2025-26 Men's Basketball Preview

Erik Holth, CBC Sports Information Director

            Conway, Ark. – Coming off a co-regular season American Midwest Conference championship and a trip to the second round of the NAIA Men's Basketball Championship, Central Baptist College men's basketball tips off the 2025-26 season tomorrow night when they take on the Philander Smith Panthers. Tipoff from Reddin Fieldhouse is scheduled for 7 p.m.

            CBC went 27-6 last season and 17-1 in the AMC. The Mustangs will break in an almost entirely new roster under first-year head coach Cody Henson. Henson said this about his team's preseason performance so far: "One of the things we've been trying to preach to the guys is being consistent with our effort and energy. I'm trying to get the guys to recognize how hard you have to play to earn a championship. I tell them if you make a mistake playing hard all I care about is how you respond."

            Only two players return from last season in Devon Jefferson and Dalton Alexander III. Jefferson saw limited action due to an injury, but will be in his fourth season with the program. Alexander enters his third season with the program after playing in nine games last season. Coach Henson said "Dalton has been phenomenal. Doesn't matter what team he's on (in practice), he wins. He wins every drill. I wish I could have him for four years and have 15 of him. You always want guys like that in your program. He's one of the guys that's been holding us together."

            One freshman and 11 transfers make up the rest of the roster. The lone freshman is Caleb Knight who played at Benton last season. The transfers are led by Tytan Newton, who comes to CBC from Morgan State and Jason Hunt, who CBC saw twice last season when he played at Blue Mountain Christian. Three in-state transfers are included in Keshun Brown from South Ark, Jadavien Banks from Shorter and Derek Magwood from SEARK. DII transfer Tyler Johnson comes in from the University of Mary and Car'ron Brown joins the team from DI Coppin State. Jaquis Heath and Roko Kegalj are the other JUCO transfers as Heath played at Bucks County Community College in Pennsylvania last season and Kegalj played at Illinois Valley CC. MacArthur Read, Jr., also comes in from Bethel in Kansas and Iansan Simpson joins the roster from Division III Northland in Wisconsin. "In our program, we want guys that have played quality minutes," added Henson. "Those guys can find a home here. Tytan has been fierce on both ends of the floor. He has two years of experience at the DI level and I've leaned on him to try and lead these guys. Jason has been coming in and knocking down shots and being fierce on the defensive end. He's been very uplifting for the team."

            CBC was picked to finish second in the AMC behind Columbia and the Mustangs begin AMC play on Dec.11 against Harris-Stowe. The Mustangs received a pair of first place votes when the conference poll came out yesterday and the Mustangs also received 24 votes in the national poll that was released today. "Some teams are returning a good portion of their roster," added Henson. "There are no easy games in this league. You have to respect every team. I'm excited to be in this conference."

            The schedule consists of 27 games including an exhibition game against DI Oral Roberts on Oct. 24^th. Home and homes with Philander, MidAmerica Nazarene, Dallas Christian and Freed-Hardeman headline non-conference action which also includes matchups with Evangel, Wayland Baptist (and former CBC head coach Clint Galyean), John Brown and Dordt. Henson replied: "Right out of the gate we are starting with a good quality program. We play against one top 25 team and one team receiving votes in the national poll. It's great preparation for if we want to win a conference championship and a national championship."

            If you can make the games live, be sure to tune in on watchamc.com and the Urban Edge Network app on your smart devices.