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| Saint Francis Probable Starters |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
FG% |
Note |
| G |
0 |
Chris Moncrief |
6-6 |
190 |
Sr. |
--- |
--- |
--- |
Averaged 10.0 ppg in 8-3 stretch to end 2024-25 |
| G |
2 |
Zion Russell |
6-2 |
185 |
R-Sr. |
--- |
--- |
--- |
Will make his SFU debut against Oklahoma |
| GÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â |
F |
Skylar Wicks |
6-6 |
190 |
R-Sr. |
--- |
--- |
--- |
Will make his SFU debut against Oklahoma |
| G |
15 |
Victor Payne |
6-4 |
190 |
So. |
--- |
--- |
--- |
Appeared in 25 games with SFU last season |
| F |
20 Â Â |
Cam Tweedy |
6-6 |
240 |
R-Sr.. |
--- |
--- |
--- |
Will make his SFU debut against Oklahoma |
| Top Players Off the Bench |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
FG% |
Note |
| GÂ |
1 |
KJ Swain, Jr. |
6-1 |
165 |
R-Sr.. |
--- |
--- |
--- |
Earned a scholarship in the summer |
| G |
3 |
Brandon Russell |
6-5 |
185 |
Fr. |
--- |
--- |
--- |
Looking to make collegiate debut at Oklahoma |
| G/F |
4 |
Ralph Martino, Jr. |
6-6 Â Â |
180 |
So. |
--- |
--- |
--- |
Will make his SFU debut against Oklahoma |
| G |
7 |
Paris Papadatos |
6-4 |
185 |
Fr. |
--- |
--- |
--- |
Looking to make collegiate debut at Oklahoma |
| FÂ Â Â Â |
21 |
Gestin Liberis |
6-9 |
225 |
R-Jr. |
--- |
--- |
--- |
Missed last season due to an injury |
| G |
55 Â Â Â |
Ahmad Harrison |
6-1 |
190 |
Sr. |
--- |
--- |
--- |
Will make his SFU debut against Oklahoma |
SELECT GAME NOTES VS. OKLAHOMA (FULL GAME NOTES PDF)
FRANKIES TIDBITS IN A FLASH
• A new era at Saint Francis begins on Monday with first-year head coach
Luke McConnell takes the reigns from Rob Krimmel after 13 years. McConnell is no stranger to the Red Flash after serving under Krimmel for the last 12 years as director of basketball operations (2013-21), assistant coach (2021-24) and associate head coach (2024-25).
• McConnell became the 21st head coach in program history and the second with the last name McConnell after his father, Tom, served as head coach of the Red Flash from 1992-99 and ranks as the third-winningest head coach in team history with 85 wins.
• Monday's game between Saint Francis and Oklahoma marks the first meeting between the two programs. It will be the 10th time the Red Flash will play an SEC school and the first since the 2016-17 campaign at Texas A&M. It will be the second time the Loretto program has played in the Sooner State after playing Oklahoma State in 1973-74.
• Saint Francis is 0-9 against the SEC all-time with games against LSU (0-3, 1978-83), Ole Miss (0-2, 1971-73), Tennessee (0-1, 1969-70), Florida (0-1, 1994-95), Vanderbilt (0-1, 2008-09) and Texas A&M (0-1). The Flash will also travel to defending national champion Florida on December 17.
• While McConnell will be serving as a head coach for the first time, he has been on the bench under his mentor Krimmel against Power 5 teams twice after the Frankies defeated Rutgers 73-68 on December 20, 2014 and Pitt 80-70 on November 25, 2020.
• McConnell becomes the fifth Saint Francis head coach to make his Red Flash coaching debut against a Power 5 Conference team, joining Dave Magarity (LSU), Tom McConnell (Pittsburgh), Don Friday (Texas Tech) and Krimmel (Penn State). McConnell is the second head coach to face an SEC team for his first head coaching game after Magarity battled LSU in 1978-79.
