GLASSBORO, NJ - The Rowan men's basketball team, under new head coach Rob DePersia, has been picked to third in the 2026-27 NJAC Men's Basketball Coaches Preseason Poll, with the Profs receiving three first-place votes.

The Profs have a new look this year with eight new players joining eight returnees. Senior Khalil Baker is Rowan's top returning scorer (12.3 ppg) and rebounder (7.4 rpg)  and received All-NJAC Honorable Mention in 2025-26. Other returning seniors for Rowan are Skip Burton, Ife Okebiorun and Michael Pirone.

DePersia welcomes eight newcomers into the fold with transfers James Johns, Jr. (West Chester), Wisler Sanon (Saint Francis), CJ Mundell (Holy Family), Liech Kong (Goucher), Cairo Rivera (St. Thomas Aquinas), Azir Smith-Bey (Hagerstown CC) and Torren Greene (Mercer CC) being joined by freshman Jerome Ford (Timber Creek),

Rowan gets the season underway and DePersia makes his debut this evening when it hosts Wilkes at 6 p.m. DePersia, a 2019 alumnus, returns to Glassboro as the 14th head coach in Profs' history after spending seven years at the Division I level. He worked for a total of five seasons with the Villanova University basketball program, including two with Naismith Hall of Fame coach Jay Wright, while also gaining experience at Fordham University, and most recently, at the University of New Haven.

A four-year starter and three-year captain for the Profs from 2015 to 2019, DePersia earned All-NJAC Honorable Mention in 2017 and 2019. In his senior year, he and his twin brother, Nick, were double-digit scorers who played a key role in leading the Profs to the 2019 NJAC Championship.

In the NJAC poll, Montclair State was picked first followed by Stockton. TCNJ is fourth, followed by Kean, New Paltz and Ramapo, with Rutgers-Newark, William Paterson and Rutgers-Camden rounding out the poll.

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