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Images from the Rider Broncs vs Virginia Cavaliers mens basketball game-Monday, Nov. 03, 2025 at in Charlottesville, VA. Rider hung close the first half but a revamped Virginia Cavaliers team got rolling in the second half and closed out for an 87-53 opening night victory (Photo by Sideline Media Productions)
Keith Lucas/Sideline Media

Men's Basketball

Men's Basketball Completes Staff for 2026-27

LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – Rider University men's basketball coach Kevin Baggett announced the completion of his staff for the 2026-27. Rider Athletics Hall of Famer Ryan Thompson '10 returns to campus as assistant coach and Justin Pispia comes to Lawrenceville as Director of Basketball Operations.
 
Thompson most recently spent the last five seasons as an assistant coach at Rowan University, helping the Profs to a 90-51 overall record, and a 61-29 mark in the NJAC, reaching the NCAA Tournament three times, led by back-to-back trips to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2023 and 24.
 
Thompson played for the Broncs from 2006-10, where he earned All-MAAC honors three times, with selections to the All-MAAC First Team in his junior and senior seasons. He scored 1,879 career points to graduate fourth on the school's all-time list while graduating with a then program record with 188 career steals, currently second on the all-time list. Thompson, who was twice named to the NABC All-District Team, also graduated seventh in program history in career rebounds, currently ranking 12th. Following his playing time with the Broncs, he began his professional playing career with a start in the NBA G-League with Utah, before stints in Italy, Belgium, Serbia, Turkey, Germany and Israel.
 
Pispia was most recently at Albright University as an assistant coach. He helped the Lions secure a 16-10 record, including a 12-2 mark in MAC Commonwealth play. Prior to his time with Albright, Pispia was a graduate assistant coach at Penn State University, conducting in-depth analysis of opposing teams, monitoring student-athlete academic progress, developing athletes on-court skills and, developing data-driven insights on team performance using advanced basketball statistics and analytics.

Pispia graduated from West Virginia, where he was a three-year student manager, with a degree in coaching and performance science in athletic coaching education and would later go on to earn a master's degree in education from Penn State with a focus on organization, development and change.
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