RADFORD, Va. – Over the past 3 seasons, the Radford Highlanders have continued to raise the bar on expectations.
“We’ve been fortunate to have some good endings the last few years,” said head coach Mike Jones.
A Big South Title, NCAA Appearance and they’ve had the conference player of the year in Carlik Jones and the coach of the year in Mike Jones. But in a year full of uncertainty, the Highlanders will be in search of a new identity.
“We are basically a brand-new team. Our leading returning scorer averaged 3 points and almost 3 rebounds, so we don’t know what we have at this point since we haven’t played any games with this group,” Jones said.
With Carlik Jones at Louisville and a stellar senior class now graduated, there’s plenty of room for Highlanders to step up. We can expect to see a mix of young talent with JUCO and D2 transfers to go along with some familiar role players.
“I’m one of the veterans on the team so as Coach Jones said just bringing my leadership everyday, teaching the culture and just doing all the little things that people usually don’t want to do,” said Highlanders forward Chyree Walker.
“We’ve got a great group overall with regards to character and work ethic and those are two great building blocks to a good team,” Jones said.
While the Highlanders work to build an identity, a more important piece to the puzzle is already in place.
“The culture piece has been established and the next thing to establish is this team thing. This particular team is unique to any other team with unique players and a unique season, so they’ve got to find their voice,” said Jones.
For a look at the 2020-2021 season schedule, click here.