ST. LOUIS, Mo. – This morning the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference announced the 2022-23 Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Gorloks were picked to finish second in the conference after receiving 40 points in the poll and two first place votes. Fontbonne (Mo.) University is picked to win the conference after receiving 47 points and five first place votes.

The Gorloks will look to bounce back after going 10-18 overall and 6-8 in SLIAC play last season. Webster finished fifth in the conference but were able to make a run to the SLIAC Tournament Championship Game where they were defeated by Blackburn (Ill.) College. They finished last season as the conference leader in blocks per game (5.0) while finishing third in rebound margin per game (0.8).

Webster returns 13 players from last years team including Karl Moore Jr., Wynne Brown Jr., Javane Nugent, and Stephen Hawkins who all made 10 or more starts. Moore Jr., the reigning SLIAC Newcomer of the Year, had an incredible freshman season for the Gorloks that saw him break the programs single season blocks record with 84. He averaged 10.2 points and 10.9 rebounds per game while being named to the SLIAC All-Defensive Team and Second Team All-SLIAC. Brown Jr. was named Third Team All-SLIAC after averaging a team high 13.2 points while dishing out a team high 59 assists and accumulating a team high 30 steals. Moore Jr. and Brown Jr. were both named to the Preseason Watch List. Nugent averaged 4.5 points and 6.6 rebounds per game while Hawkins averaged 4.7 points per game and knocked down 30 three-point shots. 

In addition, the team also returns Jason Coleman, Mark Moore, Markus Becton, Nate Jones, and Jacob Witaschek who all appeared in 18 or more games last season. Coleman averaged 6.5 points per game while shooting over 46 percent from the field. Moore averaged 8.2 points per game last season while knocking down a team high 44 threes. Becton average 5.9 points and 3.5 rebounds while blocking 10 shots on the year. Jones and Witaschek averaged 2.6 and 2.3 points per game, respectively.

The Gorloks also added seven newcomers to the team including five freshman and two transfer students.

Webster will kick off their season on Tuesday, November 8^th when they host Illinois College for a nonconference matchup. The game is set to start at 7:30 p.m. in Grant Gymnasium.