MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. | As Florida Memorial University continues to improve its athletics department, the FMU Lions are no stranger to seeing success. Crowned 2021-22 Men's Basketball Sun Conference Champions, the quest to repeat as kings of the court begins on Thursday, October 27 as FMU hosts the University of the Virgin Islands at 5:30 p.m. at the FMU Wellness Center.

Fifth year head coach Ansar Al-Ameen is prepared, focused and locked in for the season. He's been with the program that experienced single-digit wins, and has patiently built a championship program that blazed through the competition during last year's Sun Conference Tournament. However, his FMU Lions were recently picked fourth in the Sun Conference preseason poll.

"The one thing about it, I feel like we still underachieved a little bit last season, so because of that, we enter this season really hungry," said Coach Al-Ameen. "We have so much more to prove, plus the fact that we were picked to finish fourth in the Sun Conference preseason rankings, so that's added motivation."

Florida Memorial returns just one starter from last year's team, and five players overall.

"I think after losing all those guys, it gave us an opportunity to go out and recruit guys who could bring us back to that same level, or even push us forward, further than last season," Al-Ameen explained. "We can continue to be great. I don't look at it as 'we lost players,' but I look at it like we have an opportunity to be even better than last year. This team has the potential to be amazing."

Furthermore, Coach Al-Ameen has a special message to students, faculty, staff, parents and fans that make up Lion Nation.

"We need their support," said Al-Ameen. "In gaining that support, we will continue to push FMU across the country, not just in South Florida. This goes all across the board for every sport, not just basketball. It brings a different type of pride to the university. So many young men grow up and want to go to Florida State, Miami, or Florida, but if we can continue to push HBCU's and Florida Memorial, we can make people realize that this is a great destination to get an education, and it is a beautiful place to be; the only HBCU in South Florida."

Click here to view the 2022-23 FMU men's basketball schedule in its entirety.