A new era: Rider men’s basketball rebrands for 2026-27 season

By Samantha Clark

For the first time in program history, Rider men’s basketball is welcoming a completely new team, as 14 fresh names will join the roster ahead of the 2026-27 season.

New roster, new look

Following a challenging 2025-26 season, where the Broncs went 4-25 to become ineligible for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament for the only time in program history, Head Coach Kevin Baggett spent the offseason building an entirely new team.

“As a staff, we met, we talked about spending more time getting to know these guys before we recruited them,” Baggett said. “And I think we hit home runs as far as our guys; great character guys.”

Meet the Broncs

Four freshmen top this year’s roster, starting with guard Richie Rosa, who recently finished up his high school career at Saint Peter’s Preparatory School in Jersey City, where he earned First Team All-State, First Team All-Non Public and Hudson County Interscholastic Athletic League Player of the Year honors in his senior season. 

Rosa was also a member of the Puerto Rico U-15, U-16 and U-17 teams, where he earned gold and bronze medals against national competition.

Freshman guard Mikes Connelly hails from Baltimore, where he competed for St. Vincent Pallotti High School. In addition to high school, Connelly played for Lucentum Alicante, a professional basketball club based in Alicante, Spain, where he averaged 20.5 points per game last season.

From Houston comes freshman guard JJ Washington, who averaged 18.6 points in his senior year at the Christian Academy of Louisville. In the beginning of his senior season, he reached the 1,000 point milestone, earning him a nomination for the McDonald’s All-American team. 

Rounding out the first-year squad is freshman guard Bryce Presley, who graduated from Philadelphia’s Roman Catholic High School, the 14th-ranked program in the state of Pennsylvania. In his 2025-26 season, he received Philadelphia Catholic League     All-Catholic Third-Team honors. 

Sophomore forward Ezekiel Obe brings his talents to the Canastra Hammer Arena from Lagos, Nigeria, where he attended the NBA Academy Africa, an elite basketball development center for top prospects. In addition, in 2023, he was drafted by the City Oilers, a professional team in the Basketball Africa League. 

Obe moved to the United States to attend Accelerated Prep in Lakewood, Colorado, a preparatory program that focuses on training NBA-bound athletes. 

Sophomore forward Rich Brisco stems from the University of Akron, which was ranked No. 7 in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 Poll. As a Zip, he recorded seven rebounds across 10 games, proving himself to be beneficial to the backcourt. 

After redshirting his freshmen year at Saint Francis University, which recently transitioned their intercollegiate athletic programs from Division I to Division III, sophomore forward Kam Wylie is ready to compete at a new level.

The upperclassmen players consist of four juniors, two seniors and a graduate student, allowing leadership to be maintained among the new recruits. 

Junior guard Nasir Washington transferred to Rider out of Casper College, a junior college program in Wyoming, where he averaged 18 points per game.

The Broncs welcomed junior guard Ty Bevins from George Washington University, a Division I program in Washington, D.C. There, he made huge defensive efforts and strong performances off the bench, but after a back injury midway through the 2025-26 season, he only competed in 10 games, missing the final 20.

Ghana-native Stephen Avegah Semey, a junior center, spent two years at Western Oklahoma State College, where he started in 42 out of 61 total games played. In his freshman season, he averaged 8 points per game during the 2025-26 campaign.

Junior center Horace Simmons Jr. hit the portal after spending the past two years at Drexel University. In his 2024 Dragon debut, he put up 24 points, the most in a Drexel debut in more than 30 years. 

One of two seniors is guard Mark Butler, who competed for Lafayette College over the past three years. After a sophomore season-ending injury, Butler bounced back his junior year, starting in all games as team captain.

Senior guard Khalil Farmer and graduate student Bryce Baker were named as the captains of the Bronc pack ahead of the season. 

Farmer most recently competed for the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where he totaled 18 assists, 14 steals and seven blocks, proving his strength on both ends of play.

Rounding out the roster is Baker, who represented the Broncs at the Metro Conference’s annual Media Day in Atlantic City. After graduating from Kanye West’s Donda Academy in 2022, Baker attended Old Dominion University, Winthrop University and the College of Charleston, three highly competitive Division I programs. 

Team culture

No matter the years of experience, previous jerseys or basketball backgrounds, the Rider Broncs have rebuilt with redemption in mind.

“It’s a brand new squad. …We got a few freshmen, a few players from [junior college], just all over. It’s been a fun time,” Baker said. “It’s definitely a family, and you can’t really say that all the time.”

Despite the newness of the Broncs’ names and faces, the team is confident in their ability to play together, because they are exactly that, a team. 

“The most important thing that we try to establish is ‘team,’” Baggett said. “Not being individuals, but being something greater than themselves. … These guys have really started to come together.”

The Broncs open their 2025-26 season at the annual exhibition game during Rider’s Alumni and Family Day when they host Alvernia University on Oct. 24 at 4 p.m. Regular season play will continue on Nov. 2 at the University of Pittsburgh.