No. 4 ranked Blue Devils will open season in Riverland this weekend  – Austin Daily Herald

The Riverland Community College men’s basketball team has established itself as one of the top programs in NJCAA Division III and things will be no different this winter as the Blue Devils carry a No. 4 ranking as they prepare for the season, which begins this weekend.

The Blue Devils will host Minnesota North College-Vermillion at 8 p.m. Friday and they will host Minnesota North College-Mesabi Range at 6 p.m. Saturday.

RCC returns five players, including Austin grad Buai Duop, Christian Campbelll, Nazih Chehade, who all started regularly last season, and Damar Jenkins, who scored 21 points in the last game of the National Tournament.

RCC will miss All-American Savier McCall, who is now at Division II Arkansas Tech but the team will find new role players.

“The guys we have back were all big pieces, but Savier was the voice in practice and he had a takeover ability,” Hahn said. “Coming in, we didn’t know much about Savier, and hopefully someone else will step up in the void and take that role. That’s the beauty of junior college basketball, there is always someone.”

RCC took fifth in the NJCAA Division III tournament in 2022 and it took fourth in 2024. Campbell said the team is by no means satisfied with a No. 4 ranking and the veterans are 

Last year was good, but it was tough and It hurt the way we went out. This year we’re coming and trying to compete and play hard every day,” Campbell said. “We’re making sure the new guys know how hard it really is to get to that level. Our experience is everything. I’m trying to teach these young guys what I know is coming.”

RCC has a big group of newcomers who will contend for playing time, including Blooming Prairie grad Gabe Hein.

“We’ve got a lot of work left to be done, but I think we’re a very good team and our fall season saw us go against quality competition and I think it’ll translate to our level,” Hahn said.