KALAMAZOO, Mich. – A new era for the Western Michigan men's basketball program begins on Monday night as the Broncos travel down to Norfolk, Va., to take on Old Dominion in the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge. 
 

GAME INFO

Matchup: Western Michigan (0-0) at Old Dominion (0-0)

Date/Time: Monday, Nov. 2 – 7 pm

Site: Chartway Arena (Norfolk, Va.)

Video: ESPN+

Radio: Bronco Media Network

Live Stats: StatBroadcast

OPENING TIP

• A new era of Western Michigan men's basketball begins on Monday night with the first game in charge for new head coach Kahil Fennell.
• Coach Fennell arrived at WMU after compiling a 35-29 record in two seasons as the head coach at UTRGV.
• In addition to a brand-new coaching staff, Western Michigan has an entirely new roster for the 2026-27 campaign.
• The Brown and Gold brought 10 transfers and four true freshmen into the mix.
• Monday's contest marks the beginning of the fourth season of the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge, a scheduling alliance between the two conferences.
• The Broncos own a 1-5 record in the challenge's first three seasons.
• Monday's matchup will be the first all-time meeting between Western Michigan and Old Dominion. 
• WMU follows up Monday's game with its home opener on Thursday night.

BEGINNING A NEW ERA
A new era of Western Michigan men's basketball begins on Monday night as the Brown and Gold travel down to Norfolk, Va., to take on Old Dominion. Monday's game marks the first at the helm for new WMU head coach Kahil Fennell, who was hired as the 16th head coach in program history back in March. Fennell arrived in Kalamazoo after posting a 35-29 record in two seasons as the head coach at UTRGV.

BRAND NEW BRONCOS
The head coach and his new staff aren't the only new faces in Kalamazoo this season, with the Broncos bringing in 14 newcomers to the program. Western Michigan is one of six squads in NCAA Division I with zero returners from the 2025-26 campaign. Also among the teams with zero returners are Campbell, Kansas City, Mississippi Valley State, Northern Illinois and Rider.

FOLLOWING FENNELL
To start his rebuild of the program, new WMU head coach Kahil Fennell brought a pair of guards with him from UTRGV in junior Jaylen Washington and sophomore Julien Gomez. Both entered the starting lineup for the Vaqueros in the latter stages of the season, and helped the team go 14-7 down the stretch. The duo were then the first two players to sign on with Coach Fennell once he arrived in Kalamazoo. Senior Tanner Hayhurst also had a lot of familiarity with Fennell, having started his career with a pair of seasons at BYU while Fennell was serving as an assistant coach under Mark Pope.

STAFF CONTINUITY
In addition to bringing three players he had coached before at the collegiate level, Coach Fennell brought most of his staff from UTRGV with him to Western Michigan. Assistant coaches Dustin Yoder, Cam Clark and Michael Provenzano, as well as strength & conditioning coach Lucas Monroe and director of basketball operations Adam Howard all made the journey north to Kalamazoo. The lone assistant coach to join from elsewhere is Bobby Horodyski, who helped lead Queens University in Charlotte to its first Division I NCAA Tournament appearance in its first year of eligibility last season. Horodyski and Fennell worked together previously on Mark Pope's staff at BYU.

RUNNING THE POINT
Jaylen Washington took over as the starting point guard for UTRGV in the second half of last season, and helped guide the Vaqueros to a 14-7 record down the stretch. The junior ranked sixth in the Southland Conference with 4.2 assists per game in 2025-26, and led the league while ranking 39th in NCAA Division I with a 2.85 assist-to-turnover ratio.

FOE TURNED FRIEND
In addition to his pair of guards from UTRGV, Coach Fennell also brought in a guard from former Southland Conference rival Lamar, in Rob Lee Jr. In his one season with the Cardinals, Lee averaged 16.0 points per game, which ranked seventh in the Southland. The Flint, Mich., native was also among the conference leaders in made three-pointers (2.4, 4th) and field goal percentage (.441, 6th). In his three seasons of college basketball at Lamar and Wayne State, Lee has amassed nearly 1,200 career points.

DIALING LONG DISTANCE
WMU enters 2026-27 having made at least one three-pointer in 486 straight games, dating back to the 2010-11 season. Coach Fennell brought in a number of sharpshooters who made at least 40.0 percent of their three-point attempts last season, in Ramere Draper (42.6), Joshua Eli (54.2), Julien Gomez (43.7), Tanner Hayhurst (46.1), Augustinas Kiudulas (41.2) and Rob Lee Jr. (40.0).

MAC-SUN BELT CHALLENGE
This season marks the fourth of the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge, a scheduling alliance between the two leagues. WMU is 1-5 in the first three years of the challenge, getting the win in last year's season opener against Coastal Carolina. Western Michigan's second game of this season's challenge will be on Feb. 6 at University Arena, with the matchup set to be announced in January. 

SERIES HISTORY
Monday's contest marks the first-ever meeting between WMU and Old Dominion.