NASHVILLE – The Trevecca Nazarene University men's basketball team is picked third in the 2026-27 Gulf South Conference preseason coaches' poll with 73 points. Sophomore guard Fred Bailey earned a spot on the five-player preseason All-GSC team, while three Trojan transfers made the conference's Newcomers to Watch list.

The projection follows an 18-11 season in which Trevecca finished 13-9 in the GSC, tied for fifth in the regular-season standings and reached the conference quarterfinals. Nathan Moran returns for his second season as head coach with six players who appeared in varsity games last year, a returning redshirt and four transfers with Division I experience.

West Alabama leads the poll with 99 points and nine first-place votes. UAH received the other two first-place votes and 92 points. Trevecca is followed by Valdosta State with 70 points, Lee with 69 and AUM with 61. Delta State and Mississippi Christian share seventh with 37 points apiece, ahead of Union with 33 and Christian Brothers and Montevallo with 17 each.

2026-27 GSC PRESEASON COACHES' POLL

() = First Place Votes

ALL-GSC PRESEASON SEASON TEAM

Bailey returns after earning GSC Freshman of the Year and third-team All-GSC honors in 2025-26. The 6-foot-2 Nashville guard started all 29 games and averaged 14.1 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.8 assists. He led Trevecca with 192 rebounds and 140 assists while scoring 409 points and shooting 48.8% from the field.

The six-time GSC Freshman of the Week recorded six double-doubles. He scored a season-high 27 points on 11-of-13 shooting at Tusculum and closed the regular season with 25 points and nine rebounds at Union, followed by 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists at Christian Brothers.

Bailey finished fourth in the GSC in assists per game and ninth in rebounding. His 4.8 assists per game ranked No. 38 in NCAA Division II, and his 140 assists ranked No. 45. A Pope John Paul II High School graduate, he played for former Trevecca basketball player Charles Wade.

NATHAN MORAN AND STAFF

Moran begins his second season as head coach and fourth on the Trevecca staff. He joined Kevin Carroll's staff before 2023-24, became associate head coach the following year and was promoted to head coach in April 2025. Trevecca has gone 53-34 over that three-season stretch, posting three consecutive winning seasons and conference tournament appearances.

His first team won 18 games, the second-most by a first-year head coach in program history behind Chet Foraker's 19 in 1971-72. The Trojans swept UAH, won 81-79 at West Florida during the regular season and finished their year with a 96-92 overtime loss at West Florida in the GSC quarterfinals.

Trevecca averaged 84.3 points last season, third in the GSC and No. 34 in Division II. The Trojans ranked No. 8 nationally in fastbreak scoring at 17.97 points per game and No. 16 in bench scoring at 32.66. Their 35-of-49 shooting performance at Tusculum, 71.4%, established an NCAA-era program record.

Moran played for Casey Alexander at Lipscomb, advancing from walk-on to scholarship player and team captain. He finished with 1,140 points and 405 assists, helping the Bison reach the 2018 NCAA Tournament and the 2019 NIT championship game. Before college, he was the championship-game MVP for Battle Ground Academy's 2014 state title team. His coaching path includes Missouri Western under Sundance Wicks, Lee under Bubba Smith and Copley High School in Ohio.

Moran's current staff includes assistants Logan Gonce, Bryce Gerlach and John Mark Bell, volunteer coach Isaac Thrasher and basketball strength and conditioning coach Trey Stevenson.  

GSC NEWCOMERS TO WATCH

Jett Montgomery, Tylan Lewis and D'Shay Knights Wright represent Trevecca on the conference's Newcomers to Watch list. Montgomery and Lewis arrive with a connection that began before college: they were teammates on Independence High School's 2024 Tennessee Class 4A championship team.

JETT MONTGOMERY | #1 | G | 6-1 | SO | Franklin, Tenn. | Independence HS / Southern Miss.

Montgomery played in 23 games at Southern Miss. in 2024-25 before redshirting last season. He averaged 3.3 points and made 20 of 57 three-point attempts, scoring a season-high 13 points against Milwaukee and Troy. At Independence, he scored 2,700 career points, earned all-state honors twice and helped the Eagles follow a state runner-up finish with a championship.

TYLAN LEWIS | #2 | G | 6-1 | SO | Nashville, Tenn. | Independence HS / Abilene Christian

Lewis appeared in 27 games at Abilene Christian last season and earned Academic All-Western Athletic Conference recognition. He recorded six points and six rebounds against McMurry and five assists, two steals and a block against Jarvis Christian. At Independence, he earned TSWA Class 4A All-State honors and set school career records with 751 rebounds, 516 assists, 237 steals and 114 wins.

D'SHAY KNIGHTS WRIGHT | #23 | F | 6-9 | JR | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | Polaris Prep / South Carolina State

Knights Wright appeared in 12 games with five starts at South Carolina State last season, averaging 3.1 points and 2.9 rebounds. He played in 21 games the previous year and shot 54.3% from the field. At Polaris Prep, he averaged 17 points and 11 rebounds in his final season and earned True North Showcase MVP honors after a 25-point, 11-rebound, five-assist performance.

2026-27 ROSTER PREVIEW

Bailey, Tyler Moore, Spencer White, Justin Bass, Jeremy Jackson Jr. and Cade Capps supplied 1,089 points, 584 rebounds and 337 assists last season. Those six returners accounted for 75.7% of Trevecca's assists, giving Moran an experienced group of playmakers around the incoming class.

