The UW Oshkosh men’s basketball team will open its 2018-19 campaign ranked No. 2 in the nation by d3hoops.com.

This ranking comes after the Titans went 25-8 and made a trip to the NCAA Division III national championship last season where they lost to this year’s No. 1-ranked team, Nebraska Wesleyan University.

After losing only two seniors, the Titans will look to get back to the national championship game with a plethora of experience and a new head coach.

Interim head coach Matt Lewis will look to guide the team toward the NCAA D-III tournament and beyond after former head coach Pat Juckem left to coach D-III Washington University in St. Louis.

Returning starters for the Titans are seniors Ben Boots, Brett Wittchow and Kyle Beyak and juniors Adam Fravert and Jack Flynn.

Boots averaged a team high 16 points per game on 39 percent shooting from the 3-point line. Fravert led the team in rebounding with 7.5 boards per game while Flynn averaged seven per contest.

Wittchow returns after serving as the Titans’ sharpshooter last season, connecting on 49 percent of his 3-point shots.

Charlie Noone leaves a large hole in the Titans’ starting lineup as the guard averaged 10.2 points a game and had a big 32-point performance in the playoffs to help the Titans get to the Elite Eight.

The Titans kick off their season with an exhibition game against the Division I UW-Madison Badgers on Nov. 2 at the Kohl Center in Madison.