The Kent State men’s basketball team knows it will have a target on its back this season, after posting a 28-7 record, winning the Mid-American Conference tournament and earning a spot in the NCAA tournament last season.

The Flashes will be without their top three scorers from last season, including 2021-22 MAC Conference Player of the Year Sincere Carry. The other two losses were 2022-23 MAC Defensive Player of the Year Malique Jacobs and sharpshooting forward Miryne Thomas.

The three players accounted for more than 50% of the total points scored last season for KSU.

“[Other teams] are coming after you for what three other guys did,” coach Rob Senderoff said, “and we have to be incredibly competitive and incredibly tough to weather what’s coming.”

Senderoff has been a part of the basketball program for 15 seasons and has been head coach since 2011. He has led his teams to eight 20-plus win seasons and is the sixth coach in the program to win Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year (2021-22).

Senderoff is KSU’s all-time winningest coach with 247 victories.

Last season marked Senderoff’s second NCAA tournament appearance, and his team’s 28 wins were tied for the second most in program history.

Senderoff saw his team finish undefeated at home for the first time since the 2007-08 season.

Overall, the Flashes have 22 consecutive wins inside the M.A.C. Center, which is the second-best home winning streak in NCAA men’s basketball.

In program history, Kent State has never made the NCAA Tournament in consecutive years.

The Flashes will have to find new leaders, but there are multiple guys who are up for the task. Redshirt senior guard Giovanni Santiago and graduate student forward Chris Payton played significant minutes last year and will have to step into a larger role.

“You can’t do it the same way last year’s guys did, but you do it your own way,” Payton said. “You have to prove to the guys every day that all you really care about is winning.”

Santiago has something to prove this year, after sitting out the second half of the season due to an injury he suffered against Akron on Feb. 3.

Santiago appeared in 23 games, averaging 7.5 points per game while shooting 38% from the three-point line. Junior guard Jalen Sullinger ranks 10th all-time in KSU history with 43% shooting from behind the arc in a season.

Junior center Cli’Ron Hornbeak will also return. He averaged 5.4 points per game and five rebounds per game last season.

Hornbeak is ranked second in program history, as he finished last season shooting 71.8% from the field.

Payton will look to improve his production this year in a bigger role, as he scored 6.7 points per game last year as the sixth man.

“I don’t think I’ll change the way I play this year,” he said. ”But I’ve been expanding my game while honing in on the parts that got me to this point.”

Payton led the team in field goal percentage (73%) and blocks (34) last season. He is ranked first in KSU history for field goal percentage in a season.

The Flashes also welcome new transfers this year after an eventful summer in the transfer portal.

Graduate student forward Tyem Freeman from UCF and sophomore guard Reggie Bass from Central Michigan will look to have an impact this season.

Freeman sat out last season due to NCAA transfer rules, and Bass is a highly touted guard coming off a MAC Freshman of the Year season.

“They’re talented players that have to learn how to do things the way we do them here at Kent,” Senderoff said. “The quicker that happens, the quicker they will be able to have an impact on the team.”

Bass will look to add scoring to the team, as he averaged 12.4 points per game, including a 40-point game against Northern Illinois, last year.

Payton, who transferred into KSU’s program last season after playing at Pittsburgh during the 2021-22 season, said he has been excited by the work put in by the transfer players.

“I didn’t play a lot when I first got here, as it took a couple of months of adjusting to what we want to do,” Payton said. “Giving them tips on how to handle Senderoff and what he expects out of us, but they have done a good job of incorporating themselves.”

The Flashes have a schedule similar to last season’s, which will help them prepare for conference play.

Kent State will take on multiple teams that are picked to win their own conference, while also playing two Power-Five teams at Oregon and at No. 23 St. Mary’s.

Kent State will open its regular season at home against Division II Malone University at 7 p.m. Nov. 6. Last season, the Pioneers finished 18-11 and lost to Ashland University in the Great Midwest Championship Tournament.

Kent State will play James Madison University, which is the preseason pick to win the Sun Belt Conference, in the second game of the season.

KSU will also have two tough matchups against Akron in conference play. The team’s first game against the Zips will be at home Jan. 19 before a later matchup away Feb. 24. In the first Akron matchup last year, Kent State fell 67-55 but won the second time 89-84 in overtime behind an electric M.A.C.C. crowd.

The Flashes will have a rematch of the 2023 MAC Championship against Toledo Jan. 9. They will close out the season against the Rockets March 8.

“When I look at the schedule, there are just not many layups on there,” Senderoff said. “Every game is going to be a game that you have to bring your ‘A’ game to.”

Matthew Franos is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].