Highly-recruited Gaston College sophomore leads Rhinos into league slate with 15-1 record

When Gaston College began it's 2025-26 basketball season, second-year head coach Benny Moss knew that 6-foot-10, 245-pound sophomore Kaleb Siler was the focus of multiple major college coaches.

With Siler leading the Rhinos to a historic 13-0 start before the Christmas break, that attention has grown even more as the 15-1 team starts National Junior College Athletic Association Region 10 Division I action this week.

"He's continued to improve and get better and better," said Moss, whose team starts league play on Wednesday at Denmark Tech at 7 p.m. "He's got great hands and great touch. And his leadership is something that I value. He says and does the right things. He holds his teammates accountable."

Siler is averaging team-highs in scoring (17.9 points per game), rebounding (9.4) and blocks (1.1) for the Rhinos, who completed the first semester with a 13-0 record.

"It feels great," said Siler, a Fayetteville native who played locally at Carmel Christian in Matthews. "It feels good to come in and win every single game this first semester.

"Now we've got go to the second semester where everybody knows that's when conference play starts."

Gaston College has the best overall record in the National Junior College Athletic Association's eight-team Region 10 Division I; Caldwell Tech (15-2 overall, 2-0 in Region 10), USC Salkehatchie (15-2, 1-1), defending champion Brunswick Community College (14-3, 0-1) and Cape Fear Community College (7-4, 1-1) also are off to good starts.

After Wednesday's game at Denmark Tech, the Rhinos visit Brunswick Community College on Saturday at 3 p.m. before their first Region 10 home game next Wednesday against Caldwell Tech at 8 p.m. at Gastonia's Ashbrook High School.

"Everybody has to be locked in for conference," Siler said. "Conference games are how to win your league and make it to Hutch (for the NJCAA national champoinships at Hutchinson, Kansas). Our goal is still to come for it all."

Along the way, Siler has already received scholarship offers from East Carolina, Texas San Antonio, Middle Tennessee, Campbell, North Carolina A&T, Georgia State, Georgia Southern and Old Dominion and received interest from schools in the ACC, the Big East and SEC.

"A lot of schools have jumped in since he didn't sign early," Moss said.

Siler declined to name any finalists for his future services but did say he was visiting Campbell during the holiday break and could also set up future visits with Georgia State and Georgia Southern; Rhinos' teammate Ryan Evans committed to Georgia State in the fall.

"I'm not thinking about finalists or anything like that right now," Siler said. "I'm just worried about winning."