BEAUMONT, Texas – Riding the wave of back-to-back 19-win campaigns and trips to the postseason, the Lamar University men's basketball will tip off a new season Tuesday evening at the Montagne Center. Heading into his fifth year at the helm of the program, head coach Tic Price has built the Cardinals back to respectability in four short seasons and now has his team looking for more in 2018-19.
 
For the Cardinals to improve upon the previous two seasons, they will have to do it with an almost brand new cast of characters. The Red and White enter the new season with five returning starters from last year's squad. Despite the attrition, the coaching staff went out an added eight new players during recruiting – a class some believe is Price's strongest recruiting class since taking over the program.
 
Among the eight incoming players, four are transferring from Division I schools – V.J. Holmes (James Madison), Jordan Hunter (New Mexico), Mike Kolawole (Illinois-Chicago) and Laquarious Paige (Indiana State). The influx of transfers has LU believing it has recovered some of the experience it would be missing with the graduation of six players from the 2017-18 season.
 
The Cardinals will look to seniors Nick Garth and Josh Nzeakor to lead this squad into a new season. The duo returns as the team's top two returning scorers, while Nzeakor also became one of the league's top rebounders and a double-double threat late last season. Garth – the school's all-time leading three-point shooter – became the 20^th member of the school's 1,000-point club last season, and Nzeakor is on pace to hit that mark this season.
 
The Cardinals first challenge comes Tuesday in the form of Huston-Tillotson. The Rams are coming off a season that saw them post an 8-13 (.381) overall record and post a 7-9 (.438) record in the Red River Athletics Conference.
 
History is on LU's side in the series, and the Cardinals would like to keep that trend going Tuesday. The Cardinals are a perfect 7-0 all-time against Huston-Tillotson, with all seven games being played in Beaumont. Tuesday's contest will be the first meeting since 2016-17 when the Red and White posted a 90-63 victory.
 
The Cardinals have made the Montagne Center one of the toughest venues for opponents to play over the course of its 30-plus year history. The Cardinals have posted a 326-161 (.669) record in the Montagne Center. LU recorded a program-best 15 home victories during the 1987-88 season and was 12-3 (.800) at home last year. The Cardinals went 11-4 (.733) in the Montagne Center this season.
 
A preseason fifth-place pick, the Cardinals enter the 2018-19 season looking to accomplish something that hasn't been done since 1999. If LU can post an above .500 record this season it would mark the first time since the 1996-97 season through the 1998-99 season that LU as recorded winning seasons in three consecutive years.
 
Tuesday's game will tip off at 7 p.m. from the Montagne Center. The game can be heard live on Newstalk 560. The game will serve as the season-opener for both teams.