• McConnell looks to become the sixth head coach dating back to 1945-46 to earn a win in his first game as the Red Flash head coach, but just the second to earn win his head coaching debut on the road after John Clark earned his first victory at Duquesne in his first game in 1966-67. Dick Conover (Old Dominion), Pete Lonergan (Pitt Johnstown), Kevin Porter (Lock Haven), Jim Baron (Slippery Rock) and Bobby Jones (Morehead State) all won their first game coached as a head coach with the Flash at home.
• Dating back to 1945-46 (Dr. William "Skip" Hughes first season), if McConnell wins his first game on the road he would only be the third head coach dating back to that season to reach the feat away from Loretto. Along with Clark, Tom McConnell defeated Buffalo on December 7, 1992 on the road to be the only two coaches to earn their first Red Flash win on the road. Hughes (Alliance), Magarity (St. Michael's), Friday (Bucknell) and Krimmel won their first Saint Francis game at home, but not in their first game as a head coach like Conover, Lonergan, Porter, Baron and Jones.
• Saint Francis is the defending NEC Tournament champions for the second time in program history. This season marks the 35th Anniversary of the first Red Flash title, led by Joe Anderson and Mike Iuzzolino. The Red Flash, who were tabbed seventh in the NEC preseason poll, will look to become the first NEC team since LIU had a three-peat (2010-13) to repeat as tournament champions. The Sharks are the unanimous preseason favorite in 2025-26.
• The Frankies will continue its road trip at TCU on Thursday.
AN SFU WIN WOULD
• Be the first season-opening win and first win against a Power 5 team since defeating Pittsburgh on November 20, 2021
• Be the team's first win in the state of Oklahoma
• Be the team's first win against an SEC school
• Be the first win for first-year head coach Luke McConnellÂ
• Start the year as defending NEC Tournament Champions with a win for the second time in program history (W, 80-63, Mount St. Mary's (N.Y.), November 27, 1991
STATE OF THE FLASH
• The defending NEC Tournament champions return four scholarship players (seven players total) from last year's team.
• Senior Chris Moncrief, who helped the Red Flash go 8-3 in the final 11 games of the season. Moncrief averaged 10.0 points per game in that stretch and secured the steal in the waning seconds of the game against the Blue Devils to clinch the first title in 34 years for the Loretto program.
• Redshirt junior Gestin Liberis returns for the 2025-26 season after missing last year due to an injury. Liberis averaged 5.6 points and 3.7 rebounds per game in his sophomore campaign. The redshirt junior registered 10+ points six times that season, including three in his last four tilts.
•Sophomore Victor Payne played in 25 games off the bench and scored 50 points in his first season in the 'Lo. Redshirt senior KJ Swain, Jr. was a walk-on last year before earning a scholarship in the summer.Â
• Head coach Luke McConnell retooled the roster with the transfer additions of seniors Ahmad Harrison, Zion Russell, Cam Tweedy, Skylar Wicks, sophomore Ralph Martino, Jr. , and freshmen Brandon Russell and Paris Papadatos.
• Wicks received significant social media attention, ranking second among league transfers. Wicks has appeared in 46 games, with 29 starts, at the NCAA Division I level, averaging 9.9 points and 4.9 rebounds per game at Missouri State (2020-21), Incarnate Word (2023-24), and UTSA (2024-25). He registered 26 points against Texas on November 6, 2023, with Incarnate Word.
ABOUT THE SOONERS
• Oklahoma finished 20-14 in 2024-25 and lost to UConn 67-59 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
• In the age of the transfer portal, sophomore Dayton Forsythe is the Sooners' top returner at 4.3 points per game.
