VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton men's basketball opens its 2020-21 season Saturday when the Bearcats host Marist at 2 p.m. at Dr. Bai Lee Court at the Events Center. The game kicks off a weekend home-and-home series with the Red Foxes, who will turn around and host the Bearcats Sunday in Poughkeepsie. Saturday's game will be broadcast live on ESPN3 here with Tim Heiman and Doug Walsh on the call.  

With COVID protocols in place, there will be no fans at the Events Center. 

QUICK HITS
•    This is Binghamton's 74th season of basketball, 20th at the Division I level
•    BU returns two starters and seven lettermen from a 10-19 team of a year ago
•    BU gets back three-year starting center Thomas Bruce after a two-year hiatus   

Season Preview
•    BU must replace two-time all-star Sam Sessoms (1,151 pts.), three starters, 55% of its scoring and 48% of its rebounding from last season
•    Team will lean heavily on its sophomore class of eight, including returning America East Rookie of the Year George Tinsley and fellow All-Rookie Team member Brenton Mills (BU was only AE team with two players on the All-Rookie Team)
•    Tinsley (11.6 ppg.) and Mills (9.7 ppg.) are the team's top two returning scorers
•    Senior center Thomas Bruce (708 career points, 535 rebounds, 117 blocks)returns after missing last two seasons with an injury. Bruce is a two-time America East All-Defensive Team selection and averaged 11.1 points and 8.8 rebounds (second in AE) in his last season (2017-18)
•    Key newcomers include Wisc.-Green Bay graduate transfer Hunter Crist (89 NCAA games) and UNC-Charlotte transfer Tyler Bertram (1,897 pts. in three high school seasons at nearby Cooperstown HS). Manhattan College transfer Christian Hinckson (42 starts in 2 seasons) will sit out this season due to NCAA rules.

About Marist
•    Returns four starters and seven lettermen from a 7-23 team that went 6-14 in MAAC play (11th place)
•    Senior guard Michael Cubbage led the team in scoring (9.3/game), rebounding (6.1/game) and assists (3.4/game) last season
•    Averaged 60.5 points (39% FG) as a team and allowed 65.7 ppg.
•    Played a school-record five OT games last year (1-5) and played seven games that were decided by two or fewer points (2-5)
•    Lost to fellow AE schools Hartford (62-51) and New Hampshire (64-56)
•    Picked to finish ninth in this season's MAAC preseason poll
   
 All-time series vs. Marist
•    Binghamton leads the all-time series 2-0
•    The teams played in consecutive seasons in 2008-09 (a 73-71 BU home win) and again in 2009-10 (70-52 BU road win)
•    The teams are scheduled to play a home-and-home with the second game in Poughkeepsie on Sunday
•    The Bearcats are just 7-13 all-time against teams from the MAAC

2019-20 Highlights
• Broke school-record for 3-pointers with league-leading 278
• Three-pointers per game (9.6) ranked 20th in nation
• Had top scorer in America East and produced the best freshman in the conference for second straight year
• Had two of league's top four rebounders and two of top seven 3-point shooters
• Freshman forward George Tinsley finished second in nation in minutes (38:23) and was the only freshman among the top-70
• Led America East in free throw percentage (72%) - program's best in 12 years
• Posted highest scoring average in 11 years (69.4 ppg.) - third-highest in AE
• Ranked third in America East in attendance (2,285) and had the highest single home game attendance (4,238) of any AE team 

Latest start to season in 62 years  
With COVID dramatically affecting the start of the 2020-21 season, BU will now be opening its campaign on the latest date since the 1958-59 season, when Hall of Fame coach Frank Pollard and his Harpur College squad opened against Hobart on Dec. 5. The latest season-opener on record was a Dec. 9 home game against Wilkes to kick-off the 1952-53 season for coach John Natale and his Harpur team.

Coach Dempsey familiar with Marist  
Head coach Tommy Dempsey is 9-6 all-time against Marist, having competed against them in the MAAC while head coach at Rider for seven years. 

Sessoms departs for Penn State, Big Ten basketball  
Two-year guard Sam Sessoms, who accumulated 1,151 points (18.6/game) in two standout seasons at Binghmton transferred to Penn State in the off-season. Sessoms was a two-time all-conference selection, the 2019 America East Rookie of the Year and leaves as the program's No. 2 all-time scorer during its Division I era.  

2020-21 America East schedule features nine weekend series'
Binghamton's conference schedule will remain an 18-game set but due to COVID, will consist of double round-robin games at same sites to reduce travel. All 10 teams – including newcomer NJIT – will play nine weekend series' consisting of back-to-back games at the same site. The Bearcats will play five series' at home and four on the road. 

Bruce is back ... more than 1,000 days after his last Bearcat game 
When senior center Thomas Bruce takes the floor, it will be more than 1,000 days (1,013) since he last played for the Bearcats — the longest gap between games of any current player (same team) in NCAA Division I. The layoff is 2 years, 9 months ... or 144 weeks ... or 1.4 million minutes ... or 87.5 million seconds. Bruce last played in the regular-season finale at Albany on Feb. 27, 2018, when he had nine points, five rebounds and two blocks in 31 minutes. After playing 85 collegiate games, he now has missed the last two seasons due to post-concussion symptoms. He enters his final collegiate season with career totals of 708 points, 535 rebounds (fourth at Binghamton) and 117 blocks (second). He is a two-time America East All-Defensive Team selection.   

Binghamton churns out All-Rookie selections
With George Tinsley and Brenton Mills earning spots on the America East All-Rookie Team last season, BU now has landed seven recipients in the last eight years, tied with Vermont for the most of any team in the conference during that span. In addition, Tinsley's Rookie of the Year honor gives Binghamton the major award in back-to-back seasons (Sam Sessoms won it in 2018-19). In the 40 years of the award, a team has won it twice in a row only six times, the last being Vermont eight years ago.

Bearcats ready for new format of games on back-to-back days
Rarely in BU's Division I history has the team played games on back-to-back days. In fact, in the previous 19 years, the Bearcats have played on successive days only nine times, with the last time coming at the Cancun Challenge in 2017. They have played two days in a row seven times and have played three straight days twice. In those multiple-day games, the Bearcats are 9-11 overall, but 5-2 in the second day of action. This season will mark the first time in the program's 74-year history that they play the SAME opponent on back-to-back days.