The defending GLVC champion UMSL Tritons will have 14 new players on their roster this season. (Photo: Thomas Grove)

Cedric Williams
Senior Editor

ST. LOUIS, MO — The University of Missouri-St. Louis men’s basketball program announced on Monday that it had added 14 new players to its roster for the 2022-23 season.

Head coach Bob Sunvold and the Tritons are coming off one of the finest seasons in program history. Last year, UMSL went 26-7, won the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament, and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

And they did it with a number of fourth- and fifth-year seniors leading the way. This season, Sundvold knew his team would see lots of turnover and that having high quality players be a part of that turnover would be necessary if the Tritons were to keep winning this year.

But no one expected UMSL to bring in such a large class of new players for this season. Among them are five true freshmen, four junior college transfers, and five Division I or Division II transfers, several of which being local kids from St. Louis or the nearby area.

“We are facing an interesting time in college basketball with the emergence and popularity of the transfer portal. We certainly experienced that this past year at UMSL, and we’re happy many of our guys were able to follow their dreams and continue to look for their niche within the portal,” Sundvold said. “We had a terrific graduating class, and some are using their additional year at Division I schools, among others. Construction of competitive teams will be a bit different and challenging, with regard to establishing cohesion, togetherness, and a style of play.

“We are excited about this recruiting class as all of these new guys come from winning backgrounds from state championships to national tournament participation. We were faced with a huge senior class graduation and additional transfer portal participants, we needed to add quantity, quality and various levels of experience to this recruiting class.”

The two returning players to this year’s squad are redshirt juniors Isaiah Fuller and Trever Moore, both key players being key reserves in last year’s championship season.

“We are happy to have two veterans in Isaiah Fuller and Trever Moore return, and look for them to provide experience, guidance and leadership to our new squad,” Sundvold said. “Our assistant coaches, Scott Gauthier and Javis Flynn, did a remarkable job in identifying and evaluating (the new) guys and helping make them Tritons. We are looking forward to working with this group, instilling our style of play, meshing as a group, and competing at the successful level that we have had.”

The 14 new players joining the Tritons this season are Patrick Robinson Jr., Justin King, Matt Enright, Donovan Vickers, Janeir Harris, Dylan West, Sam Bledsoe, Mayson Quartlebaum, Brennan Weller, Caleb Thompson, Bowen Sandquist, Drew Cisse, Christian Meeks and Victor Nwagbaraocha.

Here is a listing of each new player’s background.

Robinson Jr. (6-5, guard, freshman, Oswego, Ill. (Oswego East High School)
Robinson Jr. helped lead the Wolves to a Regional Championship and was named to the Southwest Prairie All-Conference team last season. He hit the game-winning shot in a 59-57 win over Joliet West last January.

King (6-4, guard, freshman, Belleville, Ill. (Mascoutah)
King helped lead the Indians to a 23-8 record last season. He led the team in scoring and assists with 15.9 and 3.7 per game respectively. He shot 53 percent from the field and 72 percent at the foul line. King scored a season-high 27 points against Highland on Dec. 3 and reached double figures in scoring in 28 of 31 games.

Enright (6-0, guard, freshman, St. Louis, Mo. (Webster Groves)
Enright was a member of Webster Groves team that went 24-8 and won the Missouri Class 5 state championship last year. He led the team in scoring with 15.9 points per contest and was the top shooter on the team connecting on over 64 percent of his attempts. Enright also shot 42 percent from three and nearly 80 percent at the charity stripe. His 4.9 assists per game were also tops on the team while his 1.4 steals per outing were second on the team.

Vickers (6-1, guard, sophomore, Edmond, Okla. (Edmond Santa Fe) Southern Arkansas Tech)
Vickers transfers in to UMSL after playing his freshman season at Southern Arkansas Tech. He played in 31 games last season for the Rockets averaging 12. 8 points, 5.6 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 2.2 steals per game. Vickers scored a season-high 25 points in a 99-76 win at North Central Missouri on March 5. He also had a season-high 10 rebounds against Southern-Shreveport last November.

Harris (6-5, forward, junior, Burnsville, Minn. (Apple Valley) Dakota County Technical College)
Harris started 29 games last season for the Blue Knights and averaged 16.6 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists per contest. He scored a season-high 29 points in a 74-71 win over Southern Arkansas Tech on March 17. Harris scored at least 20 points in a game 11 times last season. He reached double figures in rebounding four times highlighted by a 12-rebound performance at Bryant and Stratton College on Jan. 29.

