Nick Smith scored 16 points in the exhibition loss to Rhode Island.

North Easton, Mass. - The Skyhawks open the 59th season of men's basketball on Friday afternoon in the 11th annual Disney Tipoff Classic in Orlando, Fla. versus Barry University.

The Skyhawks return four starters from a 16-12 squad, including second team All-Northeast-10 honoree, junior Nick Smith (Colonia, N.J.). Smith averaged a team-high 17.5 points a season ago to go along with 6.1 rebounds. Joining Smith are a pair of sophomores in Randall Stallworth (Toms River, N.J.) and A.J. Rudowitz (Monroe Township, N.J.). Stallworth finished third in the conference in assists as a freshman, handing out 5.2 helpers a game. Rudowitz meanwhile shot 59 percent from the field, averaging 12.1 points and 6.1 rebounds.

The Buccaneers are coming off a season in which they set a school-record for wins with 23 and advanced to the NCAA South Region Tournament for the second time in three years. They did lose their top six scorers from a season ago, but do return Sunshire state Conference All-Freshman selection Bryan Chiverton.

Stonehill faces perennial power Grand Valley State, a team that defeated Michigan State earlier in the week in an exhibition game, on Saturday. The Lakers, coming of a trip to the Elite Eight last season, feature Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference preseason player of the year in Callistus Eziukwu.

The final opponent for the Skyhawks is Columbus State out of the Peachbelt Conference. The Cougars were 17-12 last season and return their starting backcourt of Travis Matthews and Corris Portis.

Friday's matchup with Barry tips off at 2:30 p.m., while the other two games begin at 12 noon.