Elsah, Illinois ~ The Rhodes College Men's Basketball team opens up it's 2009-2010 season today as they take on Principia College with a 5 pm tipoff. The Lynx are looking to extend its success against the Panthers, as they defeated Principia twice last season and have won 11 straight meetings.

Rhodes College is looking to improve on last year's record of 8-16. The Lynx return 5 seniors and 8 letter winners from last season's squad. The senior class consists of guards Andyshea Saberioon (Houston, TX), Andrew Sillyman (Cordova, TN) and Chris Eberle (Cincinnati, OH). Forward Reid Hamilton (Birmingham, AL) and center #Larry Cunningham, Jr.# (St. Charles, IL) finish up the senior class. Rhodes' lone junior Josh Arant (Charlotte, NC) and sophomores Kory Kilpatrick (Athens, GA) and Jonas Williams (Birmingham, AL) are the other three returning letter winners. The Lynx added six newcomers this season, led by sophomore transfer Brad Luckett (Cordova, TN) and freshman Andrew Galow (Oswego, IL). The four other newcomers are Reid Cates (Martin, TN), Theo Hartwell (Charleston, SC), Joey Miller (Athens, GA) and Jonathan Smith (Cordova, TN).

Principia College is led by senior Todd Zimmerman (Nashville, TN) and sophomore Colin Angle (Grand Blanc, MI) who scored 15.8 and 12.4 points a game, respectively, for the Panthers last season. Coach David Patterson's team looks to improve on a 1-23 season in 2008-2009.

After opening with Principia, Rhodes will return to Mallory Gymnasium for the next seven games. The Lynx will host Greenville College on Friday, November 20th and Westminster College on the Saturday as part of the Tip Off Tournament sponsored by Hampton Inn ~ Poplar. SCAC member Hendrix College will be the fourth team in the tournament. Tipoff for the Lynx games will be at 7pm on Friday and then 5pm on Saturday.