyan, No. 15 University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, and University of Wisconsin-Stout to Bloomington for the four-game tournament.
    The tournament will begin with a bout between nationally ranked UMHB and UW-Stout at 5 p.m. Friday evening, Nov. 10, while IWU will battle OWU at 7 p.m. Saturday will see the winner's of each game square off in the championship at 5 p.m., with the consolation final scheduled for a 3 p.m. tipoff.
    All four of the tournament games will be live streamed through the Titan Broadcast Network, with Eric Stock and Joel Swanson on the call. Live stats will also be available.

BUILT BY BANNERS: Illinois Wesleyan's rich men's basketball tradition includes six banners inside the Shirk Center. While many schools hang banners for conference championships, IWU's standard is a top-four finish at the NCAA Championship. Illinois Wesleyan's men's basketball program's contribution includes the 1997 NCAA Division III National Champions, and third-place finishes in 1996, 2001, 2006, 2012, and 2014. Members of the six banner-raising teams will be recognized at halftime of IWU's game on Saturday, Nov. 11.

CAPTAINS CALL: Luke Yoder, Ryan Sroka and Evan Schneider will serve as captains for the Titans this season. Sroka will lead IWU in the role for the second straight year.

HONORING THE CHAMPS: This weekend's tournament will see some of the best to don the Green and White recognized as IWU athletics will celebrate the 2023 CCIW Championship Women's Golf team. The Titans, who won the league title by a 56-stroke margin while setting records along the way, will be honored during the first full timeout of the second half of the game the Titans are competing in.

WE LOVE LID LIFTERS: Illinois Wesleyan has made a habit of starting off the season on the right foot in recent years, as evident by the Titans' seven-game win streak in season openers. Illinois Wesleyan defeated Yeshiva, 76-71, in last year's Sikma Hall of Fame Invitational to begin the 2022-23 campaign. IWU's last season-opening loss came in the 2015-16 season, where the Green and White were edged, 88-86, by Benedictine.

IT'S A WESLEYAN THING: Illinois Wesleyan will battle Ohio Wesleyan in its season opener Friday night, in just the fifth all-time meeting between the two programs. OWU holds a 3-1 lead in the limited series, but IWU won the last meeting, 88-70, Nov. 26, 2016 in Delaware, Ohio. The Titans benefited from Andy Stempel's game-high 21 points and Brady Rose's 20-point showing as the Green and White shot a blistering 57.9 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point range. Trevor Seibring (14) and Alec Bausch (12) also finished in double-figures.

IWU AGAINST UMHB AND UW-STOUT: Illinois Wesleyan holds a combined record of 1-0 against its potential Saturday opponents, with the one win coming against UW-Stout during the 2001-02 season. The Titans have never faced off against Mary Hardin-Baylor, while the lone meeting with the Blue Devils was a 89-75 IWU win in Honolulu, Hawaii. Chris Silagi dropped 24 points off the bench and John Camardella posted an 18-point, 10-rebound double-double.

THE ROAD AHEAD: Another challenging schedule awaits the Titans in 2023-24. IWU is slated to play at least nine games against teams nationally ranked or receiving votes in the D3hoops.com Preseason Top-25.

PRESEASON ACCOLADES ROLL IN: Luke Yoder's return to the Titans has come with national implications across the Division III men's basketball landscape as evidence by the D3hoops.com Preseason All-America teams announced Tuesday, Oct. 31. Yoder was the lone CCIW representative on the 25-player list as he received fifth team recognition.
    A three-year letterwinner for IWU from 2019-22, Yoder spent last season at the Division I level, where he played in 21 games at North Dakota State. He is the first Titan to garner preseason honors from D3hoops.com since Matthew Leritz did so ahead of the 2021-22 campaign.

