JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - The Lincoln men's basketball team heads to Kansas City, Mo. on Monday (Nov. 7) to play Missouri-Kansas City in its first of two exhibition games of 2022-23. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. CST as the teams meet for the first time since 2015.

The Blue Tigers have four veterans and 14 newcomers, including Emmette Page (Evansville) and Artese Stapleton (Radford), both of whom played at NCAA Division I schools last year. Other Lincoln athletes who also have Division I experience include Jamar Madge, Jr., who started his career at Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Caleb Wright, who played his freshman year at High Point; and Sam Rautins, who spent two seasons at Canisius.

Trevion Crawford, who averaged 10.0 points per game, and Arash Yaqubi, who appeared in 18 games, both were with the Blue Tigers in 2022-23. Richard Craddock was a redshirt player at LU last season, while Sai Witt is also back after a 2020-21 campaign in which he earned All-MIAA second team recognition.

Other newcomers to watch include Kevin Kone, who averaged 10.5 points and 7.2 boards at Georgia Southwestern last season; DJ Richardson, who shot .507 from the field and averaged 15.4 points as a sophomore at Frank Phillips; Franck Yetna, who averaged 7.4 points at St. Petersburg in 2021-22; and LeRoy Atkins, Jr., who led Sikeston to a state championship in 2021.