WICHITA FALLS, Texas – Midwestern State is picked to finish eighth in the LSC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll voted on by LSC head coaches, sports information directors and media members. Jonathan Jackson, a fifth-year senior guard, was named as an LSC Player to Watch.

Dallas Baptist collected 42 of the possible 51 first-place votes and is predicted to win the conference again this season. The Patriots were 34-5 overall and 19-3 in league play last season. DBU won its first LSC regular season championship, LSC tournament title and NCAA Division II South Central Regional crown.

The Patriots defeated the Mustangs in the South Central Regional semifinals, 80-54, as the Mustangs finished last season with a 23-8 overall record and were 17-5 in conference play. MSU was particularly tough to beat at home, finishing with a 13-1 record at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.

Jon Trilli was named the 11th head coach in program history, replacing Justin Leslie, who resigned in April to take over the program at Westmont College. 

Trilli played at Midwestern State and helped the team reach the NCAA Division II Elite Eight during the 2009-10 and 2010-11 campaigns under current Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland.

Trilli was also on Nelson Haggerty's staff as the Mustangs won three Lone Star Conference titles, and extended their national tournament run to seven consecutive years.

The new coach is committed to keeping the standard high at MSU.

"I want this program to compete for championships," Trilli said. "I want that to be the expectation that we all hold ourselves to. That's our standard — it's always going to be, and I'm not going to apologize for saying that I want to go win a championship. That's my dream, that's my vision, and I'm going to work for that every single day."

Midwestern State has five players returning from last year's squad, including Jackson, who started 19 of the 28 games in which he appeared. Jackson averaged nearly eight points and three rebounds a game last season. He also had 17 steals for the Mustangs.

Junior guard Antwan Taylor, senior guard Jordan Reed and senior forward Vojin Mastilovic are also back for the 2025-26 season. 

Taylor appeared in 22 games, playing 11 minutes per contest and shot 56 percent (32 of 57) from the field.

Reed hit all four of his 3-point shots in the South Central Regional tournament last spring, and he was 4-for-4 from the field with 11 points in a 102-72 victory over St. Edward's in the opening round.

Mastilovic appeared in 20 games last season and shot 48.5 percent from the field (16 of 33) while playing eight minutes a game. 

Levi Rutledge a 6-5 swingman from Austin, Texas, was redshirted last season and is with the Mustangs this season.

St. Mary's, Lubbock Christian, St. Edward's, West Texas A&M, Angelo State and Eastern New Mexico were all picked to finish ahead of Midwestern State.

UT Permian Basin was picked ninth and was followed by Texas A&M International, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Cameron, Oklahoma Christian, UT Tyler, Western New Mexico, UT Dallas and Sul Ross State.

St. Mary's senior guard Damani Claxton was named the LSC Preseason Player of the Year. He averaged 17.1 points, 2.9 assists and 1.6 steals per game last season.