 • Sophomore Xzayvier Brown (Saint Joseph's), graduate student Nijel Pack (Miami), sophomore Derrion Reid (Alabama), and junior Tae Davis (Notre Dame) all transferred to Oklahoma this season.Â
• Brown averaged 17.6 points per game at Saint Joseph's, while Pack owns a 14.3 points per game career average with the last three years spent at Miami. Reid averaged 6.0 points per game at Alabama, but missed three games due to an injury, while Davis averaged 15.1 points per game in 2024-25 at Notre Dame.
• Saint Francis played Miami in 2022-23 on December 17, 2022, but Pack missed the game due to an illness.
LOOKING BACK ON THE ONE SHINING MOMENT
• Saint Francis won all three games in the NEC Tournament by three points each on its way to its second-ever title.
• The Red Flash had to beat two teams (Wagner and CCSU) that swept the regular season meetings against the Red Flash. Before the NEC Quarterfinals win against Wagner, Saint Francis had never returned to win a tournament game against a team that swept its squad in the regular season in seven tries.
• The Frankies scored 175 points in three games to win the NEC Tournament. The 1991 team, the only team to win an NEC Tournament, scored 193 points in two games.
• The 46 points scored in the NEC Championship Game win marked the first time the Red Flash won a game by not reaching 50 points since defeating Franciscan 44-38 on February 10, 1973.
• Saint Francis was the fourth No. 3 seed to win the NEC Championship, joining Monmouth (1996, 2006) and LIU (2013). The 2006 Monmouth team is the only other No. 3 seed to upset the top seed, and the 1996 Monmouth and 2013 LIU squads were the higher seed in the title bout.
FACING THE NCAA TOURNAMENT FIELD
• Saint Francis is the defending NEC Tournament Champion and participated in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1991 last season. There are five teams on the Red Flash 2025-26 schedule that were also in the NCAA Tournament, including two that were also in the NCAA First Four.
• Mount St. Mary's and Xavier both took the floor on the following night after the Red Flash played Alabama State in Dayton and won their First Four games to move on to the NCAA First Round.
• Oklahoma and Florida were also in the NCAA Tournament and would have played in the second round of the tournament if Oklahoma had defeated Connecticut in the first round. In addition, Robert Morris reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time since joining the Horizon League.Â
GOING THE DISTANCE
• Saint Francis will travel a program-record 9,369 miles round-trip in 2025-26. It breaks the previous mark set in 2022-23 when the team traveled 9,267 miles.
• Saint Francis will travel to Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio, Virginia, and will play three games in Florida and two games in the Keystone State.
• The Red Flash will play in the state of Oklahoma for the second time in program history, the sixth time in the state of Texas (first since playing at Texas A&M in 2016-17). The last time the team played in Florida was in Miami in 2022-23, while the team has made several trips to Ohio and Virginia in recent years.
•The long travel does not hurt the Red Flash in league play in recent history. The 2022-23 team finished 9-7 in NEC play and advanced to the NEC Semifinals.
• The 2017-18 Flash traveled 8,964.3 miles and finished 18-13 overall and 12-6 in league play, while the 2018-19 team went 7,911.2 miles and also finished with a winning record at 18-15 overall and 12-6 in NEC play. The 2017-18 team played in the CIT, and the following year the Frankies won the NEC regular season, played in the NEC Championship Game, and played Indiana in the NIT.
• Last year, Saint Francis traveled 3,831.7 miles, which was the third lowest in the last 14 years.
ON THIS DATE
• This is the earliest start date for the Red Flash in program history
• Last year, the team started on November 4, while the team has also opened the season on November 5 (2019-20, at VCU), November 6 (2018-19, at Buffalo; at UCLA, 2023-24), November 8 (2013-14, at Fordham), November 9 (2021-22, at George Washington)
FUN FACTS
• The Saint Francis football team plays six road games for its season, with the last coming on November 22 at Stonehill. By November 24, the Red Flash basketball team will play its fifth road game of the season and on December 1 the men's basketball team will play its sixth road game. It took 86 days for the football team to play six games on the road, while it will take only 28 days for the Frankies on the hardwood to reach that total.
