Men's Basketball Set to Return Against Southern Indiana
After 250 days between home games, Belmont’s men’s basketball team will return to the Curb Event Center on Monday against the Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles.
The last time the Bruins were at home, they hit a program-record 21 3-pointers and blew out the University of Evansville 98-64. 59 of those 98 points were scored by players no longer with the team.
After that win over Evansville, the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season champion Bruins ended the season on a two-game losing streak, including the 21-point upset loss to Drake in the second round of the Arch Madness tournament on March 6.
Afterward, head coach Casey Alexander and three of his assistant coaches took jobs at Kansas State.
Alexander was replaced by Evan Bradds, Belmont’s all-time Division I scoring leader. He filled the three assistant coaching vacancies with Marcus Belcher, Ja’Darius Harris and Brendan Mullins, who will share the title of associate head coach with Brian Ayers.
Additionally, Belmont lost nine players off last year’s squad.
Tyler Lundblade, Win Miller, Sam Orme, Brigham Rogers and Drew Scharnowski transferred, while Nic McClain, Aidan Noyes, Jake Dykstra and Keith Robbins graduated.
In response, Belmont added eight newcomers to the roster, including freshmen Eli Brown, Charlie Gersmehl and Cooper Knowles.
The Bruins were also active in the transfer portal, adding Ball State transfer Kayden Fish, Florida Atlantic transfer Vincent Neugebauer, Indiana transfer Alexsa Ristic, Pittsburgh State transfer Ethan Sage and Bradley transfer Matthew Zobrist.
They will join Belmont’s six returning players: sophomore Jack Smiley, juniors Eoin Dillon, Cooper Haynes, Graydon Lemke, Jabez Jenkins and senior Isaiah West.
Smiley and Dillon were both named to the MVC All-Freshman Team last year and the MVC preseason watch list this season. Jenkins was named preseason All-MVC by Lindy’s Sports.
The new-look Bruins shared the court for the first time in an exhibition game against Duke on Oct. 8. The Blue Devils, ranked No. 2 in the AP preseason poll, handed the Bruins a 40-point loss at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Monday marks the official beginning of the Evan Bradds era of men’s basketball at Belmont and the first time someone other than Casey Alexander has coached the team at the Curb Event Center since Feb. 23, 2019, Hall of Famer Rick Byrd’s final home game as head coach.
Monday is also Bradds’ return to the Curb Event Center after playing his final game there on Feb. 25, 2017. He scored 22 points without missing a shot from the field or the free-throw line during that game, 3,537 days ago.
Bradds will be tasked with continuing Byrd and Alexander’s run of 16 consecutive seasons with 20 or more wins and defending the program’s first-ever regular-season championship in the MVC after a 26-6 season last year.
Bradds’ first test comes against a Southern Indiana squad that has struggled since joining the Ohio Valley Conference in 2022, going 41-84 during that time. The Screaming Eagles became an official Division I member on Aug. 1, 2025.
Southern Indiana returns only three players from last year’s 7-23 squad: senior Kaden Brown and juniors Josiah Dunham and Alem Fejzic, who scored a combined 263 points in 904 minutes last season.
This article was written by Sam Dicus
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