WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Wilkes University men's basketball team tip-off the 2025-26 this Sunday, Nov. 9 at the Marts Center against Rowan University, with their eyes set on another great season.

Izzi Metz returns for his 12th season as head coach of the Colonels. Last season he coached the Colonels to a 20-7 overall record and 13-5 in Landmark Conference play, earning the third seed and reaching the semifinals of the conference tournament for the second year in a row.

"I think every college basketball team in America is thrilled to get going here," Metz said when asked about the team's excitement to get the season underway. "Our guys have practiced extremely hard…but the guys are excited to get going. It's a great time of year."

This year Wilkes boasts a roster of 15 student-athletes, consisting of three seniors, three juniors, five sophomores, and four first years.

The Colonels return three members from last year's starting five, Lucas Lesko (Northampton, PA/Northampton), Jack Argento (Hershey, PA/Hershey), and Eli Becker (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra). Lesko remains the team's biggest star coming off a stellar 2024-25 campaign that saw him average 20.5 points per game and 7.7 rebounds per game on 48.2% shooting from the field and 34.6% from beyond the arc, earning All-Landmark Conference First Team honors. 

Becker and Argento also had strong seasons last year as double-digit point scorers for the team. Becker averaged 11 points per game and 5.5 rebounds per game while leading the team in field goal percentage (59.6%) and three-point percentage (41.9%), and Argento averaged 10.7 pointers per game and 5.7 rebounds per game on 48.7% shooting.

With the graduation of Joey Zvorsky (New Cumberland, PA/Cedar Cliff) and Cayden Merrifield (Scranton, PA/West Scranton), the open slots in the rotation will give more playing time to both Colin Ackerman (Manasquan, NJ/Wall Township) and Daniel Santaniello (Roaring Brook Twp., PA/Scranton Prep), who spent most of last season as spark plugs off the bench. The senior Ackerman averaged 5.9 points per game in just 19.6 minutes on average, and finished third on the team in three-point percentage at 37.8%. Santaniello averaged 6.3 pointer per game in 16.5 minutes per game during his first season of collegiate basketball, and led the team in free throw percentage at 81.5%.

 "These guys have played a lot of winning basketball. They've been part of a lot of wins with our program," Metz said. "We are going to miss Cayden and Joey, that's the unfortunate part of graduation, but that being said we have enough leadership, toughness, experience, and talent that I think this team is poised to do some good things."

Other returners looking to make an impact include Travis Linn (Harrisburg, PA/Central Dauphin), Drew Sechleer (Penn Lake, Pa./Crestwood), Issac Thomas (Schuylkill Haven, PA/Blue Mountain), Mason Fedor (Clarks Summit, PA/Abington Heights), Brendan Styer (Chesterbrook, PA/Conestoga), and Brian Britton (Elysburg, PA/Southern Columbia).

The four first years on the Colonels roster are guards Jake Sniras (Glen Mills, PA/Garnet Valley) and Ethan Sheffey (Lothian, MD/Southern), forward Antonio Brittain (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell), and center Matt Remias (Rutherford, NJ/Rutherford). The additions of Brittain and Remias add an element of size in the frontcourt that the team didn't have last season with Brittain standing at 6-foot 7-inches tall and Remias standing at 6-foot 9-inches tall.

"We addressed wanting to bring in some size but also good players with ability," Metz said when asked about the new additions to the team. "All these guys are physically strong for a first-year player, and they're acclimating well to our team."

The Colonels start their season with four-straight home games starting with Rowan on Nov. 9, followed by King's College on Nov. 11, Keystone College on Nov. 15, and then Lycoming College on Nov. 19.

"Rowan's a really good team. When we scheduled them, we were looking for a team that we thought would test us early on for our first game of the year, Metz said when asked about the season opener. "Rowan's been a team that for the last couple of years has been a regular in the NCAA Tournament. They'll be physical and they're well-coached, so we know we'll have our hands full. I think our guys are excited for a game like that."

After the homestand the team goes on the road for four-straight games before winter break, starting with Moravian University on Nov. 22, then Susquehanna University on Dec. 3, Catholic University on Dec. 6, and ending it with Arcadia University on Dec. 14. 

The Colonels return from winter break on Dec. 29-30 where they will play two games at the Cregger Invitational hosted by Roanoke College in Virginia, but afterwards return home on Jan. 3 to take on Muhlenberg. Finally, from Jan. 7 to the regular season finale on Feb. 21 the Colonels will play 14 Landmark Conference games.

"This is a tough league. You've got ten teams in this conference and all of them have aspirations of going to the playoffs. We had two [Landmark] teams go to the NCAA Tournament last year, so there's no nights off," Metz said.