MORRISTOWN, N.J. - The College of Saint Elizabeth's men's basketball team opens its 2018-19 campaign on Thursday when it hosts neighboring FDU-Florham at 7 pm.

This will be the second straight season the Eagles and the Devils square off.  Last season, the Eagles held on for a thrilling 86-82 victory on the road at FDU.  In the game, Jason Saldiveri scored 23 points and Roland Romano notched a 19 points and 17 rebound double-double.

The Eagles will take the court for its third season as a program as it looks to improve on an 8-16 season and 4-12 in the NEAC last year.  Third year Head Coach Tom Wagenblast believes his team is ready to make strides in the conference.  "I think while you will always expect us to play fast, one thing you will notice this year is our ability to defend in the half court.  We have a very versatile team which makes it a fun group to coach from the defensive side of the ball.  I know we can score, and we are a very much improved shooting team, but our half court defense will be the biggest factor in us winning and losing games this year."

The future looks bright as the Eagles return 10 players from last season including all five starters.  The Eagles return its top three scorers and 73% of its offensive output from last season.  CSE's leading scorer, Saldiveri, averaged 21.7 points per game which was tied for 30th in the country.  Second leading scorer Cam Tucker averaged 14.1 points per game as well as 2.82 steals per game which was sixth most in the nation.

Besides the 10 returns, the Eagles brought in 11 newcomers who will round out the roster  Transfers Lance Rhoden, Ted Thelemaque and Darnill Brown will look to make an immediate impact along with seven freshman.

Even with a lot of new faces, Wagenblast is excited for this year's team. "I expect us to play CSE basketball every night.  We want to play at a really high tempo, share the ball and defend for 94 feet.   We were built for this year and next since the majority of our team are now juniors and we expect the transfers and freshman to contribute.  I'm looking forward to seeing how the new guys can fit in with our veterans and how the freshman are going to mature over the long season." 

The men's game will follow the women's game which is scheduled for a 5 pm tip.  Live stats for the game can be found here.