EDMONTON, Alta. – The NAIT Ooks men's basketball team will kick off their 2019-2020 campaign on Friday night as they host the GPRC Wolves. 

The Ooks are coming off a tough season where they saw themselves missing playoffs for the first time in several seasons. With a new head coach in Slav Kornik, NAIT will be looking to rebound this season.

"The expectation is the team will represent the school with class on and off the court, establish themselves as a hard-working group who plays for one another to reach their full potential," said Kornik.

The expectations he speaks of are those of his players, whom of which he only has four returning from last season, only one starter, Jamaal Hinds.  Slav welcomes eleven new players to the team from a variety of different basketball backgrounds, including ACAC, USports, and American junior colleges. Newcomers include Concordia Thunder transfer and dual-sport athlete (soccer) Will Pittman, University of Alberta transfer Hugo Cluysen, and American Junior College transfer Sean Clancey.

"We're excited about the season. We have a lot of new players and an entirely new coaching staff, so we're all learning together," said Kornik. "We have the potential to compete in the ACAC, but we understand it's going to take a lot of work on our part to reach that potential."

The men's basketball team will kick off their season on Friday at 8:00 pm in the NAIT gymnasium against the GPRC Wolves; they will then play the Wolves again Saturday at 3:00 pm.