RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's basketball team is excited for its second year under the direction of UTRGV Head Basketball Coach Kahil Fennell.
 
After finishing last season with the program's first winning record since 2018, the Vaqueros are looking for more.  
 
The Vaqueros the bar high after last season and will look to will try to accomplish something that hasn't been done in the program since the 1989-90 season and that's post back-to-back winning seasons.
 
"We want to win everything," Fennell said. "We want to win every workout, win every practice. We want to win every recovery session so when those times to compete do roll around we are the best version of ourselves. There are some milestones throughout the offseason that we are chasing but some of those are player development things and some of those are team concept things. Regardless, we are really development focused, goal focused but some are more private than others."
 
The Vaqueros will have almost a completely different squad than a year ago except for the four returners that include, guard Jaylen Washington, and big men Kwo Agwa, Marshal Destremau, and Mustafo Vanjov.
 
Having a new roster every season is becoming the norm in the college arena, but Coach Fennell is trying to look past that and look for those guys that fit into the culture that he is trying to build within the program.
 
"This day in age, we are no different than everyone else where there are going to be a lot of new faces," Fennell said. "We have some new faces in our coaching hallway. We have some new faces in the locker room. I think both parties have done a nice job of getting acclimated what we are trying to accomplish. Our new players are going a long way of shaping what that will look like. There are only four returners, so they need some help forging our team identity. I think our new guys have done a fantastic job of buying into what that looks like. There are some talented players that we have brought in, but I think we have brought in some highly competitive character guys as well. They have bought in to this team concept."
 
The Vaqueros have brought in a good mixture of experience and youth for the 2025-26 season. 
This season, the Vaqueros bring in four Division I transfers in Zae Blake (Wagner), Koree Cotton (Jacksonville State), Marvin McGhee III (CSU Bakersfield), and Always Wright (Rhode Island). 
 
Dane Christensen, Kye Dickson, and Jalen Ricks join the program from the junior college ranks with Ricks also bringing Division I experience after starting his collegiate career at Wichita State. 
 
The Vaqueros also bring in a pair of freshmen who can find ways to score in Julien Gomez and Demarris Winters and have first year players in Filip Brankovic and Luis Ramirez. Brankovic brings overseas basketball experience after playing in the Netherlands. 
 
The one thing they all have in common is that they want to win, at everything.
 
"It's been a lot of fun working with this group," Fennell said. "As far as guys going out there and competing, I think they have showed a tremendous competitive spirit and have shown a tremendous connectivity. I think it has been refreshing in that sense. They are wired in a way that hopefully lends itself to sustainability as things get challenging. There are going to be some challenges this year, and we will need that connectivity, some mental toughness and I think our guys have showed that thus far."
 
The key to finding success in 2025-26 will not be much about the talent in the locker room because Coach Fennell and his staff they have enough of it to win.
 
 The key will be making sure that each of the 15 members of the squad has the same goal in mind and that they are doing everything in their power to reach that goal. 
 
"I think it's about finding our shared goals and pulling in the same direction and becoming aligned what we are trying to accomplish," Fennell said. "Once we accomplish that simple concept, I think we will be on our way. I think we have enough really good players. I think we have enough talent in our locker room where if we get on the same page, start pulling in the same direction, playing off the same sheet of music, then we can accomplish some really good things. I think that our guys have gone a long way to forging that identity. I think everyone is starting to truly become aligned and pulling in the same direction."
 
The season gets started with the Vaqueros on the road for five of their first six games, which includes visits to Baylor, Southern Utah, Boise State, Missouri State, and Illinois, while hosting Southwestern Adventist, Austin Peay, UT Arlington, and College of Biblical Studies in their home non-conference matchups. 
 
The Vaqueros enter their second season in the Southland Conference and this season, they will get to play every team in the conference twice, starting with Stephen F. Austin on Dec. 2.
 
The Vaqueros know that while they feel they got better from last year so did all the others in the conference as well and it will be a battle every night in Southland Conference play. 
 
"I think it's going to be better," Fennell said. "I think it's going to be a really good conference this year. Everybody has improved. I think you look at the league and some of these rosters that they are putting out there and some of the talent that joined this league and these coaches that have joined this league that I think are really good. Then you look at how the conference schedule is broken down and how there are no breaks, no byes. It's a big undertaking for anybody. It's going to demand depth. It's going to demand some mental fortitude, some resilience, and some grit. Hopefully we built enough of that to be successful. The conference as a whole is going to be hard, and they are going to beat a lot of people in the non-conference, and I think it will be ranked high in Ken Pom like it was last year. It's only getting better." 
 
While the Vaqueros learned quite a bit in their first year in the Southland, Coach Fennell also learned quite a bit in his first season as a head coach. 
 
"Going from the first to the second season is huge for me personally," Fennell said. "I try not to dwell too much on my own deal, but obviously I had to get better. There were a lot of blind spots that I showed last year that I wasn't good enough at. There were some spaces where I could have done a far better job to put us in a better position to be more successful, whether it was roster management, game management, there were a million different things I could have been better at. That has been under a massive microscope, personally, this offseason at how I can improve. I am going to fight like crazy to be the best version of myself but more than anything it's making everyone around me better."
 
Everyone in the program has been working hard getting ready for the season and it will be exciting to see what the 2025-26 season has in store for the Vaqueros. 
 
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