KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University men's basketball team was picked eighth in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Division preseason poll, as voted on by the league's head coaches and announced Thursday.
The Golden Bears will be under the direction of interim head coach Tom York, who will be on the men's basketball sideline for the 24th season. This will mark his 31st season on a Kutztown coaching staff, and his first in charge of a KU team since he concluded his seventh and final season as the head coach of the women's basketball team in 1994.
Kutztown finished the 2024-25 season with an 8-20 overall record that included a 4-17 conference mark and seven home victories inside Keystone Arena, its most since matching that mark in the 2021-22 season.
The Golden Bears will be captained by graduate guards Jalen Bryant (Edgewood, Md./John Carroll) and Kameron Roberts (Townsend, Del./Middletown), as well as senior big man Jordan Nkoa Abessolo (Yaoundé, Cameroon/St. Maria Goretti (Md.)), who return to lead an otherwise young class in 2025-26. Bryant, a Second Team All-PSAC player from a season ago, averaged 19.7 points per game while playing 35.6 minutes per game, both top three marks in the conference. Nkoa Abessolo averaged 10 points and a team-leading 7.2 rebounds per game last season, while Roberts will look to be a key contributor after averaging 4.3 points and 2.4 rebounds a game last year.
The PSAC East Division rankings are led by West Chester, who picked up eight of the nine first place votes, and East Stroudsburg, who secured the remaining first place selection. Millersville, Shepherd, and Shippensburg round out the top five. The PSAC West is led by Gannon, who has six first place votes, while Indiana (Pa.) and California (Pa.) are featured in the top three and have one first place vote apiece.
Kutztown will open its season at home against Penn State Schuylkill on Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 7:30 p.m. They travel to Georgian Court on Saturday, Nov. 22 and return home to face Frostburg State on Monday, Dec. 1 before opening PSAC play against Indiana (Pa.) on Saturday, Dec. 6, at 3 p.m. at Keystone Arena.
