BROOKLYN, N.Y. – LIU Brooklyn men's basketball head coach Derek Kellogg has solidified his 2017-18 roster with the addition of six new players. Two freshmen recruits and four transfers will join the eight returning Blackbirds this year, in their quest for a Northeast Conference championship.
Freshmen Shyheim Hicks and Eral Penn join the Blackbirds as recruited athletes, while Jamall Robinson, a graduate of Hofstra University, and Zach Coleman, a former player at UMass, will join the squad for their redshirt senior seasons. Craig Owens Jr., a junior, transferred from West Los Angeles Community College, while sophomore Tyrn Flowers from UMass also joined the squad, but will sit out the 2017-18 season due to NCAA transfer rules.
"I'm extremely excited to add this group of players to the team that was already here when I first arrived," Kellogg said. "It is a great mixture of fifth year graduate students, who I expect to be leaders on this team, transfers, who will be relied on heavily in practice to push the team, and freshmen, who will be counted on to immediately contribute. I think we have a great group of guys that will play very well off each other. I am looking forward to working with each guy individually, and the team as a whole. We will have an exciting team for the fans in Brooklyn!"
Hicks and Penn both signed letters of intent to play with LIU in their senior years of high school.
Hicks, a 6'1" combo guard, comes to Brooklyn from Brockton, Mass., where he played for Springfield Commonwealth and the New England Playaz. His team's leading scorer in his senior season, he finished his high school career averaging 19.4 points per game, 4.3 rebounds per game, 4.5 assists per game and 2.1 steals per game.
Penn, a Baltimore native, is a 6'7" forward who played for Catholic League powerhouse St. Francis Academy. An All-Metro team honoree, Penn was one of his team's leading scorers as they advanced to the league semifinals, and was awarded the league's Dave Kropfelder "Never, Never Quit" Award in his senior season.
Flowers, a 6'9" sophomore forward, comes to LIU from UMass, and will sit out a season due to NCAA transfer rules. At UMass, the Waterbury, Conn. native made 33 appearances, averaging 4.5 points and 2.5 rebounds in 13.4 minutes played, including scoring a career-high 20 points against UCF. Prior to his time with the Minutemen, Flowers played for Sacred Heart high school, scoring over 1000 points in his career, as a part of a three-time state championship team. He was ranked No. 4 in his recruiting class in Connecticut, and also played AAU ball for the NY RENS.
Owens, a 6'3" Louisville, Kentucky native, played for Trinity High School and the Louisville Magic AAU team. A junior transfer, he comes to Brooklyn from West Los Angeles Community College, where he averaged 17.3 points per game over two seasons with the team. The guard/forward finished his time in Los Angeles with 20 games scoring 20 points or more, including two 30+ point games in his freshman season.
Coleman, another familiar face for Coach Kellogg, is a 6'7" redshirt senior forward from Dallas, Texas. After redshirting his freshman season at UMass due to injury, he played three seasons for Kellogg with the Minutemen. Coleman played in over 60 games in his UMass career, notching up career highs of 13 points and12 rebounds.
Robinson is a 6'6" redshirt-senior guard from Maryland, who spent his undergraduate career playing for Hofstra. After sitting out the 2015-16 season due to injury, he played in 30 games for the Pride last year, scoring a season-high 12 points twice. In his first two seasons in Hempstead, Robinson played in all 67 games, including starting all 33 as a freshman, becoming the first freshman to start every game since "Speedy" Claxton did so in 1996-97. An All-Colonial Athletic Association Rookie Team selection, he earned CAA Rookie of the Week five times, and averaged 9.4 points per game.
The Blackbirds open the 2017-18 season Friday, November 10th, taking on Tulane in New Orleans, Louisiana.