OKLAHOMA CITY – Coming off another successful campaign that saw the MACU Men's Basketball team back in the NAIA Tournament, the Evangels are expecting to have another big year under 11th-year head coach Josh Gamblin as MACU was selected fourth in the Sooner Athletic Conference Preseason Poll released on Wednesday.
The Evangels received 90 points in the poll, notching five more than John Brown (85) in fifth and 16 in-front of Texas Wesleyan (74) in sixth. MACU placed just six points back of Wayland Baptist (96) in third while Nelson and Langston were picked as the league preseason favorites at 113 points apiece.
Mid-America Christian will have a relatively new look after graduating most of its talents from last year's team, but the Evangels do return some key pieces that are expecting to make a bigger impact in their second years with the program, including redshirt senior Shannon Strickland, redshirt junior Morris Williams, and redshirt sophomore Zander Baker.
Strickland and Williams each played part of the 2024-25 campaign before electing to redshirt the season while Baker was a key piece off of MACU's bench.
Competing in six games last year, Williams was a solid contributor, averaging 7.5 ppg while shooting a highly efficient 48.5 percent from the field, 42.1 percent from three, and 83.3 percent from the free throw line.
The Plano, Texas product that transferred in from Paris Junior College also finished with 10 rebounds, three assists, and three steals to add to his floor game. Williams reached double-figures in two of the six contests off the bench, tallying a 12-point performance at Oklahoma City before pouring in 16 points in a huge 88-67 win over No. 8 Langston on Jan. 20.
A transfer from NCAA D-II Texas A&M-International, Strickland saw the court in four games last year for the Evangels, averaging 4.0 ppg and 3.5 rpg while dishing out three assists. The Monticello, Ark. native scored a season-high 11 points in an 84-49 win over Ozark Christian on Nov. 2, 2024.
Seeing his first season of collegiate action as a redshirt freshman transfer from NCAA D-II Southern Nazarene (Okla.), Baker was a key piece of MACU's success as its backup point guard in 31 games last year. Averaging 14.7 minutes per game, Baker finished the year with 91 points (2.9 ppg) while shooting 40.3 percent from the field and 38.3 percent from the three-point arc to go with 57 rebounds, 29 assists, and 22 steals for his floor game.
The Oklahoma City native broke into double-figures on four occasions last year, netting a career-best 13 points in his only start in an 87-69 win over Science & Arts inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Jan. 2.
Despite losing a lot of talent, Mid-America Christian is bringing in a wellspring of talent that is expecting to make an immediate impact, including Clay Baldwin, Clance Crosby, James Locke, and Corey Skillman.
A 6-1 redshirt senior guard, Baldwin comes to MACU after competing at NCAA D-II Sul Ross State, a member of the high-profile Lone Star Conference. Baldwin ended up missing most of the 2024-25 campaign, only seeing action in six games and making four starts for the Lobos, but was a highly-proficient scorer, averaging 10.7 ppg on a solid 44.0 percent shooting rate and went 16-for-19 (84.2 percent) from the free throw line.
A native of Missouri City, Texas, Baldwin's best game with the Lobos was a 24-point effort with six steals in a win over Navajo Tech while also putting up a 15-point outing against St. Mary's (Texas).
Coming back to his home in Oklahoma City, Crosby is a 6-9 redshirt senior forward that is transferring in from NCAA D-I Alabama A&M. A key contributor off the Bulldogs bench, Crosby saw action in 31 games and made three starts for AAMU, scoring 91 points while shooting 59.3 percent from the field and produced 60 rebounds to go with 12 blocked shots.
Crosby reached double-figures on a pair of occasions last year with a pair of 10-point outings, the last coming against Texas Southern on Jan. 25.
Making his way to MACU from NCAA D-II West Florida, Locke saw action in 13 games a year ago for the Argonauts. A native of Spencer, Okla., Locke's best outing was a nine-point effort against Valdosta State (Ga.) on Dec. 15, 2024. The 6-3 senior guard is also returning to his home state after competing for Northeastern Oklahoma A&M during the 2023-24 campaign.
Joining him in the backcourt is Skillman, another solid NCAA D-II transfer from Central Missouri. The 6-4 wing from New Orleans, he saw action in 23 games off the bench for the Mules during the 2024-25 campaign, netting a season-high 10 points against Texas-Permian Basin on Dec. 17, 2024.
Mid-America Christian will be opening its 2025-26 campaign with a high-profile contest on its home court on Saturday. The Evangels are preparing to host NAIA powerhouse Florida College for a 6 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
