HOUSTON – The Celts of the University of St. Thomas open their men's basketball season Monday, Nov. 11, when they host Concordia Texas. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at UST's Jerabeck Athletic and Activity Center.

The Celts will make their debut as an NCAA Division III and Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference member program, having started their transition from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) earlier this fall.

UST is coming off a successful 2018-19 season, having won the Red River Athletic Conference tournament championship and qualifying for the NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament. The Celts return more than half their roster from last year's team.

Though the Celts graduated their top two scorers from last year's squad, the team still has players who can put the ball in the basket. The Celts return senior point guard Kennard Robinson (SR/Houston, Texas), who ranked third on the team with 8.8 points per game, and led the team and ranked third in the RRAC with 5.8 assists per contest.

The Celts also return senior forward Nathan Thormaehlen (SR/Katy, Texas), who averaged 8.2 points per game and led the team in rebounding by pulling in 5.1 caroms per contest.

St. Thomas was picked to finish fourth in their inaugural SCAC season. UST received 49 total points in the balloting, including two first-place votes from the conference's head coaches.

Concordia Texas is coming off a 13-14 season, which included a 10-6 record in the NCAA Division III American Southwest Conference.