The Windsor Lancers men's basketball team will host NCAA's University of Indianapolis Greyhounds for a pair of games in late August as part of their annual NCAA/OUA Tip-Off Classic.
 
The opening game will be played on Tuesday, August 18th at 7:00pm at the St. Denis Centre. Tickets for the event will be available at the door for $5. The Lancers will also host the NCAA Division II Greyhounds on Thursday, August 20th at 5pm at the St. Denis Centre.
 
This is the eleventh consecutive year that the Lancers have brought in an NCAA team from south of the border for late-summer action at the University of Windsor.
 
It's also the first opportunity for interim head coach Ryan Steer to lead his Lancer squad on the court as they prepare for the upcoming 2015-16 season.
 
"I'm excited to get started and see how our group comes together in the pre-season," said Coach Steer. "We've got a solid nucleus of veterans returning along with some talented recruits. This is a great opportunity to see where we are at early on against a quality opponent from the U.S."
 
Windsor has earned pre-season victories over an NCAA Division I opponent in each of the last four years, including last summer's impressive 89-74 victory over the Indiana Purdue at Fort Wayne Mastodons. Prior to that, they also earned non-conference wins over Oakland University, University of South Alabama, and The Citadel.
 
The Lancers are coming off a tremendous 2014-15 season that saw them capture their sixth OUA West regular season title in the last ten years while also earning a berth at the CIS national championship tournament. They finished with a 15-5 conference record and went on to earn an OUA silver medal at the Wilson Cup Final Four in Ottawa. Windsor's season highlights also included a pair of victories over #1 Carleton and #2 Ottawa, the only school to do so.
 
Coach Steer's squad will be led by a trio of veterans including forward Alex Campbell, guard Mike Rocca and sharp shooter Mitch Farrell. Farrell was named an OUA all-star last season after averaging 13.1 points per game to go along with 4.8 rebounds per contest.
 
The Lancer line-up will also feature a number of talented incoming recruits including local standout Isiah Osborne, London's Mr. Basketball Micah Kirubel and Michigan big man Pim Hurkmans.
 
Osborne is a 6'5 guard who was a WECSAA first team city all-star at Kennedy Collegiate this past year and a finalist for Windsor's Mr. Basketball as the top player in the city. Kirubel played at Sir Frederick Bunting in London where the 6'1 guard was named London's Mr. Basketball this past season. Hurkmans is a 6'9 power forward who played his high school basketball at Lake Orion High School in Michigan.
 
The University of Indianapolis Greyhounds are also coming off an impressive 2014-15 season that saw them finish with a 25-6 record in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC), including a perfect 13-0 record at home. In a season that included a two-week stint as the No.1 team in the nation, the Greyhounds also made their first-ever NCAA "Sweet 16" appearance.
 
Indianapolis started the 2014-15 season with a 17-game winning streak on the way to securing the program's second-ever No. 1 ranking.  The Greyhounds remained in the top 10 for nine straight weeks before finishing with their highest win total in 51 years. The year came to a close with the team's fifth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament where they eventually fell in the regional final.
 
The Greyhounds will be led offensively by talented senior point guard Lucas Barker who set the school record for assist in a season last year, as his 7.5 dimes per game were good for second in all of Division II.

"We are grateful about the opportunity to measure ourselves against another NCAA opponent and to be able to once again bring another exciting experience to our campus and community," Steer added.
 
The Lancers will kick-off training camp on August 15th in preparation for their contest against the Greyhounds.