BUIES CREEK, N.C. – After an off-season like none before, Campbell opened basketball practice Saturday morning at the John W. Pope Jr. Convocation Center.
 
Head coach Kevin McGeehan and his staff put the Camels through a two-hour workout as the team prepares for the start of the season.
 
"I'm just looking forward to seeing them compete against each other," said McGeehan, who has guided the Camels to 72 wins over the last four seasons.  "We've had a different kind of year, we missed out on our spring workouts, we missed out on summer, and we missed out on a good portion of the fall – then it was sort of a revised model, non-contact, and a different way we had to train."
 
The Camels return eight players who averaged double-figure minutes from the 2019-20 squad that finished 15-16 overall.  Heading the group is junior forward Cedric Henderson, Jr., who averaged a team-leading 12.4 points and shot 58 percent from the floor while starting 30 of 31 games.
 
"I've been pleased with the effort and the energy, said McGeehan of the team's preseason workouts.  "We have good players, a mix of experience and youth.  The guys who are back have all played either in a starter or reserve role.  The new guys have been so eager to learn. They seem like sponges in terms of picking things up and wanting to do well and wanting to know what we're doing."
 
Also back is senior guard Jordan Whitfield, who contributed a career-high 8.8 points and led the team with 64 assists, as well as junior center Milos Stajcic, who made 22 starts and hit career highs in scoring (4.7) and rebounding (2.4).
 
Senior guard Austin McCullough returns after hitting 40.5 percent of his 3-point attempts, along with junior guard Ricky Clemons, a defensive stopper, who earned a scholarship during the off-season.  The sophomore class includes forwards Jesús Carralero (5.1 ppg) and Joshua Lusane (3.9 ppg, team-leading 22 blocks) and guard Messiah Thompson (3.7 ppg, 1.0 apg).
 
"We need to see who can keep somebody in front of them, who's going to make adjustments when the defense takes something away from them on offense," said McGeehan of his expectations from the first week of full practice.  "I know they're chomping at the bit to compete.  They're so hungry for it. I'm eager to see how they respond and put it together."
 
The freshman class includes guard Dray Burton, who led the state of South Carolina in scoring (32.1) at Powdersville High School, as well as fellow all-state selection PJ Carter (19.9 ppg) of Atlanta's Langston Hughes High. The Camels have also added a pair of Lithuanian guards in Gediminas Mokšeckas, who earned all-league honors last season in the Philadelphia Catholic League, and Laurynas Vaištaras, who represented his county in the 2019 FIBA U18 European Championships.
 
Campbell will face a 20-game, double-round robin Big South Conference schedule with two of those games played in December.  The NCAA will permit up to 24 regular season games, including a multiple-team event of three games.