West (6-7, forward, junior, Chicago, Ill. (Hillcrest) Trinidad State College)
West appeared in 27 games with 24 starts for the Trojans last season averaging 14 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists. He reached double figures in scoring 22 times highlighted by a season-high 26-point performance in a 95-94 win over Otero College on March 5. West had nine games with at least 10 rebounds highlighted by a season-high 16 boards in a 67-61 win over Western Nebraska Community College.

Bledsoe (6-2, guard, sophomore, Charleston, Mo. (Charleston) Southwestern Illinois College)
Bledsoe appeared in 21 games with eight starts last season for SWIC. He averaged 6.5 points and 2.1 rebounds per game. Bledsoe reached double figures in scoring seven times last season highlighted by a 16-point performance in a 79-70 win over Lincoln Trail on Feb. 24. He pulled down a season-high seven rebounds in an 81-76 win at Kaskaskia College on Feb. 13.

Quartlebaum (6-6, forward, junior, Lawrence, Kan. (Lawrence) Kennesaw State)
Quartlebaum transfers to UMSL after spending two seasons at Kennesaw State. In his two seasons with the Owls he appeared in 22 games scoring 38 points and grabbing 27 rebounds. He recorded career-highs in points (6) and rebounds (4) against Carver on Nov. 15, 2021. He matched his career-high in scoring with six points at Nebraska on Dec. 22. His father is on the coaching staff at Kansas.

Weller (6-5, forward, redshirt freshman, Edwardsville, Ill. (Edwardsville) Arkansas Tech)
Weller transfers to UMSL after spending last season at Arkansas Tech. He did not appear in any games for the Wonder Boys in 2021-22. As a senior at Edwardsville High School, Weller led the team in scoring (18.8 ppg), rebounding (9.7 rbg) and steals (1.63 per game). His 32 assists were good for third on the team. Weller shot 56 percent from the field, 38 percent from three and 71 percent at the foul line. He helped lead the Tigers to a 13-3 season in the COVID shortened 2020-21 season.

Thompson (6-5, forward, freshman, St. Louis, Mo. (Westminster Christian Academy)
Thompson appeared in 25 games last season for the Wildcats averaging 6.6 points and 4.4 rebounds per contest. He shot 45 percent (59-for-131) from the field. Thompson reached double figures in scoring seven times and scored a season-high 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting against Priory on Feb. 18. He grabbed a season-high eight rebounds against Christian Brothers College on Jan. 31.

Sandquist (6-3, guard, graduate senior, Johnston, Iowa (Johnston) Midland University
Sandquist, a graduate transfer from Midland University, appeared in 101 games with 99 starts in his four seasons as a member of the Warriors. He averaged 36 minutes played per game while averaging 14.6 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. Last season, Sandquist averaged 16.2 points per contest on 41 percent shooting from the field and hit on 37 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc. He’s a career 82 percent shooter at the foul line.

Cisse (6-10, forward, junior, San Diego, Calif., (Rancho Bernardo) San Diego City College
Cisse, a junior college transfer from San Diego City College, played in 27 games with 22 starts while averaging nearly a double-double with 9.9 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. He reached double figures in scoring 14 times last season and scored a season-high 28 points on 14-of-16 shooting in a 74-54 win over Cuyamaca on Jan. 26. Cisse also reached double figures in rebounding 15 times highlighted by a 21-rebound performance against San Diego Miramar on Feb. 9.

Meeks (6-6, forward, freshman, Hazel Crest, Ill., (Homewood Flossmoor)
Meeks was named second team 4A all-state by the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association this past spring and was the Player of the Year in his conference. He helped led Homewood-Flossmoor to a 21-8 record in addition to winning a regional championship.

Nwagbarachoa (6-2, guard/forward, graduate senior, Milwaukee, Wis. (St. Pius XI) Highland Community College/Drury)
Nwagbarachoa, a transfer from GLVC rival Drury, played two seasons for the Panthers appearing in 45 games with 30 starts while averaging 9.9 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. Last season, he started 16 of 24 games while averaging 11 points and 5.6 rebounds per contest. Nwagbarachoa recorded season-highs in points (22), field goals made (8) and blocked shots (6) against Missouri S&T on Jan. 29. He pulled down a season-high 10 rebounds against UMSL on Feb. 28. As a junior, he helped lead Drury to the GLVC Tournament championship game after averaging 17.7 points in the tournament that season. Nwagbarachoa averaged 12.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.1 blocked shots for Highland Community College in 2019-20 and helped his team to a 27-7 record including a 23-1 Region IV mark.

This new group will play its first game on Monday, October 24, when it will take on NCAA Division I rival, Saint Louis University in an exhibition game at Chaifetz Arena.