Where the UE men's basketball roster stands after transfer portal exodus

EVANSVILLE — The University of Evansville men’s basketball team will look a lot different next season. Like, a lot different.

Nearly a month into their first full offseason under coach David Ragland, seven Purple Aces have entered the NCAA transfer portal. Five entered last Friday. Plus, Trey Hall, who was not on the roster this season, and Blaise Beauchamp, who left the team in December.

Ragland recently told the Courier & Press he planned to meet with every player and recommend some enter the portal. This exodus is no surprise to the coaching staff, unlike last year when the program was in limbo until Todd Lickliter was fired in May.

David Ragland's offseason approach:Reflection, transfer portal, scheduling

Gage Bobe and Kenny Strawbridge Jr. are the only two UE players still with the program who saw the floor in the season-ending defeat to Indiana State. Overall, UE is losing eight of the 14 players it rostered this season. Marvin Coleman II is the only one who exhausted his eligibility.

So, where does that leave the program?

Of the seven players transferring out, Matúš Malovec is the only one Ragland recruited. The rest were holdovers from Lickliter’s final season and recruiting class. Bobe and walk-on Grant Tichenor are the only remaining players left from the Lickliter regime, although Sekou Kalle was recruited by the previous staff.

UE now has four scholarship spots it can fill.

Let’s break down where the roster stands and what the Aces should be looking for in the portal.

Only four scholarship players will be back next season

Here is a list of all the UE players who will not return:

• Marvin Coleman II (graduating)

• Blaise Beauchamp (mid-season transfer)

• Antoine Smith Jr. (transfer)

• Preston Phillips (transfer)

• Chris Moncrief (transfer)

• Gabe Spinelli (transfer)

• Zaveion Chism-Okoh (transfer)

• Logan McIntire (transfer)

• Matúš Malovec (transfer)

Those players accounted for more than 54% of UE’s minutes this season and 49% of its scoring. Strawbridge was the Aces’ leading scorer and the only one of their top five producers who intends to return.

That means there are plenty of minutes and points to be had.

All four scholarship returners — Strawbridge, Bobe, Kalle and Yacine Toumi — were regular starters. Kalle started 12 of the 15 games he played before being sidelined with a shoulder injury midway through league competition. Still, Ragland and the staff will likely try to find players they feel can compete for those top five roles.

UE did finish 5-27, after all. The Aces need to become competitive again quickly. And that's possible in the transfer portal era.

Here’s a look at the Aces’ current scholarship status:

Eastern Illinois transfer Cameron Haffner is the only portal commitment UE has at the time of writing. The Aces’ incoming freshman class, headlined by ESPN four-star recruit Chuck Bailey III, is ranked No. 98 in the country by 247Sports.

If UE can land a couple of splashes from the portal, their outlook could drastically change. There were only slim pickings available for this staff by the time they took over last year. And they still recruited the three leading scorers after Memorial Day.

It will be interesting to see how the next few weeks play out.

Ragland said he wants to keep the players UE is targeting in the portal relatively quiet, so there are only three uncommitted players who have been publicly linked with the Aces: USI's Isaiah Swope, Oklahoma’s Bijan Cortes and Charleston Southern’s Tahlik Chavez.

Whether any of those players will actually commit to UE is yet to be seen. There could be plenty of others under consideration as well.

There are holes in the roster for the Aces to plug

This season’s advanced statistical metrics weren't kind to UE. The Aces finished the year at No. 352 of 363 teams in KenPom’s rankings, 51 spots behind the next MVC team, Illinois-Chicago. Clear improvements are needed.

UE has recorded back-to-back seasons with a record low in wins and high in losses. The Aces mustered just one win in Missouri Valley Conference play, finishing last for the fourth time in five years. UE also had the 357th-ranked offense and 279th-best defense in the country, according to KenPom.

Defensively, the Aces need a rim protector. Opponents shot 54% from 2-point range against UE this season as the Aces consistently were outscored in the paint. The Aces also ranked 329th in blocks per game. Some of that may be a result of Kalle’s injury — Ragland called him the “defensive anchor” before the season began — but there is still a need to improve.

UE also needs someone to take the scoring load off Strawbridge. Although Coleman II became a viable second option as the season progressed, teams still keyed in on Strawbridge as the means to stimmy the Aces’ offense. Shooting will be paramount to success.

Replacing Coleman’s work as the primary ball handler is another area of need. Salt Lake Community College transfer Tanner Cuff could take some of that responsibility, but he missed most of this season with a broken hand. Perhaps a more experienced D-I transfer joins him to fill that role.

Those are only some of UE’s surface-level needs. Ragland has talked about wanting experience and size, and he now has four scholarship openings to bring players with those qualities in.

The transfer portal can change realities fast considering most of the team was in tact less than a week ago.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Evansville Purple Aces basketball experiences transfer portal exodus