This is an opinion article. Any views expressed belong solely to the author and are not representative of The Cluster, any organizations the author is a member of or the faculty, staff or administration at Mercer University.
Since men's basketball’s unprecedented run in the 2014 NCAA tournament, the program has not found much consistent success. Since that storied season and before this year, the Bears have had just three winning records in conference play, the last coming in the 2019-20 season. But this season, things looked different.
Head Coach Ryan Ridder found his groove in his second year at the helm, leading the team to an 19-11 record, the best since the storied 2014 season when Mercer knocked off Duke University in the first round of March Madness. The Bears capped off their successful regular season with a resounding victory over No. 1 seed East Tennessee State University before ultimately falling to No. 5 Western Carolina University in the first round of the SoCon tournament.
It’s been a long time coming, but this season's flashes of success point to more hopeful things in the future of men's basketball.
To celebrate the team’s most successful season in 12 long years, here’s a look into the history books, celebrating the 12 best players in program history.
1. Sam Mitchell (1981-1985)
While plenty of talented players have come through Macon since Sam Mitchell’s last season in 1985, none have quite matched his dominance. Mitchell is the program's second all-time leading scorer with 1,986 points despite playing sparingly in his freshman season. The small forward holds the record for the most points scored by a Bear in a single season with 774 in his senior campaign.
In the 1985 season, Mitchell averaged a gaudy 25 points per game, good for the second highest mark in school history and the fourth highest output in the country that year. The sharpshooting Mitchell also put up the most 40-point games in Mercer history, once exploding for two 40-point barrages in a single week.
Mitchell, who stood at 6'6", ranks first in field goals made, second in made free throws, sixth in total career rebounds, eighth in steals and 10th in blocks in program history.
While Mitchell was putting up highly impressive individual stats, the Bears were also winning games. Mercer went 22-9 in his final season and made it all the way to the first round of the NCAA tournament, where it fell to Georgia Tech.
Following his four years at Mercer, Mitchell had a solid 13-year NBA career followed by a successful coaching career in the league, highlighted by winning NBA Coach of the Year in 2007 with the Toronto Raptors.
2. Langston Hall (2010-2014)
Langston Hall is the face behind the biggest achievement in Mercer basketball history wherein the Bears beat Duke in the first round of the 2014 NCAA tournament. While he put up a strong 15 points in that game to topple the No. 3 seed Blue Devils, that’s far from his only great moment at Mercer.
Hall’s name sits at or near the top of countless statistical categories for the Bears. He is the school’s number one leader in assists, three pointers made, free throw percentage, and minutes played. The point guard also recorded the second most steals in school history, has the fourth highest true shooting percentage and is the eighth all-time leading scorer.
Hall certainly makes an argument to be the most decorated player to ever dawn the Orange and Black, and the program has simply not been the same following his graduation. To cap his senior year, Hall earned Atlantic Sun Player of the Year honors.
It should be no surprise that the Bears got back to winning ways coincided with Hall’s return as an assistant coach for the 2026 season. The Bears, it seems, are simply better with Langston Hall.
3. Tommy Mixon (1951-1955)
The first half of the 1950’s was arguably the most successful era Mercer basketball has ever seen. Starting in 1948 and through 1955, the Bears participated in the Dixie Conference with schools like Florida State University and today's Southern Conference foes Samford University and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
The Bears dominated the Dixie Conference on its way to winning regular season conference championships in 1950 and 1953 and the conference tournament in 1951, 1952 and 1954. “Tommy Gun” Mixon was the catalyst for much of that sustained success.
Standing at just 5-foot-11-inches, the small but talented guard was an elite scorer who put up a school-best 25.7 points a game his senior year and dropped a record 47 points against Millsaps University in one contest. Mixon tallied 566 points that season in a limited 22 games, the eighth best point total mark in school history.
He ended up compiling 1,801 points over the course of his collegiate career, making him the third highest scorer in program history.
It's been 71 years since Tommy Mixon laced up his sneakers for the Orange and Black, yet many of his absurd scoring records remain untouched.