Moore, a senior guard from Hendersonville, Tennessee, averaged 5.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 29 games. His 84 assists against 34 turnovers produced a 2.47 assist-to-turnover ratio. He scored a season-high 20 points in the GSC quarterfinal and handed out nine assists in the regular-season finale. The Beech graduate, who also played at Johnson University, was the 2022-23 GSC Freshman of the Year at Montevallo.

White, a senior guard from Carmel, Indiana, enters with 82 Trevecca appearances, 339 points, 215 rebounds and 96 assists. He started 27 of his 28 games last season, averaged 4.8 points and 3.1 rebounds and shot 37.2% from three-point range. He matched his season high with 15 points against both Palm Beach Atlantic and Tusculum, making five threes against the Sailfish.

Bass, a junior guard from Hampton, Virginia, scored 206 points in 29 appearances off the bench. He averaged 7.1 points, shot 48.4% from the field and reached double figures eight times, including a season-high 22 points against West Alabama. The Kecoughtan High School graduate added 57 rebounds, 22 assists and 24 steals.

Jackson, a sophomore forward from St. Louis, averaged 6.1 points and 6.1 rebounds in 27 games with 12 starts. He led Trevecca with 39 steals and 15 blocks, ranked fourth in the GSC in steals per game and earned GSC Freshman of the Week on Feb. 3. The Columbia Academy graduate shot 54.3% from the field and scored a season-high 15 points against West Alabama.

Capps returns after producing 15 points, 13 rebounds and five assists in five varsity appearances. The 6-foot-5 forward from Crossville, Tennessee, is a Stone Memorial graduate. Josh Hamilton adds a 6-foot-9 frontcourt option after redshirting at Trevecca last season. The Ontario native played at Highland School in Virginia, helping the program win the 2025 VISAA Division I championship.

The 15-player roster includes one graduate student, two seniors, two juniors, six sophomores and four freshmen. Along with the six returning varsity players and Hamilton, the group includes four college transfers, two incoming freshmen and two players with Trevecca junior varsity experience.

ADDITIONAL NEWCOMERS

SHAHAR LAZAR | #4 | F | 6-3 | GR | Emunim, Israel | Hapoel Tel Aviv Academy / New Mexico State / Gardner-Webb / West Florida

Lazar arrives from West Florida's GSC tournament championship team. He averaged 7.5 points in 22 games last season, shooting 51.7% from the field, 43.2% from three-point range and 86.7% at the foul line. His path includes two seasons at Gardner-Webb and a redshirt year at New Mexico State. He also represented Israel at the 2019 FIBA U18 European Championship, averaging 9.0 points, 2.6 assists and 1.5 steals.

ELI WILLIAMS | #13 | G | 6-5 | FR | Maryville, Tenn. | Heritage HS

Williams finished as Heritage's career scoring leader with 2,236 points and earned 2026 Tennessee Class 3A All-State recognition. A three-time district player of the year, he helped the program reach its first substate game. His father, Scott, played college basketball at Walters State and Marshall.

CAM WEBSTER | #0 | G | 5-11 | FR | Indianapolis, Ind. | Lawrence North HS

Webster earned Indiana All-Star, All-Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference and All-Marion County honors after averaging 15.6 points, 5.5 assists and three steals. His Lawrence North teams went 84-25 over four seasons and won conference, county, sectional and regional championships during his career.

BEN GROTH | #24 | F | 6-1 | SO | Mount Juliet, Tenn. | Heritage Christian Academy

Groth moves to the varsity roster after playing for Trevecca's junior varsity team as a freshman and sophomore. He scored 1,750 high school points, earned NCHBC All-American and regional MVP honors and graduated as Heritage Christian Academy's valedictorian. He is the oldest of nine children.

COOPER JORDAN | #25 | F | 6-1 | SO | Hendersonville, Tenn. | Hendersonville HS

Jordan also brings Trevecca junior varsity experience. His high school honors included two all-district selections, two all-region selections, two county Defensive MVP awards and two district tournament MVP awards. His identical twin, Riley, plays football at Carson-Newman.

WHAT'S NEXT

Trevecca hosts Wright State Lake on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 7 p.m. Central during Homecoming exhibition game, part of the university's 125th anniversary celebration. The Trojans then travel to Florida to face Palm Beach Atlantic on Nov. 13 and Embry-Riddle on Nov. 14 in their regular season openers. Palm Beach Atlantic finished 26-6 and reached the NCAA regional last season; Trevecca defeated Embry-Riddle 88-82 in their previous meeting.

Bryan visits Trojan Fieldhouse on Nov. 17, followed by Tusculum on Nov. 21. The Trojans visit Kentucky Wesleyan on Nov. 23 before traveling to Alaska for games against Alaska Anchorage on Nov. 27 and Alaska Fairbanks on Nov. 28.

GSC play begins at home against Montevallo on Dec. 3 and AUM on Dec. 5. Trevecca plays each of its ten conference opponents twice in a 20-game league schedule. The regular season concludes with visits to UAH on Feb. 24 and West Alabama on Feb. 26.

The Trojans face all five of the other preseason top-six teams in January. Visits to Lee on Jan. 2 and Valdosta State on Jan. 10 precede home games against the two teams picked ahead of Trevecca: West Alabama on Jan. 14 and UAH on Jan. 16. They visit AUM on Jan. 21. The UAH matchup also brings back former Trojan Jax Abernathy, a third-team All-GSC selection at Trevecca last season who appears on the Chargers' Newcomers to Watch list.

GSC PRESEASON TOP SIX MATCHUPS

Complete schedule: Trevecca Men's Basketball

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