Men’s Basketball
The 2025-2026 season marks another with a lot of unknowns that will determine the Dragons’ success. In the transfer portal era, Zach Spiker’s program has proven adept at filling the gaps left by outgoing transfers, churning out five straight winning seasons despite constant turnover in the starting lineup.
This season, Drexel lost four members of their 2024-2025 starting lineup to high-major schools. Lots has been made of the talent exodus from the program this offseason, leading to low expectations for the Dragons this year, as evidenced by the CAA coaches poll tabbing Drexel for 10th place.
The leading scorer that Drexel returns is Shane Blakeney (7.5 ppg), an uber-talented combo guard who has battled consistency throughout his Drexel career. Blakeney was treated as Spiker’s “sixth starter” last season, averaging the fifth-most minutes per game on the team.
Much like Kobe MaGee last season, Blakeney has shown the requisite flashes of talent in a limited sample to believe in his ability to be “the guy” for this team, but the South Carolina native will have to prove that this season. Blakeney’s first public appearance as the leading man for the Dragons came in their Oct. 28th 73-65 exhibition win over Lafayette, dropping 12 points on 4-7 shooting.
The exhibition gave other indications of how the Dragons will take shape. There is an abundance of depth on this team, and few players have distinguished a concrete role for themselves yet.
One particular area of depth is at point guard, where Kevon Vanderhorst, Josh Reed, and Eli Beard all are natural fits. Vanderhorst and Reed are returners who bring dynamic athleticism and speed. Vanderhorst in particular stood out against Lafayette as he poured in 11 points in just 17 minutes.
Beard joins from Division III Mary Hardin-Baylor and earned a start in the exhibition.
“[Beard] brings some shotmaking to our program. He’s had some big shots in practices,” said Spiker. “You can tell he belongs out here in terms of foot speed and tenacity. What he gives up in height, he makes up for in full-court pressure.”
To complicate matters further, Spiker spoke about diverging from utilizing a traditional point guard as a ball carrier, something that was on display on Tuesday. After highlighting the three aforementioned players, Spiker went on to mention Blakeney, Villiam Garcia Adsten, and Victor Panov as other players who will be tasked with initiating offense.
Garcia Adsten has proven capable of carrying the ball up the floor when asked and has remarkable potential as a mobile 6’8” forward who has shown flashes of being able to dice up defenses by driving to the basket.
There is also depth in the frontcourt between two 7’ 1” big men in Martin de Laporterie and Ralph Akuta. The former presented very well in the exhibition as he collected five points, four rebounds, and three blocks in just under 11 minutes. Spiker highlighted the importance of the two centers as many conference opponents roster seven-footers of their own.
Another frontcourt option is Garfield Turner. Turner, a graduate student who missed last season with a meniscus injury, will bring much-needed experience and energy to the floor.
Two exciting incoming transfers to the roster are Dillon Tingler (Eastern Michigan University) and Moses Hipps (Boise State).
Tingler, a 6’7” guard, was a consensus three-star recruit out of high school, where he was also ranked the second-best player in his class from the state of West Virginia.
Hipps, also a three-star recruit, redshirted his freshman season at Boise State, so he brings four years of eligibility with him to Drexel.
This roster has a lot of unknowns, but its depth and athleticism merit a ton of intrigue. There may not be one central star figure as has been the case in previous seasons, but the coaching staff has a litany of athletes who impact the game in different ways and can give opposing coaches fits with their ability to mix and match playstyles.
Women’s Basketball
Another season, another opportunity for Amy Mallon to continue distinguishing her program as one of the premier mid-majors in basketball. Mallon says the goal for her program is to be “consistently great rather than remarkable once.” With two CAA championships in the past five years, the program has lived up to that motto and is positioned to once again be a premier contender to go dancing in March.
Rival coaches gave Mallon and Co. their due respect when they projected the Dragons as the second-best team in the CAA in the preseason coaches poll. The main reason to believe in the Dragons this season lies in graduate guard Amaris Baker. The All-CAA First Team member is one of, if not the, best players in the conference, and few players are able to drive an offense with as much success as Baker.
Baker made the commitment to remain at Drexel for her fifth and final year of college basketball, something Mallon called “a gift for the program,” and there should be a sense of urgency to get the most out of this roster for Baker’s final year.
The returning players that make up Baker’s supporting cast include Deja Evans, Grace O’Neill, Molly Lavin, and Laine McGurk.
O’Neill, a senior point guard, has been a favorite of the Drexel coaching staff since her first day on campus for her ability as a jack-of-all-trades. The Archbishop Caroll alumna is hard to take off the floor with all that she does well, but O’Neill has struggled to score since her freshman year, as she averages just over five points per game on 33 percent shooting.
McGurk is a talented athlete who Mallon expects to fulfill her potential in a larger role this year.
“I think you’re going to see a lot more scoring. She’s so dynamic as a player, so she can score multiple ways. I’m really looking forward to seeing her on the floor and impacting the floor this year a lot more for us all around,” said the coach.
Evans and Lavin make up the rotation at center for the Dragons. Evans in particular was a standout in her first season as a Dragon, earning CAA All-Defensive team honors.
Drexel returned nine players from the 2024-2025 season, meaning Mallon only brought in three additions to the roster. Julia Garcia Roig, the sole incoming transfer by way of Xavier University, is a junior who Mallon says will factor into the backcourt rotation.
The two freshmen joining the program are Bria Watkins and Molly Rullo.
Watkins joins her sister Mariah at Drexel, where they will reunite from their days playing together in high school.
“I saw them do a lot of damage as a duo in high school,” says Mallon. “They won the state title together. [Mariah and Bria] are two very dynamic, bigger guards.”
Molly Rullo, the daughter of Drexel basketball alumni, is another local product with a prolific scoring record in high school that Mallon sees making an impact on the floor from day one.
The Dragons look as dangerous as ever leading into this season, and there should be excitement and expectation for this team. The distance they go will be determined by how much support Baker receives as the centerpiece of this offense, but with even a modicum of secondary scoring, this team can easily be the class of the CAA.