Following his college career, Mixon was drafted to the NBA’s Fort Wayne Pistons in the eighth round, and to the MLB’s Brooklyn Dodgers, as he doubled as a star baseball player for Mercer.
4. James Florence (2006-2010)
The shifty guard was known for his deadly crossover dribble and was one of the most unstoppable scorers in the country during his time at Mercer.
Standing at 6’1", Florence could fill up the scoring column in a variety of ways. The Marietta, Ga. native produced for the Bears immediately and led the A-Sun Conference in scoring his freshman season en route to winning the A-Sun Conference Rookie of the Year.
He followed those honors up with three consecutive years of being voted to the A-Sun All-Conference team, eventually landing a spot on the conference's 2000s All-Decade team.
Florence’s mix of high volume scoring and consistent four year production helped him approach and even surpass many of Sam Mitchell’s scoring records that previously seemed untouchable.
Florence shattered Mitchell’s all-time scoring mark, accumulating over 2000 points in his career, the only Bear to ever reach that milestone. His career average of 19.2 points per game is also the program's all-time best mark.
5. Glenn Wilkes (1946-1950)
During the first half of the 1940s, Mercer basketball was temporarily suspended due to World War II. In 1946, when soldiers returned home, Head Coach James Cowan was eager to bring the team back, but had no players.
Cowan sent out the message that he would be hosting a basketball tryout for anyone interested. 47 men came to the tryout, and only one was rewarded a full academic scholarship to play basketball: Glenn Wilkes.
While the team struggled for its first few seasons following the hiatus, by 1950 Wilkes had the Bears on top in the Dixie Conference.
That season was the beginning of Mercer's dominant run in the 50s, which Mixon was responsible for extending, as the Bears went from the bottom of the standings to a 9-1 record and first place.
Wilkes averaged 24.6 points that season, the third highest single season average in Bears history, and he became the team's all-time leading scorer at the time. Since his career ended, he has been leapfrogged and sits fifth in scoring in program history.
6. Scott Emerson (1999-2004)
For a program that has lacked consistency over the decades, Scott Emerson was an exception. Emerson found instant success in his freshman year as he put up team-highs with 15 points and eight rebounds per contest.
He spent five years with the Bears, one being shortened due to injury, and he produced at the same high level every single year. In his career with Mercer, the forward never averaged less than 15 points and seven rebounds per game, all while hovering around 50% field goal percentage every season.
Emerson’s sustained high level production over the course of five seasons led him to skyrocket all the way up to third on the all-time scoring list with 1,763 points.
To pair with his efficient, consistent scoring, he also finished as the second all-time leading rebounder, with 930. No other Bear in history was able to strike the balance of high level scoring and rebounding that Emerson mastered.
Emerson’s superb career in Macon did not go unnoticed, as he was voted to an A-Sun Conference team three times and was eventually named to the A-Sun Conference All-Decade team for the 2000s.
7. Benton Wade (1979-1980)
Benton Wade was a dominant force down low. Standing at 6'7", Wade terrorized the Trans America Athletic Conference, which was later rebranded as the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2001, at center.
While the big man only spent two seasons with the program, he made his impact known as he averaged 15 points and seven rebounds both years. Wade won the TAAC Conference Player of the Year in 1981, becoming one of four Mercer players to ever receive that award. Wade not only led the conference in rebounding that season, but field goal percentage as well.
Wade shot a highly efficient 59% from the field in 1981, the second highest mark in school history, only losing to his current day counterpart, the Bears' Armani Mighty '27.
Wade’s short stint in Macon also led to two very successful seasons for the team. In 1980 and 1981, the Bears finished at third place in the TAAC, won the conference tournament in 1981 and made an NCAA tournament appearance.
8. Tony Gattis (1979-1983)
Tony Gattis and Wade formed a formidable front court for the Bears in their two seasons together. While Gattis never won a conference player of the year award like his teammate, he did earn All-Conference honors twice.
