Men's Basketball | 11/4/2025 2:30:00 PM

Granville, Ohio - The Big Red have high hopes this upcoming season after coming off their first conference championship and NCAA Tournament appearance since the 2015-16 season. Denison sits first in the NCAC Preseason Poll with six first place votes, and are receiving votes for the D3hoops.com Top 25 preseason poll.

2024-25 Season Recap

The Big Red are coming off a historic season, with a 24-4 overall record and a conference championship for the first time since the 2015-2016 season, and first ever regular season championship in program history. They also received an automatic NCAA Tournament playoff berth, where they were defeated in the first round in overtime to Franklin College, 67-64. Excluding the 2020 COVID season, the Big Red have had winning seasons for four straight years since head coach Chris Sullivan took over. The Big Red graduated eight seniors, including their top two scorers, Darren Rubin and Ricky Radtke, but returned many high-impact players. 
 

• The Big Red finished 24-4 overall and 14-2 in NCAC play, winning their first-ever outright conference championship and earning the No. 1 seed in the NCAC Tournament.
• All Conference players for the Big Red included seniors Ricky Radtke and Darren Rubin, and sophomore Trevor Reed.
• Denison set a program record with a 12-game winning streak during the winter.
• The offense averaged 74.4 points per game on 46.6% shooting, 35% from three, and held a +3 rebounding margin.
• The Big Red ranked in the top three in the conference in points per game (74.4), scoring margin (10.4), opponent points per game (64.1), and field goal percentage (46.6)
• The defense was one of the best in the NCAC, allowing just 64.1 points per game.
• Depth defined the roster, with nine players averaging 15+ minutes.

2025-26 NCAC Preseason Poll
 

2025-26 North Coast Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Coaches' Poll
Place	Institution (1st Place Votes)	Total Points
1	Denison (6)	76
2	John Carroll (1)	66
3	Wooster	60
4	DePauw (1)	55
5	Wabash (1)	52
6	Ohio Wesleyan	35
7	Oberlin	23
8	Wittenberg	21
9	Kenyon	17

Key Players Breakdown

Trevor Reed: The 6'8" rising junior Trevor Reed was a key player for the Big Red last season, coming in third on the team in scoring and second in rebounds, averaging 11.7 and 4.0. Reed had four games of scoring 20+ and recorded his lone double-double of the season in a double-overtime loss to Kenyon. He is the Big Reds' lone returning All-Conference player this season and has big expectations.

Kellon Smith: Smith, a 6'3" guard and a rising junior, was a key player for the Big Red last season and will have an even bigger role this upcoming season. Smith averaged 9.4 points per game, which was fourth on the team last season, and grabbed 3.3 rebounds per game. He scored a career-high 20 points in a crucial in-conference game against Wooster (2/19).

Aidan King: The 6'7" forward, King has been a solid piece for the Big Red, and will look to play into an even bigger role this season. Last year, the rising senior averaged 6.1 points per game and had seven games scoring double-digits.

Jack Steinbach: Steinbach is the last to round out the rising juniors, as he averaged 3.9 points and 1.8 assists per game. He will step into an even bigger role as the team graduated three guards who averaged a combined 25.4 points per game.

Other key pieces returning from last season are rising sophomores Luke Salkowski and Liam Taylor, who both saw valuable minutes during the season.

Young Core: The Big Red graduated eight seniors from last year's team, and have only two seniors for the 2025-26 campaign. The team brought in six first-years to round out the group, and their seniors have only 12 starts combined. The Big Red will lean heavily on their young group with the experience the upperclassmen have obtained.

A Look at the Schedule

The Big Red start the season off strong, as their first game is against the preseason ranked #12 Calvin Knights in Granville, Ohio in the Livingston Gymnasium on Friday, November 7 at 7:30 pm. Their first road game will take place on Sunday, November 16 at 2 pm against Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and will stay on the road in a two-game stint against Otterbein and Capital. Denison's first conference game of the season will come on December 10 at 7 pm against the Oberlin Yeomen. The last home game of the calendar year will take place on December 13 at 2 or 3 pm against the University of Lynchburg before heading out to the Jay Bilas Classic. Heading into 2026, Denison will take on Kenyon on January 3 at 3 pm for their first home conference game of the season. The rest of the season will be conference games, with some key matchups against The College of Wooster on January 21 at 7:30 pm at home, and new conference addition John Carroll on February 14 at 3 pm. The conference tournament is scheduled for February 24-28, with the Championship scheduled for the 28th.

2025-2026 Schedule
 

Date	Location	Opponent	Time
11/7/25	Granville, Ohio	Vs Calvin	7:30 PM
11/8/25	Granville, Ohio	Vs Alma	5:30 PM
11/16/25	Pittsburgh, Penn.	At Carnegie Mellon	2:00 PM
11/19/25	Bexley, Ohio	At Capital	7:00 PM
11/25/25	Westerville, Ohio	At Otterbein	6:00 PM
12/6/25	Granville, Ohio	Vs Adrian	3:00 PM
12/10/25	Oberlin, Ohio	At Oberlin	7:00 PM
12/13/25	Granville, Ohio	Vs Lynchburg	2/3:00 PM
12/19/25	Charlotte, N.C.	Vs TCNG	5:00 PM
12/20/25	Charlotte, N.C.	Vs Christopher Newport University	3:00 PM
12/31/25	Delaware, Ohio	At Ohio Wesleyan	2:00 PM
1/3/26	Granville, Ohio	Vs Kenyon	3:00 PM
1/7/26	Crawfordsville, Ind.	At Wabash	7:00 PM
1/10/26	Granville, Ohio	Vs Wittenberg	2:00 PM
1/14/26	Greenscastle, Ind.	At DePauw	6:00 PM
1/17/26	University Heights, Ohio	At John Carroll	3:00 PM
1/21/26	Granville, Ohio	Vs Wooster	7:30 PM
1/28/26	Granville, Ohio	Vs Oberlin	7:00 PM
1/31/26	Gambier, Ohio	At Kenyon	1:00 PM
2/4/26	Granville, Ohio	Vs Wabash	5:30 PM
2/7/26	Springfield, Ohio	At Wittenberg	2:00 PM
2/11/26	Granville, Ohio	Vs DePauw	6:00 PM
2/14/26	Granville, Ohio	Vs John Carroll	3:00 PM
2/18/26	Wooster, Ohio	At Wooster	7:30 PM
2/21/26	Granville, Ohio	Vs Ohio Wesleyan	3:00 PM