HELENA — In his first year as Carroll College men's basketball coach, Ryan Lundgren has the Saints eager for a new season.
“The guys are ready to go up against somebody else. We’re eager,” Lundgren said.
Carroll departed Thursday at 4 a.m. to catch a flight out of Bozeman to Glendale, Arizona, for its season opener on Friday (an 89-77 loss to Ottawa, Ariz.) at the Fultz Memorial Classic.
Transfers Kendall Moore (Dayton, Ohio), Shaheed Muhammad (Arbor Hills, Minn.) and Zane Foster (Puyallup, Wash.) joined the Carroll program this summer, bringing with them experience at various levels of collegiate competition.
Moore is no stranger to the NAIA, and more importantly, Carroll. Moore started his collegiate career at Corban (Ore.) and was an instrumental piece of the Warriors success in his first season.
Moore was named the Cascade Collegiate Conference freshman of the year, and was the leading scorer in a tightly-contested game between the Warriors and Saints during the 2021-22 season. Moore is a true point guard and will lead a new-look Carroll team that features plenty of weapons.
“Kendall’s really exciting, He’s an older guard, who was freshman of the year (at Corban). He’s a great defender, he plays with great energy, he’s going to be (one of the) heartbeats of our team," mentioned Lundgren.
The three transfers join a team that is looking to return to the top of the Frontier Conference as the Saints will have a quick turnaround before taking on the NAIA's No. 3-ranked team — Arizona Christian — at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
“We look forward to it (and) everything’s a challenge, you know, road games are always tough, but I do think we have a lot of guys who have been through the trenches, whether it be at here at Carroll or at another college program before this so we have a lot of veteran leadership that will help us on the road," added Lundgren.
Seniors Gui Pedra, Jordan Bryant and Murat Guzelocak have all seen substantial minutes in their time in Helena and want to finish their Carroll careers strong.
The Saints will have their hands full to start the year, beginning the season with back-to-back games against Arizona teams that appeared on the preseason NAIA coaches poll.
Carroll college will play an exhibition game scheduled for Monday versus Division I Utah Valley which will stream on ESPN +.
