Coyotes enter season with new look

Coach Chris Lewis’ roster includes no players who were on the court in a game for the program last season. That’s right, nary a one.

All but two of the players on the 2025-26 roster are completely new to the team. The only two returners were both redshirts last season and will play as freshmen this season, 5-foot-11 shooting guard Jaelon Edwards (Spring Valley, New York) and 6-8 forward Bol Dhieu (Rumbek, South Sudan), who broke his foot and missed all of the 2024-25 season.

“It just happened that way. It wasn’t planned,” Lewis said. “It’s almost the situation as 2022-23, but those two coming back had played. This is our first year with no one who played the year before.

“It’s definitely a situation where you have to establish the culture immediately,” Lewis continued. “We have an extra tough conference, play a tough schedule, and it’s imperative we establish that culture early.”

Despite their inexperience, Lewis said Edwards and Dhieu are critical to making that happen.

“Their ability to lead through their understanding is important,” he said. “They are leaders in a vocal sense, knowing how we do things.”

Even with the lack of returners, the Coyotes are picked second in the Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference behind McLennan. They’ve finished second in the league the past two seasons and have reached the playoffs three straight years, advancing to the second round of the Region V Tournament in 2023 and 2025.

The Coyotes defeated nationally-ranked Midland 58-56 to open the Region V Tournament last season before falling 72-57 to South Plains, which went on to reach the national semifinals.

“I feel like the last three years, finishing third, second, second, we’ve gotten a nod for being one of the better teams,” Lewis said. “But with a brand new roster, we have some proving to do.

“I like our talent level. This is probably the biggest size team we’ve had in the last four years. Every year is a different challenge, but our coaching staff knows what it’s like to compete for a championship in this league.”

Rounding out the preseason picks, Collin and Ranger are also expected to reach the playoffs, with Temple and Grayson looking to challenge. Southwestern Christian and Hill bring up the final two spots.

Lewis has a chance to win the 100th game of his head coaching career. Through his first four seasons leading the Coyotes he is 78-43.

Newcomers for the Coyotes include:

• Jel Malik, 6-5 sophomore guard, Newport Beach California, transfer from Victor Valley College, California.
• Jelani McGregor, 6-3 sophomore guard, Chicago, transfer from Moraine Valley Community College, Illinois (averaged 16 points).
• Jace Hudson, 6-2 freshman guard, Salisbury, Maryland.
• Andre Bennett, 6-5 sophomore guard, Atlanta, transfer from Laramie County Community College, Wyoming.
• Garang Dhieu (no relation to Bol), 6-11 freshman center, Rumbek, South Sudan.
• Keith Gillespie, 6-0 freshman guard, Ellenwood, Georgia.
• Jaiden Green, 6-0 redshirt freshman guard, Fort Worth, transfer from Texas Wesleyan University.
• Dionte Alexander, 6-3 sophomore guard, Gainesville, Virginia, transfer from Belmont Abbey College, North Carolina (averaged 12 points).
• Jonathan Kaniki, 6-2 freshman guard, Dallas.
• Josiah Coleman, 6-5 freshman guard, Plymouth, Minnesota.
• Ronald Strong, 6-1 freshman guard, Arlington.
• Dante Smith, 6-5 sophomore forward, Mansfield, transfer from Knox College, Illinois.
• Timothy Whybrew, 6-3 freshman guard, Pflugerville.
• Kyan Landveld, 6-10 freshman forward, Tilburg, Netherlands.
• Kenji Franklin, 6-6 freshman forward, Bastrop.
• John Odhiambo, 6-9 freshman forward, Kisumu, Kenya.

“We’ve got a lot of talented guys who can do a lot of things. Knowing several of these guys have college basketball experience already is a big plus,” Lewis said. “One of our strengths will be being able to play in a bunch of different ways.”

For the season schedule and more information, go to wcathletics.com.