The Warriors open the 2016-17 campaign at the SF State Tip-Off Classic in San Francisco this weekend with games on Friday against Dominican and Saturday versus Academy of Art. Both games are at 5 p.m. inside The Swamp at The Don Nasser Family Plaza.

Friday
Warriors vs. Dominican (0-0), The Swamp, San Francisco, 5 p.m.
[Live Stats] [Live Video] [Live Audio] | KEFC 100.5 FM

Saturday
Warriors vs. Academy of Art (0-0), The Swamp, San Francisco, 5 p.m.
[Live Stats] [Live Video] [Live Audio] | KEFC 100.5 FM

This Week's Opponents

Dominican Penguins (0-0)
Series Notes: The Penguins lead the head-to-head series 5-3 and won two of the last three meetings, including last November's game in Turlock, 70-66 … The teams are meeting on neutral site court for the first time.

Last Time We Met... was on Nov. 21, 2015 when Dominican outscored the Warriors 41-31 in the second half to win by four … Alek Carlson had 16 points and Kyi Thomas chipped in 10 for Stanislaus.

About the Penguins: Dominican went 14-14 overall last year … The Penguins return All-PacWest second team pick Josh Ramirez who averaged 15 points per game, including shooting 54 percent from the field.

Academy of Art Urban Knighs (0-0)
Series Notes: Academy of Art and the Warriors have only met once before, in 2008. Stanislaus won that game, 101-80, in San Francisco (Kezar Pavilion).

Last Time We Met... was on Nov. 18, 2008, at Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco. The Warriors led by as many as 45 points in the game. Matt Ibewiro led five players in double digits with 22 points.

About the Urban Knights: Academy of Art went 6-20 last season and averaged 66.5 points a game as a team (allowed 76.7 points per game) … They return six players from that team including Chris Salas who averaged 11.2 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.

SF State Tip-Off Classic
The four-team tournament features the Warriors, San Francisco State, Academy of Art and Dominican, each playing two games. Game times are 5 and 7 p.m. More information about the tournament

FRIDAY, NOV. 11
Stanislaus State vs. Dominican, 5 p.m.
San Francisco State vs. Academy of Art, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY, NOV.  12
Stanislaus State vs. Academy of Art, 5 p.m.
San Francisco State vs. Dominican, 7 p.m.

Preseason Tournaments
The Warriors last played in preseason tournaments at the start of the 2014-15 season. They went 2-0 at the Preseason Challenge at Dominican with wins over the host school and Montana State Billings. That same preseason, Stan State participated in the CBU Classic in Riverside and went 0-2 against to Top 20 ranked teams (Dixie State and California Baptist)

Solid Exhibition Outing
Stan State hit the ground running in its only exhibition game of the season on Monday with an impressive 78-43 win over UC Merced. After a neck-and-neck start, the Warriors pulled away late in the first half on a 16-1 run. Then they used a 12-0 run midway through the second half to go up by 36 points en route to the easy win against the NAIA Central Valley neighbor.

Big Men in the Post
The Warriors featured two "big men" in the paint in the exhibition game with Kyle Gouveia at center and Vondel Faniel as the power forward. Faniel led the way with 18 points and 7 rebounds and Gouveia chipped in 5 points and 4 rebounds … In all the Warriors scored 28 points in the paint and out-rebounded UC Merced 45-33.

Bench Scoring
Led by Kyi Thomas, who had 11 points off the bench in 12 minutes of play, the Warriors reserved out-scored UCM, 34-19. Freshman Jaelen Ragsdale also netted 10 points.

New Weapon Mitchell
Newcomer Kaelen Mitchell (Grossmont College) showed off his skills in the game against UC Merced as he scored 14 points in a starting role. He was 5 of 10 from the field and led the team with three 3-pointers. 

Nice Shooting Percentage
The Warriors shot a prolific 48.3 percent for the game on Monday (29 for 60), the best shooting night for the team since Feb. 28, 2015. In 2015-16 the Warriors' best shooting night was .479.

Pick-Up Where He Left Off
Kyle Gouveia finished the 2015-16 season on a roll with three straight 20-point games. He averaged 22 points and 9 rebounds per game with two double-doubles … The season finale was his best collegiate game to date when he shot 9 of 12 (.750) for 25 points with 11 rebounds (7 on defense) with three assists. He was also 7 for 11 from the free throw line that night in the team's 80-75 win over Cal State Dominguez Hills on Feb. 27, 2016.

CCAA Preseason Coaches Poll
Stanislaus was picked to finish ninth in the CCAA standings for the 2016-17 season in a vote of the league's head coaches in the Preseason Poll. The Warriors received 52 points, and with Cal State San Marcos ineligible for the conference tournament, Stan State was selected to qualify for the conference tournament.

CCAA Basketball Championships
The 2016-17 CCAA Men's & Women's Basketball Championship tournament will be held at the end of February and during the first weekend of March. The first round games, of top 8 teams, will be on campus sites on Feb. 28 with the semifinals and finals on March 3 & 4 at The Sports Center at Cal State San Marcos. The winner of the tournament would receive the automatic bid for the NCAA tournament.