Watch CBS News

DelVal Men's Hoops Off To Best Start Ever

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Division III Delaware Valley University Aggies have been a consistent winner for the last several years under head coach Casey Stitzel. So far this season, the arrow is pointing up for them once again.

DelVal is off to the best start in program history. The Aggies are 6-1 (2-0 in the MAC Freedom Conference) after Wednesday's 74-56 victory over Widener.

"I knew we had talent," Stitlzel tells KYW Newsradio when asked if he expected his team to come out of the gate this strong. "We had a really nice recruiting class for the upcoming year and we had some really good returners coming back. You just, as a coach, you don't know when it's going to mesh and it's meshed a little bit earlier than I thought."

Listen to the entire interview with DelVal's Casey Stitzel:

 

The Aggies are averaging more than 83 points a game this season with senior forward Chris Moran leading the way, pouring in nearly 21 points a night. He also leads the team in rebounding, pulling down 9.7 a contest. Junior guard Tyliek Kimbrough chips in 15 points a game and four other Aggies average between 8 and 10 points a game. Stitzel says this fast start, though, goes beyond statistics.

"One of the main reasons we've had success is we have really good kids," Stitzel says. "The culture of our program is about winning right now and about doing the right stuff. Any coach will tell you nowadays, that's not easy to sell to kids. So the credit goes to them, they're doing a great job, they're tuned in. My staff has been great. We've just got to keep getting better every day and hopefully play our best basketball at the end of January and February."

Stitlzel says they have room to get even better as the campaign rolls on.

"I think we can keep getting better defensively," Stitzel says. "Obviously, I think we can keep getting better shooting the basketball. We've got to continue to make shots. We're seeing a lot of zone. A lot of teams, because of our athleticism, have played us zone. So we're getting a little more comfortable with going against zone and attacking it and sharing the ball. We've just got to keep getting better in every aspect and we've just got to keep playing for each other and the program and if we keep keeping the culture the way we are right now, we're going to hopefully have a lot of success."

The Aggies return to the court on Saturday afternoon when they host Bryn Athyn College in Doylestown.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.