GREENVILLE, S.C. – Lees-McRae men's basketball, under 13th-year head coach
Steve Hardin, has been picked to finish sixth in the 2024-25 Conference Carolinas Men's Basketball Preseason Poll on Thursday.
Nico Ashley and
Ja'Quavian Florence were named Players to Watch for the upcoming season.
UNC Pembroke earned the top spot in the preseason rankings with 13 first-place votes and 195 total points. Chowan recorded one first-place vote for the second point and Emmanuel was tabbed third. Francis Marion garnered the last first-place vote and 147 points for fourth in the rankings. Converse was one point ahead of the Bobcats in the fifth. Young Harris, Barton, Belmont Abbey, and King rounded out the top ten in that order.
Lees-McRae men's basketball headed to Raleigh yesterday evening and put a scare into ACC opponent NC State in the Lenovo Center. The Bobcats and the Wolfpack were tied at 69-69 with 3:40 to go in the second half, but the NC State collected the 79-75 win in the exhibition.
DJ Kent, a freshman Guard from Concord, North Carolina, recorded a game-high 17 points on 7-12 shooting for the Bobcats. Anthony Parker followed with 15 points on 6-13 from the field and Florence had 10 points in 24 minutes of action on Wednesday night.
The Bobcats officially open their 2024-25 season with the Conference Carolinas vs. South Atlantic Conference Crossover Challenge on Saturday, November 9 at 7:30 p.m. with UVA Wise. The games on November 9 and 10 will be played at App State's Holmes Convocation Center in Boone.
2024-25 Conference Carolinas Men's Basketball Preseason Poll:
| School |
Points (First-Place Votes) |
| UNC Pembroke |
195 (13) |
| Chowan |
176 (1) |
| Emmanuel |
160 |
| Francis Marion |
147 (1) |
| Converse |
128 |
| Lees-McRae |
127 |
| Young Harris |
123 |
| Barton |
115 |
| Belmont Abbey |
103 |
| King |
79 |
| Mount Olive |
78 |
| North Greenville |
54 |
| Southern Wesleyan |
32 |
| Shorter |
31 |
| Erskine |
27 |
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