MEET THE NEWCOMERS: Illinois Wesleyan brought in six freshmen in addition to Luke Yoder as Jackson Niego, Mason Funk, Dylan Schmidt, Adam Beasley, Ofri Kauf, and Brady Kuehl joined the Titans ahead of the 2023-24 season.
    Niego was a two-year starter at Lyons Township, where he was named the team's MVP as a senior. He led LT to back-to-back regional championships, was named all-conference, and Third Team All-State in 2023.
    Funk, one of two local products in the class, graduated from University High. Named First Team All-State by the IBCA as a senior, he was a three-time team MVP pick as well as a First Team All-Central State 8 selection.
    A native of Johnsburg, Ill., Schmidt was a two-time all-area pick at Johnsburg High School. He was a four-year varsity letterwinner, including a three-year starter.
Beasley comes to IWU by way of Bloomington High School, where he was a multi-sport standout.  A three-time all-conference pick, Beasley competed at the state track meet in four events.
    Coming all the way from Texas, Kauf was an all-district honoree and team captain at John Paul II. He led his team to a state championship in 2022 and a runner-up finish in 2023.
    Kuehl becomes the latest in a long line of family members to sport the Green and White. A three-year starter at Parkway West High School, Kuehl was named offensive player of the year, all-district, all-conference, and team captain as a senior.

HE'S BAAAAACK: After a one-year stint at NCAA Division I North Dakota State, Luke Yoder is back at home with the Titans. The 6-foot guard appeared in 21 games for NDSU after a tremendous three-year run at IWU. Yoder brings a significant amount of experience to the Titans, especially at point guard where he has accrued more than 200 career assists. In 81 career games between his two stops, Yoder has scored 710 points (8.7 ppg), dished out 205 assists, and grabbed 235 rebounds. He enters the 2023-24 season as a career 47.8 percent shooter, including a 34.2 clip from beyond the arc.

MAKING UP THE DIFFERENCE: The Titans will be tasked with replacing the contributions of two All-CCIW selections this season after losing Lucas Heflen and Cody Mitchell to graduation. In fact, IWU returns just 56.5 percent of its scoring from a season ago. Heflen was the leading scorer for the Green and White last season, going for 14.8 points per game, while Mitchell followed with 14.2 ppg. Ryan Sroka (11.0 ppg) is the lone returner that averaged better than 10 points a season ago.
    On the glass, the Titans bring back 68.4 percent of their rebounding. Mitchell led the team with 9.8 boards per contest, but IWU welcomes back four of its top rebounders from a year ago.

ANOTHA ONE: Fans of Illinois Wesleyan are familiar with the name Kuehl, as several within the family have put together exceptional careers for the Green and White. Brady Kuehl, the latest in the tradition of Kuehl's at IWU, is a freshman forward for the Titans. His older sister, Carly Kuehl, is a junior on the Illinois Wesleyan women's volleyball team, while his mother, father, and uncle also attended IWU. His dad, Steve Kuehl, scored 1430 career points for the Titans, while his uncle, Jeff Kuehl, was an All-American at IWU and posted 1573 career points.

FROM THE 314 TO THE 309: It's no secret that IWU's coaching staff has had great success in recruiting in recent years, especially in the St. Louis area. If 2022 graduate and All-American Matthew Leritz foreshadows the success that St. Louis natives can have at Illinois Wesleyan, there will be much success to be had for three current players on the IWU roster. Nick Roper, who is poised for a breakout junior campaign also hails from the Lou, along with junior Harrison Wilmsen, freshman Brady Kuehl, and senior Evan Schneider, who look to add to the list of successful St. Louis big men.

CCIW PRESEASON POLL: IWU was predicted to finish fourth in the CCIW according to a tight poll of the coaches, announced by the league office Tuesday, Oct. 24. The CCIW's nine first-place votes were split between North Park, Carthage, and Elmhurst, as NPU topped the poll with 55 points. Carthage followed in second with 54 points, while Elmhurst (53) ranked third just ahead of the Titans (51).

ON THE HORIZON: Following this weekend's tournament, the Titans will head to Springfield, Ohio for the prestigious Great Lakes Invitational. IWU will battle this year's host, Wittenberg Friday night, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. ET before going up against Marietta Saturday, Nov. 18 at 4 p.m. ET..

ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICANS: Matthew Leritz became the program's 26th Academic All-America honoree at the conclusion of the 2022-23 season. His selection increased IWU's national lead on UCLA, Indiana, Kansas, and Duke who have 20 all-time men's basketball awardees each.
Furthermore, IWU's all-time Academic All-American list currently sits at 150, which ranks in the top-25 across NCAA Division I, II, and III, as well as inside the top-10 in Division III.

BY THE NUMBERS: IWU has seen plenty of success on the hardwood in its storied history, highlighted by the Titans' NCAA National Championship in 1997. Overall, IWU has won 32 CCIW championships, made 26 tournament appearances, advanced to 18 "Sweet Sixteens," appeared in 12 "Elite Eights," and gone to six final fours.