NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - The Christopher Newport University men's basketball team is off to a 2-0 start, and the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference picks the Captains to be the top team in the league this season. The C2C released its pre-season coaches' poll on Thursday as John Krikorian's squad prepares to travel to Salem, Va., for a weekend tournament.

The Captains, who opened the season last weekend with victories over Washington (Md.) and Johns Hopkins at the Freeman Center, received 25 points and all five first place votes from the C2C's other coaches. Salisbury and Mary Washington both received 19 votes to tie for second, followed by UC Santa Cruz, Finlandia and Pratt.

Click HERE for the complete release from the C2C.

Christopher Newport will play Friday and Saturday at the Cregger Center on the Roanoke College campus in the Dick Leftwich Tipoff Tournament. The Captains will start with the third-ranked team in the country, Marietta College, Friday night with tipoff set for 8:00 p.m. Host Roanoke will play Eastern at 6:00 p.m. Friday in the first game of the tourney. The third-place game will be played Saturday at 1:00 p.m. followed by the championship at 3:00 p.m.

The Captains are coming off an exciting 64-62 victory on Sunday over Johns Hopkins, as sophomore Trey Barber registered a double-double with 17 points and ten rebounds to lead the way. CNU opened the year last Friday with a dominant 102-37 win over Washington (Md.).

Friday's game will be the fourth meeting all-time with Marietta, and the Pioneers have won two of the first three over the Captains, including a 74-50 victory in the last game during the 2016-2017 season. Marietta, out of the Ohio Athletic Conference, has not yet seen action this season, but the Pioneers are ranked third in the pre-season Top 25 poll from D3hoops.com. Roanoke has also not yet played, and the Maroons are ranked 20th in the country. Eastern has played one game, a 73-72 victory over Salisbury last Friday.

All Christopher Newport men's basketball games are broadcast live on the Christopher Newport/Pepsi Radio Network (Xtra 99.1 FM) with the pre-game show beginning 20 minutes prior to tipoff. The live radio broadcast of the games will be available by clicking HERE.

Click HERE for Captains game notes package featuring rosters, stats, and notes on the 2021-2022 Captains.