MARTIN, Tenn. – Last March, approximately 20 minutes had passed after a grueling Ohio Valley Conference Championship semifinals loss for the University of Tennessee at Martin when head men’s basketball coach Ryan Ridder took the stage for his postgame press conference.
The assembled media in attendance asked many questions about his team’s grit in a season that saw the Skyhawks win 19 games before ending the program’s fifth OVC semifinal appearance with seven healthy scholarship players. Ridder then delivered this message as a closing statement that resonated throughout the room: “We’re still building this thing – I love the foundation we set last year. We saw the wins add up this year and next year I think we’ll take one step further.”
Nearly eight months later, those words remain the mindset for a UT Martin program that is clearly on the rise. Six returning players and eight talented newcomers in 2023-24 have the Skyhawks once again back on the radar for contention atop the OVC standings.
“Winning 19 games and finishing third place last year, the overall theme for our team right now is probably excitement,” Ridder said. “The first year we struggled – we were 8-22 and it wasn’t a lot of fun but it set the foundation in the locker room. Sometimes you have to look at what’s beneath the wins and losses – we’ve understood how to win and now we’re figuring out how to be the best version of ourselves. We have guys who have bought in to playing one more day in March and putting others before yourself. From what I’ve seen from the summer until now, this is as excited about a group as I’ve ever been in my 10 years of coaching.”
UT Martin is coming off a season where it ranked in the top-15 in NCAA Division I men’s basketball in scoring offense (80.5 points per game), fast break points (15.09 per game) and rebounding per game (39.18). The Skyhawks piled up the second-most points (2,658) and rebounding (1,293) totals in school history while leading the OVC in scoring margin (+5.1), field goal percentage (.459) and field goal percentage defense (.422).
“We play an exciting brand and an up-tempo style,” Ridder said. “With that said, we’ve always been defensive minded. We’re long, we’re athletic and we have some real toughness to us. My most successful teams in the past have always loved to rebound the basketball and it looks like our group is put together to rebound at a high level once again this year.”
Ridder believes that the key to the season’s success is the off-court intangibles. That winning frame of mind has carried over during his tenure and is now a priority while scouring the country for the right fit at UT Martin.
“We’ve recruited some really special human beings,” Ridder said. “We made it a point in recruiting that every player we look at has come from a winning program – that being at Division I, junior college, high school, anywhere. There’s always going to be a learning adjustment – it doesn’t matter how talented you are. We didn’t choose boxing or wrestling – this is not an individual sport. We have to have great cohesion and be able to respond to adversity in the right manner. At this point, we have unbelievable chemistry.”
Both Skyhawk returning starters claimed Preseason All-OVC accolades last week in junior guard Jordan Sears and senior forward KK Curry. Sears was voted to the All-OVC first team last season after leading UT Martin in total points (489) and assists (91) – pumping in 18.2 points per contest in league play to rank fourth in the OVC. Curry ranked third in the OVC in field goal percentage (.584) and eighth in rebounding (5.7 per outing) a year ago, averaging 8.5 points per game.
Senior Desmond Williams (8.1 points per outing, eighth in the OVC with 2.1 three-point field goals made per game a year ago) and redshirt junior Koby Jeffries (34 career starts, 153 assists over two seasons in a Skyhawk uniform) return in the backcourt while the junior duo of Jalen Myers (11 double-digit scoring games in 2022-23) and David Kamwanga (41 career games in two seasons) give UT Martin two experienced frontcourt options.
Newcomers Issa Muhammad (6-9, 245 pounds), Christian Fussell (6-10, 220) and Yassin Hussein (6-9, 235) give the Skyhawks a size dimension the program has not had in the past. Muhammad was once the No. 28 ranked junior college prospect in the country who tallied 9.3 points and 4.9 rebounds in only 24.4 minutes per game last season at New Mexico State, starting 18 of his 23 games. Fussell played 58 games at Middle Tennessee, where he was part of 45 victories over the last two seasons. Hussein is coming off a stint with the Egyptian National Team this summer after averaging 12.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game at Lake Land College.
A trio of incoming guards bring NCAA Division I experience to UT Martin. A 6-8 wing who began his career at North Florida, Jacob Crews was a junior college All-American after averaging 19.9 points per game at Daytona State College last season. Justus Jackson played in 39 games over two years at Hawai’i, helping the Rainbow Warriors to a 22-win campaign in 2022-23. Sebastian Mendoza accumulated 13.7 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.3 steals per game last year at San Bernardino Valley College, which followed a pair of seasons at San Jose State.
Freshman walk-on Braylon Jackson (1,181 career high school points as a Georgia prep standout) is the lone underclassman on the Skyhawk roster. Kenny White, Jr. (621 career points in stops at Tennessee Tech and Murray State) is eligible to practice all season but has to sit out this season due to NCAA transfer rules.
A loaded roster combined with the rapid ascension of UT Martin’s program has led to lofty expectations in 2023-24.
“I thought we were right there in the thick of it this past year,” Ridder said. “We had a nice conference tournament run but unfortunately had some injuries late. I think the most important thing we can take from that is all six of our returners got real game experience in that tournament atmosphere. Throw in our recruiting class and we’ve got a talented mix. We’re really looking forward to seeing what this team has to offer.”
