With a year of experience under his belt as head coach, Mark Montgomery is looking forward to the start of the 2012-2013 men’s basketball season.

Last season saw a rough start for Montgomery and the Huskies, as they went 5-26 overall and 3-13 in conference play.

However, they made it to Cleveland for the MAC Conference Tournament, upsetting Eastern Michigan in the opening round of the tournament.

The new Huskies squad will look to build off of that momentum from last season, along with some experienced returning players from last season and some incoming freshmen, who look to have big roles this season.

Last season, a lack of experience and ability to score really hurt the Huskies, but Montgomery does not see that being a big problem this season.

“We didn’t have many points returning [last season],” Montgomery said in a news conference. “We definitely have more guys that scored in double figures and played in more MAC games and non-conference games than the year before.”

The Huskies will return experienced senior guard Tony Nixon, leading rebounder junior forward Aksel Bolin, hybrid redshirt junior guard Antone Christian and leading scorer sophomore wing Abdel Nader.

Similar to last season, Montgomery has a deep freshmen class coming in that he is looking to rely on to play a lot of minutes.

“I’m expecting all the freshmen to play a lot of minutes for us,” Montgomery said in a news conference. “And when I say that, we’re talking 15 [minutes] plus a game.”

The Huskies have seven total freshmen coming in this season, but two key incoming freshmen for the Huskies will be the two competing for the starting point guard position: Travon Baker and Daveon Balls.

“I can tell you, both of them are hard workers,” Montgomery said in a news conference. “They are guys that come in and watch film, they’re in the gym early, they leave late, they’re very coachable. But I think they’re speed and quickness and their ability that they played that position in high school … Hopefully our offense will be run a lot more smoother.”