Men's, women's teams welcome transfers

[caption id="attachment_11930" align="alignnone" width="838"] Katie Cahalin/Staff Photographer[/caption]   Fans will see some new faces on the Seton Hall men’s and women’s basketball teams this year. In addition to incoming freshmen, both teams have brought in transfers. On the men’s side, juniors Braeden Anderson and Jevon Thomas and graduate student Derrick Gordon were added to the roster over the summer. Braeden Anderson Anderson was born and raised in Canada in the city of Okotoks, Alberta. He transferred to the Hall after three seasons at Fresno State. He redshirted the 2013-2014 season due to a neck injury he suffered from a preseason car accident. In his following season, he played 17 games and averaged one point and 1.8 rebounds. Anderson took himself away from his basketball responsibilities in early February to focus on graduating and getting ready for law school. The 6-foot-9- inch forward will be attending Seton Hall’s own law school in Newark while playing for the Pirates this year.

Jevon Thomas Thomas, a Queens native, played at guard for two seasons at Kansas State. Thomas will sit out for the upcoming 2015-2016 season, but will have two years of eligibility after. Last season he saw action in 31 games for the Wildcats, where he averaged 4.5 points and 3.3 as- sists across 25.8 minutes a game. He led the team in with 102 assists last season and was second in steals with 35. He also played AAU ball under former Seton Hall assistant coach Tiny Morton.

Derrick Gordon Gordon will be the oldest Pirate on the team this season, as he is the only senior on the roster. Gordon hails from Plainfield, N.J. and spent the last two seasons at Massachusetts. Gordon started in all 32 games as a 2-guard for the Minutemen. He finished fourth on the team in scoring (9.8 points per game), third in rebounding (4.9), second in assists (2.7) and first in steals (1.5). Gordon also has experience playing in the postseason. In his first season with the Minutemen, the team made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament, where they fell to Tennessee in an 86-67 loss. Gordon had 10 points in that game. He is the first active openly gay player in men’s college hoops.

On the women’s side, one key transfer was added to head coach Tony Bozzella’s team—Shakena Richardson, who comes onto the Pirate team as a graduate guard. Shakena Richardson Richardson, of Neptune, N.J., spent the last two seasons at Florida State and the prior two at Rutgers. She came off the bench at Florida State, where she averaged 2.6 assists per game. Her assist-to-turn- over ratio of 1.64 was the best on the team. Richardson will come in as a starting guard for the Pirates, as she and Aleesha Powell take over the spots of recent graduates Ka-Deidre Simmons and Daisha Simmons. JaQuan Jackson Jackson spent the last two sea- sons at Louisiana Tech. A Texas native, the guard averaged 9.0 points a game and was an All-Freshman team selection in 2014 for Conference USA. As a rookie, Jackson led the Lady Techsters in three pointers made with 51. Jackson will sit out for the Pirates during the 2015-16 season but will have two years of eligibility remaining starting in the 2016-2017 season.