PITMAN, N.J. – The TCNJ men's basketball team was pegged as the favorite to repeat as NJAC champion when the conference released its annual preseason coaches' poll on Thursday.
 
The Lions received six of ten first-place votes in a poll of the league's head coaches to claim the top spot. Montclair State was second with two first-place ballots, while Ramapo and Rowan each received one and came in third and fourth, respectively. Stockton (fifth) and Kean (sixth) rounded out the projected playoff field and were followed by "dark horse" Rutgers-Camden, New Jersey City, Rutgers-Newark, and William Paterson.
 
The Lions made history last season, becoming the first No. 5 seed to claim the NJAC Tournament title after a thrilling run with road wins at Ramapo, Rowan, and Stockton. After a one-point loss to Eastern in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, head coach Matt Goldsmith and company are eager to make a return trip.
 
Despite losing fifth-year starters James Beckwith and Jason Larranaga, the Lions are loaded for bear with the return of a stellar group headlined by All-NJAC stars Nick Koch and Matthew Solomon.
 
Koch grew into one of the conference's top guards as a sophomore, securing second team All-NJAC laurels after ranking eighth in the league with a team-high 17.7 points per game average and handing out 4.5 assists per game to rank second. His 127 total assists were good for seventh in a single season in school history, and Koch posted 20-plus points in 12 different games, including a 20-point, 7-assist masterpiece in the NJAC final at Stockton.
 
Solomon blossomed into a star in his sophomore campaign, averaging 11.6 points per game and 10.5 rebounds per game and ranking 15^th in Division III with 15 double-doubles. He posted the fourth-highest single-season rebounding total in program history (304), leading the NJAC in both total rebounds and rebounds per game. Solomon shot 53.5 percent from the floor and was second on the team with 93 assists, ranking third in the NJAC in assist/turnover ratio (1.50). He had a triple-double in the season opener against Goucher and went off for 18 points and 20 rebounds in a regular-season win at Stockton.
 
Senior wing Matthew Okorie is back after placing second on the team in both scoring (11.6) and rebounding (7.6) a year ago. Okorie shot 48.3 percent from the field and played his best basketball in some of the biggest games, including a 21-point, 8-rebound effort in the NJAC semifinal win at Rowan and a 19-point, 9-rebound line in the title game at Stockton.
 
Fifth-year Jack Vreeswyk returns after suffering a season-ending injury in the second half of the 2023-24 campaign. To that point, he had developed into an effective shooting option, averaging 8.3 points per game and draining 42 triples in his 23 appearances.
 
David Alexandre is set to build off a debut season in which he performed as one of the top first-years in the conference, averaging 8.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game. The unflappable guard swiped a team-high 37 steals and had a double-double (15 points, 12 rebounds) to lead the Lions past Ramapo in the first round of the NJAC Tournament. He also scored 13 points in the NCAA first-round thriller with Eastern.
Additionally, Anthony Milligan (3.4 PPG, 1.7 RPG), Khalid Bakare (2.0 PPG, 2.4 RPG), and Jonathan Okocha (1.8 PPG) are expected to see expanded roles this season.
 
TCNJ opens the campaign Friday against Centenary in the opening game of a tip-off tournament hosted by FDU-Florham.