The forward started slow his freshman season, but he and Wade became an elite one-two punch in the TAAC by Gattis' second year. The two combined for 30 points and 16 rebounds a game, dominating all the way to the NCAA tournament.
Gattis led the squad in scoring his sophomore, junior and senior seasons and now sits as the seventh highest scorer in program history. Like Wade, Gattis was extremely efficient down low, and he holds the record for the highest career field goal percentage. Scoring was not his only strength, however, as he also currently ranks fifth all time in rebounds.
After a standout career at Mercer and in the TAAC as a talented big man, Gattis was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics in the seventh round of the 1983 NBA Draft.
9. Richard Reid (1951-1954)
Along with Mixon and Wilkes, Richard Reid was a vital cog in Mercer’s success following WWII.
Reid and Mixon, who led Macon's Lanier High School to a state championship in 1950 as teammates, had a similar impact at Mercer.
The pair plaued a vital part in the Bears' undefeated conference record in 1951. In their freshman season, Reid and Mixon won their first of three conference championships.
Reid was named Mercer Athlete of the Year in 1953 and 1954, the only player to ever win the award twice. He was also named to the All-Conference team four years in a row, becoming one of the only Bears to ever achieve that feat.
In 1953, he was named the conference tournament Most Valuable Player for his dominant performance, and was named team captain for the 1954 season. After graduation, Reid spent much of his career coaching basketball and was inducted into the Macon Sports Hall of Fame.
10. Kenny Brown (1990-93)
Kenny Brown's name is peppered throughout Mercer basketball's statistical record sheets. The 6’3" point guard ranks in the top 10 of 11 separate statistical categories for the Bears.
Brown’s 1993 season was one of the best any Mercer player has ever enjoyed as he won the conference Player of the Year award after scoring 22 points per game and leading his team to the second seed in the conference tournament.
While most high-scoring guards struggle with efficiency, Brown was an anomaly. Brown's field goal percentage stood at 45% while his three point percentage was an incredible 44%. He finished his career in the top five in field goal percentage, true shooting percentage and free throw percentage.
11. Baraka Okojie (2025-)
Over the last few years, Mercer basketball has seen its roster overhauled season after season as players look for better opportunities elsewhere through the transfer portal.
Before the 2026 season, Head Coach Ryan Ridder used the portal to his advantage as he brought in multiple talented players from across the country, the most impactful of whom was Baraka Okojie '27.
Okojie is no stranger to the transfer portal – Mercer is his third stop in three years. This time, however, he has certainly made the most of it. Okojie was the catalyst for Mercer basketball’s success this season and he was voted to the SoCon's First-Team after averaging over 19 points and five assists per game this season.
On the court, Okojie was a tactician in the 2025-26 season as he picked apart opposing SoCon defenses with pinpoint passing in the pick and roll game, deadly mid range jump shots and, most of all, free throws. Okojie ranks first in the entire country in free throw attempts and free throws made this season.
He is elite at baiting defenders into fouls, consistently getting calls on drives to the basket by veering into the opposition and rising for the shot through contact. The valuable skill showed up in the win column for the Bears this season.
12. Jalyn McCreary (2022-24)
While the Bears were near the bottom of the SoCon standings in McCreary’s two seasons in Macon, that does not take away from the fact he was one of the most talented players to ever grace Hawkins Arena. At 6’8", McCreary was an ultra-athletic forward who was extremely efficient in the paint with his patented left handed hook shot, accompanied by a deadly face-up mid range game.
He averaged 15.2 points per game in his Mercer years, good for eighth in school history. The forward was also voted to the All-SoCon team both years he was Bear.
Possibly McCreary’s most impressive stat however is that he recorded the highest player efficiency rating (PER) in Mercer history. PER is an all-in-one advanced statistic meant to capture a player's overall impact on the court. In 2024, McCreary’s PER was top five in all of college basketball.
So whether you’re looking at the stats, the accolades, or his play on the court, McCreary's short tenure as a Bear still makes him a Mercer legend.
