Men’s Basketball ready for Miller’s 1st season

PERKINSTON — New Mississippi Gulf Coast's Owen Miller has a security blanket you don't always get in your first season as a collegiate head men's basketball coach: Depth.

"When you look at our team, that's probably our strength," he said. "We've got a lot of guys who are the same. In our last scrimmage, our depth was really big for us. There wasn't a big drop-off from the guys who started to the guys who came off the bench."

His Bulldogs start the 2023-24 season Friday with a short trip to Poplarville for the first of two games to tip things off. They'll play Chattahoochee Valley in the opener at 3:30 p.m, then play Enterprise State at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Gulf Coast opens its home schedule Nov. 9 when MACCC-rival Jones visits for a non-conference clash. Tipoff at Dantzler Arena will be 8 p.m. All home games will be streamed at https://mgcccbulldogs.com/watch, and season tickets are available at http://mgcccbulldogs.com/tickets.

Gulf Coast returns last year's second-leading scorer, guard Jabarie Robinson (So., Raymond/Raymond). He averaged 13.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists as a freshman.

"Jabarie's a guy who is slippery and can score off the catch or the bounce," Miller said. "He's proven he can do that."

Gulf Coast expects to play defense for 90 feet, and that's going to help another returning guard. Javeon Gordon (So., Mount Olive/Mount Olive) was among the top 3-point shooters in the country in the early going last year, and Miller is pushing for better consistency this year. His energy should feed the team's pressure, which should feed his offensive output.

Anthony Robinson (So., Long Beach/Long Beach) also returns, a big man who can pass. John Davis (So., Pascagoula/Pascagoula) didn't get much action last year, but he'll get his shot in the starting lineup as the campaign opens. Trace Joseph (Fr., Pascagoula/Pascagoula) redshirted last year, and he's fighting nagging injuries again this year. He and newcomer Nick Krass (So., Gulfport/St. Patrick) would provide even more depth.

Krass played 22 games at Oregon State last year, and he's coming back from offseason knee surgery.

Duran Parish (Fr., Biloxi/Biloxi) is a physical point guard who creates shots for others with a point-guard mentalilty. He's also a pest on defense.

"He can guard multiple positions," Miller said. "He's really good on the ball and creates issues trying to get into your offense. He makes things hard on you."

Jabbari Barry (Fr., Lake Charles La./Barbe) is another physical guard, one of the strongest Bulldogs in the weighr room. The left-hander has made progress defensively.

Kaue Kalinowski (Fr., Curitiba Brazil/Divine Savior) has proven he's good enough to start, but he likes coming off the bench. The coaching staff will make that happen, and he figures to get the same minutes either way. He can shoot from deep.

"We're going to play full court," Miller said. "We won't always trap, but we'll maintain pressure for 40 minutes. That plays into our depth. We want to speed teams up and get it out of the right guy's hands. We want to make you take time before you get into your offense. We want to be hard to prepare for and hard to play against."

The MACCC coaches picked Gulf Coast to finish 11^th in the 15-team league. The Bulldogs are an unknown, both internally and externally. They want to prove that ranking wrong, and they'll get that chance starting Friday. The buildup to the MACCC schedule starting in mid-January begins then.

"It doesn't mean anything, really," Miller said. "It's what people think. What's new for me about this, I don't know the league. I know some of the players, some of the coaches. This is a really good league, but that's all predictions and doesn't really matter. We'll get to that Jan. 18."

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