The men's basketball program at Shawnee State University will begin its season Friday and Saturday evening at the Virgin Islands Classic, where the Bears will take on Puerto Rico-Bayamon and Maine-Fort Kent in what will be 5:30 p.m. starts on both days.

Shawnee State, who went 14-16 in 2019, will be playing both schools for the first-time ever in their trip to the Virgin Islands. Maine-Fort Kent brings back Jacob Powell, who averaged 6.3 points, three rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game during the 2018-19 season, and Bryce Gilbert, who started in 16 of the Bengals' 28 games in 2018-19 while posting five points, 2.6 assists and 2.4 rebounds per contest. Outside of those two players, both units will essentially be bringing in an entirely new roster lineup to the table.

Against both Puerto Rico-Bayamon and Maine-Fort Kent, Shawnee State will have a significant size advantage as the Bears bring back four of its top five low post players from last season.

EJ Onu -- who has scored 644 points and snagged 352 rebounds so far in his career for averages of 10.7 points and 5.8 rebounds per contest, is poised to have a big weekend, as is Justin Johnson, who has accumulated 525 points and 233 rebounds in his career at Shawnee State. Their multi-dimensional abilities at 6-10 pose matchup problems for both units. Tim Biakapia and Selby Hind-Wills also return as key players and energy hands, while Jakiel Wells, D'Andre Price, Desmond Crosby, Jr., Kobie Johnson, Kyree Elder, Dakota Prichard, Bailey Davis, and Steven Zimmerman will be relied on in different forms throughout the two-day trip in Charlotte Amalie -- the location of the University of the Virgin Islands.

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