City of Basketball Love

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2016-17 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 11. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season, click here.)

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MIDDLETOWN, Pa. — Take a quick peek at Penn State Harrisburg’s roster — maybe even sift through a few backgrounds — and one can understand why Don Friday didn’t dawdle much before talking about his latest unit needing to find an identity.

While each of the Lions is one of Friday’s guys — meaning they’ve arrived on campus since the Pottsville native’s reign began — 19 of Penn State Harrisburg’s 21 players are in their first or second seasons with the Capital Athletic Conference program.

Still trying to figure things out? No doubt.

“I like our depth and I like our ability to score on the offensive end, in some of our spots moreso than in the past,” said Friday (23-52), who tonight against Haverford will begin his fourth season as head coach at Penn State Harrisburg after fronting the programs at Lycoming and Saint Francis (Pa.) for five and four seasons, respectively.

“What we’re looking for now is to carve out an identity that we can execute and we’re not just flying by the seat of our pants and not having to make high degree-of-difficulty shots,” Friday continued. “On the defensive end, that we’re solid, that we can get stops when we need to get stops and we’re not flimsy. They go hand-in-hand because when you’re sloppy on offense, you give up a lot of easy stuff on the defensive end.”

Although last year’s group (12-13, 7-11 CAC) jetted to a terrific start by winning their first four and 10 of their first 14, Friday’s Lions were unable to close in similar fashion and wound up dropping nine of their final 13 outings and each of the last four.

While 12 successes was a nine-win improvement over what the 2014-15 squad amassed, those who roam a campus that rests within the sizable shadows cast by Three Mile Island’s massive cooling towers weren’t pleased how the stretch run unfolded.

Heck, they’re still not over what happened.

“Last year we hit a wall,” said Kahlil Williams, the 6-4 sophomore frontcourt standout (6.8 ppg/3.8 rpg) from Philadelphia’s Central High School. “We were putting so much energy into the wins we had that we just hit a wall. People started getting tired. People started getting hurt. We started losing people. It just fell off.

“This year, we’re going hard now,” added Williams, one of the Lions’ co-captains. “We want to crank it up during the season, but keep it on an even keel so we can have energy for the second half of the season and keep the chemistry — because a lot of people had agendas last year. As long as we keep our chemistry, we’ll be fine.”

While Williams is one of the returning headliners, he’s not the only one.

Co-captain Jazmon Harris, a 6-1 senior guard from Baltimore by way of Howard (Md.) CC, led Penn State Harrisburg in scoring (13.7 ppg) while making 24 starts in his first run with the Lions — despite playing the last quarter of the season with a broken hand.

“Jaz Harris is our engine,” Friday lauded. “He’s our heart and soul.”

Although the backcourt also returns 5-11 junior Donte Vaughn (Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt) as well as 5-9 sophomore and Virginia native Davis Luethke, among others, the Lions also have plenty of experience up front alongside Williams.

Among them — and they’re all sophomores — are Williams’ high school teammate and classmate Gbolahan Alliyu (3.1 ppg/6.0 rpg/2.1 bpg), a 6-7 interior presence who may be ready to take several strides forward, 6-6 hammer Nelson Jones, 6-4 John Ukpaiama, 6-7 Rodeo Thompson (Hershey) and 6-2 Pat Mulville (Father Judge).

Springy senior Austin Chimuma (5.6 ppg/2.9 rpg), a Harris teammate at Howard CC, has more experience than his younger teammates. He’s also mighty, mighty explosive.

Pleased with his returning personnel yet always on the prowl for additional talent, Friday and assistant coaches Mike Zito and Gary Jurosky went out, hit the trail hard and rustled up another sizable recruiting haul some nine men strong.

While 6-5 Dante Brown is expected to cause a stir up front — Brown is the Lions’ most athletic player — it’s in the backcourt and on the wing where newcomers may have the greatest impact on Penn State Harrisburg’s immediate fortunes.

Friday is extremely high on 6-1 Khalil White (Cheltenham) and 5-11 Lamar Thomas (Atlantic City), but 6-2 Derek Coleman, 6-4 Austin Krise, 6-1 Ryan Bollinger (Ridley) and 6-1 John Fleming (Archbishop Wood) could land in the rotation as well.

“I feel like this is like how my high school is right now. We’re rebuilding and I feel like this is a rebuilding program,” White said. “They just needed another guard to come in and help Jaz out or feed the post to Bola and Kahlil.

“And I felt like when Friday was talking to me about it, he just sold me,” White continued. “He made me feel like I was part of the family, even before I told him I was coming here. He just told me I’d be a big part of the team, a scorer, and I really don’t like sitting on the bench anywhere. So when he told me I had an opportunity to come out and play a lot, even though I had to earn it, I liked hearing that.

“He was just real honest with me.”

Williams has been upfront with White since the day he arrived, counseling the youngster on what to expect and what to avoid. On the other hand, White likes what he’s heard since Williams recently went through the same process.

Plus, the two are so close in age.

“This year I’m just making it my business,” Williams said sternly of being a leader. “I’m with Khalil every day and we talk about plays, we build chemistry. This year we have chemistry. We’re all close. We all go out together. We’re together every day.

“I feel like this freshman class, even though I was in the last one, there’s more talent than there was last year. We’ve just got to put those pieces together.”

And there’s lots of moving parts to meld … and quickly.

“We talked about what are we going to be good at and what’s our identity going to be?” Friday reiterated. “What’s the identity? Execution. Defending. Discipline. Can we run the ball? If we’re going to do those things, we’ve got to be good at it.

“At the same time, I want to let them play,” Friday added. “I’m trying to give them some freedom because I have better players.”

Better players to chase bigger goals, too, such as competing successfully and consistently within a sturdy CAC framework also housing preseason No. 2 Christopher Newport, Mary Washington, Salisbury, St. Mary’s (Md.) and an improved York side.

So, landing in a tie for sixth place with Wesley in the CAC’s preseason forecast isn’t a drawback since the Lions hope to reach the CAC’s six-team playoffs. Sixth is OK.

“That was the goal last year,” Williams recalled. “It’s still a goal this year, because we always want to make the playoffs. We want to do more than just make the playoffs.

“For one, we’re gonna have a better record than last year,” Williams stated. “We’re gonna make the playoffs. We just want to make some noise basically.”

A nonleague schedule highlighted by matchups against preseason No. 25 Susquehanna, DeSales and possible dustups with Geneseo (N.Y.) State, The College of New Jersey and No. 23 Franklin & Marshall add even more muscle to a hearty slate.

“Because we are so young and we still have a lot to learn in terms of experience, we have a chance to get better each month incrementally,” Friday added.

Everything gets underway tonight (8 p.m.) when Haverford steps inside Penn State Harrisburg’s cozy Capital Union Building playpen to meet the revved up Lions.

Remember, too, that 19 of Friday’s 21 Lions are in their first or second years in a blue-and-white program that’s beginning its fourth season in the powerful CAC.

That’s why these guys are rapidly trying to locate their collective identity.

“We have a chance to have some balance,” Friday continued. “We have some playmakers in the backcourt and on the perimeter. It’s exciting. Again, trying to move those chess pieces. Our front line is by committee.

“We don’t have a superstar, but I think we have some really good, talented, blue-collar kids that love to play,” Friday added. “What I’m trying to do is get them all lined up and marching in the same cadence and in the same direction. At the same time, seeing what works with them and letting them take that and run with it.”

So, stay tuned.