LONGVIEW, Texas -- Hoops season is here.

The LeTourneau men's basketball team opens the regular season on Thursday night when the YellowJackets host NAIA foe Texas College at 6 p.m. inside Solheim Arena.

LeTourneau played an exhibition at Stephen F. Austin on Monday night, one of two exhibitions at NCAA Division I members this season, but Thursday night's contest is the first of 25 regular season games for the YellowJackets.

Coming off a 22-5 record and a trip to the ASC Tournament championship game, LeTourneau looks to continue its stretch of consecutive winning seasons. The YellowJacket program has strung together six consecutive winning campaigns, a program record, which includes four 20-win seasons. Second-year head coach James Wallace, the 2021-22 ASC Coach of the Year, has been a part of all of those winning seasons.

ROSTER

LeTourneau returns three starters from last season in graduate student Warren Richardson, senior Christian Adams, and junior Deonte Jackson. All three were named to the ASC Players to Watch List in the preseason as Richardson and Jackson were All-ASC performers last year and Adams was a key member of the 22-win squad.

Jackson was an All-ASC first team selection last year after averaging 19.1 points and 4.2 assists per game, while shooting 43.4 percent from 3-point land. He ranked fourth in the league in scoring and third in 3-point percentage. Richardson was a third team All-ASC selection and earned a spot on the conference's All-Defensive Team. Richardson averaged 14.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.3 blocks, and 1.0 steals per game in 2021-22. Adams returns after averaging 6.9 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.1 blocks per game in 27 contests last year.

LeTourneau also brings back guards Ian Schafer, Jordan Pride, and Rashard Johnson for their senior or graduate years for the veteran team. Caedmon Liebengood, Walker Blaine, and Jackson Mayes look to build off their freshman campaigns, while Isaac Stolzenburg also returns.

Returning to LeTourneau this year is junior forward John Argue. The 6-foot-8 forward played two years at LeTourneau from 2019-21 before transferring away, but now returns to Longview. Argue averaged 12.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game over two seasons with the YellowJackets. 

LeTourneau also received transfers in Cooper Vanlandingham (Harding) and Caleb Ceasar (John Brown).

Wallace's freshman class includes Braden Elrod, Jaran Young, Raven Ortiz, Jalen Cherry, and Addison Culver.

ASC AND NATIONAL OUTLOOK

LeTourneau was picked second in the ASC preseason poll and the YellowJackets received votes in the D3hoops.com Preseason Top 25.

The YellowJackets tallied 162 points in the poll to place second, following a vote of the league's head coaches and sports information directors. Mary Hardin-Baylor notched 199 points and 19 of the 20 first-place votes to be selected as the preseason favorite. UT Dallas received one first-place vote.

LeTourneau was one of three ASC teams to receive votes in the national preseason top 25. Mary Hardin-Baylor is preseason No. 2 in the nation, while LeTourneau was joined in the receiving votes category by Hardin-Simmons.

THE SCHEDULE

The regular season tips off on Nov. 10 when Texas College visits Solheim Arena at 6 p.m. That contest is one of two non-conference home games for the YellowJackets, joining a home date with Redlands on Dec. 13.

LeTourneau will head to the Southwestern Classic on Nov. 19-20 to take on host Southwestern (Nov. 19) and Trinity (Nov. 20) in Georgetown, Texas. Following Thanksgiving, LeTourneau hits the road to face Schreiner (Nov. 26) and Texas Lutheran (Nov. 27).

The 18-game ASC schedule opens on Dec. 1 with a trip to face Hardin-Simmons. The YellowJackets hosts Mary Hardin-Baylor on Dec. 8 to begin the home conference schedule. Concordia (Dec. 10) and East Texas Baptist (Dec. 17) also come to Solheim for league games before Christmas break.

LeTourneau will play four straight conference home games in mid-January. Ozarks (Jan. 12), UT Dallas (Jan. 14), McMurry (Jan. 19), and Hardin-Simmons (Jan. 21) all make the trip during the stretch. LeTourneau ends the home schedule with two straight from Feb. 9-11 with Howard Payne (Feb. 9), Sul Ross State (Feb. 11) visiting Longview.

LeTourneau will face two NCAA Tournament teams from last season in Mary Hardin-Baylor and Trinity. UMHB advanced to the national quarterfinals.The ASC Tournament is set for Feb. 23-25.