Long, athletic Biel brings a lot to Redhawk hoops, as season opens

When Southeast Missouri State men’s basketball fans walk outside into 77-degree sunshine today, hoop season may be the furthest thing from their minds. However, the fact is, as strange as it may seem, basketball season is actually here.

The Redhawks will open their 2023-24 season today with a road test at Grand Canyon (8 p.m., ESPN+), and there will be no shortage of new storylines to follow with this group, including how lanky athlete TJ Biel adjusts to the NCAA Division I level.

“We’re going to be way longer and way more athletic than we were a year ago,” fourth-year SEMO coach Brad Korn said of this team. “What does that translate to? I don’t know, but it should translate to more disruption defensively and should translate into better rebounding.”

Biel, who is listed as a “projected starter” for tonight’s game, is expected to help both offensively and defensively after finally getting healthy.

“I’m healthy now,” Biel said. “All summer I worked to get back on the court.”

At Triton College (a junior college in Illinois) last season, an opposing player stepped on Biel’s foot, and he twisted his right knee, which tore his meniscus. He has spent the vast majority of 2023 rehabilitating the injury and is good to go now.

"TJ comes to us from two very well-coached and respected junior colleges," Korn said upon signing Biel. "His versatility is something we felt we needed this offseason, and he fills that void for a lot of the positions we have. TJ has a good motor, size, long arms, and athleticism to go along with a nice inside/outside game that could allow us to have him at different spots on the court."

At 6-foot-7, but with guard skills and athleticism, Biel can do a lot of things well on a basketball court.

“I’m a two-way player,” Biel said. “I can really do it all. I can play inside and outside. I’ll play defense. I’ll play against the smallest player on the court. I’ll play against the biggest.”

The Calgary, Alberta native appeared in nine games last season with Triton and started four of those before his injury.

He averaged 9.3 points and 4.1 rebounds while also totaling three assists, five steals, seven blocks, and seven three-pointers made.

Biel earned All-Region 24 Honors his freshman year at Vincennes University in Indiana, where he played in all 31 games and averaged 11 points and 5.5 rebounds. In a game against then-ranked No. 5 John A. Logan College, Biel had a career-high 26 points.

That was one of 18 games that season in which he scored in double figures.

“I’m an inside-out scorer,” Biel said. “I’ll score in the paint, and I can hit shots from outside.

“I think that I can really do it all.”

In a recent exhibition win over Henderson State, Biel played 24 minutes off the bench and totaled 10 points and four rebounds with a couple of assists.

He was a team-best plus-20 in the plus-minus department.

Biel is projected to start with Indiana State transfer Rob Martin (guard), who sat out most of the fall with an injury, junior guard Aquan Smart, Murray State transfer Braxton Stacker (forward), and returning post player Josh Earley.

The Redhawks will return to the Midwest on Friday, where they will face Big East program Butler (7:30 p.m., FS2).

SEMO will open its home season on Nov. 15 at the Show Me Center against Evansville (6:30 p.m., ESPN+).