Coming off a 14-19 record and a second-round exit from the Western Athletic Conference tournament last season, the men’s basketball team will enter head coach Brette Tanner’s sixth season with a new-look roster in the United Athletic Conference.

Tanner added 11 new players to the roster after losing key starters from last season to graduation and the transfer portal. Key departures include 2025-26 Defensive Player of the Year and all-defensive selection Rich Smith and the team’s leading scorer and All-WAC first-team selection, Bradyn Hubbard.

Tanner said Cade Hornecker, a redshirt senior forward, and Isaac Dye, a sophomore guard, have stepped up to fill the leadership roles left behind by Smith and Hubbard.

Among the 11 new faces are six freshmen and five transfers with previous college experience. Four played at the Division I level, and one played at the junior college level.

#0 Gus Salem, redshirt sophomore guard from Central Michigan

#1 Victor Yimga Moukouri, sophomore forward/center from Howard College, 37 GP, 16.6 MPG, 7.2 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 0.4 APG

#29 Timeo Pons, sophomore guard from New Mexico, 13 GP, 5.3 MPG, 2.6 PPG, 1 RPG, 0.3 APG

#66 Noah Bolanga, junior guard from Utah Tech, 34 GP, 32.7 MPG, 11.9 PPG, 6 RPG, 2.2 APG

#97 Evan Boisdur, sophomore guard from Grand Canyon, 15 GP, 4.8 MPG, 1.1 PPG, 0.3 RPG, 0.3 APG

Tanner said Bolanga is currently ineligible to play in games because the team signed him under a current system that changed after the fact.

“I’m very confident he’s going to be on the floor for us in due time,” he said.

Xabi Lopez, a freshman guard from Tenerife, Canarias, brings experience from Spain, where he played for the under-22 development team, CB Canarias Liga U. He averaged 15.2 PPG, 8.8 RPG and 1.7 APG in 30 games.

Lopez also made a one-game appearance for Tenerife’s senior team in Liga U, playing only 50 seconds.

With the new additions, there are now seven international players on the roster.

Tanner said the team has had three scrimmages against higher-level teams and he is pleased with the results.

“We’ve played some different lineups,” he said. “The biggest problem I’m going to have is I don’t really have a rotation yet. I think we got a lot of guys competing for minutes, and I’m really excited about it.”

Along with the new players, Tanner also has an almost entirely new coaching staff, with four new assistant coaches.

Despite all the new faces, four players are returning from last season’s roster:

Yaniel Rivera, senior guard, 29 GP, 24.4 MPG, 7.2 PPG, 1.4 RPG, 2.3 APG

Cade Hornecker, redshirt senior forward, 33 GP, 15.8 MPG, 5.3 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 1.2 APG

Isaiah Neyhart, sophomore guard, 11 GP, 4.2 MPG, 0.9 PPG, 0.5 PPG, 0.4 APG

Isaac Dye, sophomore guard, 25 GP, 7.6 MPG, 2.8 PPG, 0.9 RPG, 0.3 APG

Rivera has spent all four years of his career at ACU, playing in 86 games.

“Yani’s like my guy, man,” Tanner said. “Like he’s a rare player in college basketball. It’s four years, and he’s a true senior. He’s been at one place. This is his home and I’m his coach and he believes in that and so he knows what I expect. I think through this preseason he’s been great.”

Last season, Rivera started 21 games and led the team in 3-point makes, with 47 on 128 attempts, finishing at 37% for the season.

“Knowing him [Tanner] for four years now, I feel like I gotta be the mentor for these young guys, the freshmen,” Rivera said. “I feel like I gotta be a leader, talk, do all of that.”

Along with the new faces, the Wildcats will also compete in the United Athletic Conference, a conference associated with the WAC and the Atlantic Sun Conference. Two other teams from the WAC joined ACU in the move to the UAC: Tarleton and the University of Texas at Arlington.

The Wildcats will open their season on the road against Colorado on Monday before returning home for their home opener against Lamar on Nov. 7.