David Ragland is Building Again

Two Bigs & Nine New Players

(St. Louis, MO) – After three seasons at Evansville, David Ragland is building again. Losing his top three scorers and four of the top five in the transfer portal, the Purple Aces’ head coach is building around big men Connor Turnbull and Joshua Hughes.

He has signed nine new players including four Division 1 transfers and two highly regarded international players.

The 2024-25 Aces battled injuries and slumped from 17 victories to eleven. Second leading scorer Gabriel Pozzato missed eight games and third leading scorer Cam Haffner missed twelve.

Point guard and leading scorer Tayshawn Comer and Tanner Cuff joined Pozzato and Haffner departing in the portal.

Massive changes have come to college athletics since Ragland was hired. Instant transfer rules, NIL payments, revenue sharing are all new and still developing. He says he’s had to learn how to pivot while ‘keeping the main thing, the main thing’.

But Ragland is building again around two of the better big men in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Bigs & International Players

Ragland’s ability to retain Turnbull and Hughes is a massive win for the UE program. Turnbull is the Valley’s reigning ‘Defensive Player of the Year’ and he and Hughes combined to block 97 shots.

While Turnbull averaged 9.2 points per game, he reached double figures during eleven of the Purple Aces final 14 games averaging 14.4 points-per-game. Hughes’ 15-point, ten-rebound double-double sparked Evansville’s final win of the season at Indiana State.

Ragland says retaining his two ‘bigs’ was important both for their on-court performance and the shout of stability to the entire UE program.

Combatting the ‘portal pandemic’ has taken on an international flair. Hughes was a big find out of Australia, which led to the signing of Pozzato and other international players.

The two latest foreigners to join the Evansville roster are Germany’s Leif Moeller and Australia’s James Dyson-Merwe. Moeller and Dyson-Merwe come to the program as freshmen with playing experience against their respective nations’ best, and older players.

Moeller is a 6’7 guard and Dyson-Merwe is a 6’10 forward with ability to stretch the floor. Ragland says mid-major programs are looking to international players to raise the talent level of their teams.

Sophomore Kaia Berridge (New Zealand) appeared in 29 games during last year’s freshman campaign.

Building Again with D1’s and Freshmen

Ragland and his coaching staff worked the portal and the high school scene to fill the holes left by their transfer departures. Division 1 transfers Keishon Porter, Alex Hemenway, Marlon Barnes and A.J. Casey are coming to Evansville with some degree of pedigree.

While Porter is the most established of the four, the other three have some proven abilities, and overall size. The athletic Porter plays above the rim and has spent four seasons at the D1 level. After two years at Radford, he spent two very productive years at North Carolina Central.

The 6’5 grad-transfer averaged nearly ten points per game over those two seasons and converted .381 of his long distance shots. He is active defensively (44 steals and 15 blocks) and is a willing rebounder.

After sitting out last season, Hemenway who spent time at Vanderbilt and Clemson has played in 95 D1 games. Barnes redshirted at Pittsburgh and Casey who was a part of a Miami Final Four team road the Saint Louis University bench last season.

Bringing in some veterans adds talent to the roster and Ragland adds, their experience helps train the younger players. What he loves about the incoming transfers is that each comes in with ‘chip on their shoulders’.

American born freshmen Bryce Quinett and Aaron Gutman are joining this year’s team. Quinett is a 6’3, three-star guard from Arizona and Gutman a 6’6 forward from Kentucky. PrepHoops.com calls Gutman the Commonwealth’s twentieth best player.

Solid Foundation

Ragland loves his coaching staff and administration. While the ‘portal pandemic’ presents its problems, he believes Evansville has the right ingredients to succeed. Director of Athletics, Dr. Kenneth ‘Ziggy’ Siegfried is supportive of his basketball coach and very active on campus.

Ragland says ‘Ziggy’ is driven to succeed, cares about people and he feels totally supported.

The Evansville coaching staff has great continuity. UE legends Craig Snow and D.J. Balentine bring a wealth of ‘been there – done that’ experience to the players. Assistant George Swanson has been with Ragland since his first year and Peter Funk was part of the previous administration.

Ragland says Snow and Balentine have instant credibility with the players and know what it takes to be successful personally and collectively.

The fourth-year-head-coach says supporters have the opportunity to have a direct impact on the success level of Evansville hoops. He believes the university and community are making great progress and that it’s important to seize the immediate opportunities.

The Purple Aces begin their nonconference schedule at Purdue and finish at Notre Dame. In between are games in the Virgin Islands and tilts with teams like Middle Tennessee, UT Arlington and Ball State.

Head to YouTube to see our entire interview with David Ragland or head to Valley Hoops Insider Podcasts for the ‘audio-only’ version.

This is a pivotal year for the program and the coach. Ragland is building again and seems to have some outstanding building blocks.

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