JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Dec. 14, 2023) – Coming off back-to-back wins for the first time this season, the ETSU men's basketball team looks to continue its winning ways when the Buccaneers host Tusculum on Friday at 7 p.m. inside Freedom Hall. 
 
GAME INFO
DATE: Friday, Dec. 15
TIME: 7 p.m. 
LOCATION: Freedom Hall
TEAMS: ETSU (5-4) vs. Tusculum (3-5) 
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+ (Keith Brake & Bruce Tranbarger) 
LIVE STATS: ETSUBucs.com (StatBroadcast)
RADIO: WXSM-AM 640 | 104.9 NASH ICON (Jay Sandos)
TWITTER: @ETSU_MBB
GAME SPONSOR: Meade Tractor
 
ABOUT THE BUCS

• With wins over Tennessee Tech and Jacksonville State, the Bucs moved to 5-4 through nine games 
• ETSU defeated Tennessee Tech 73-72 on Sunday behind a stellar performance from Quimari Peterson … Peterson finished with 23 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocks … Only two other Division I players this season have posted at least 20 points, five rebounds, three blocks, three steals and zero turnovers in a game, while Peterson is the only player with at least four assists … Since 2010-11, Peterson is just one of 10 players with at least 20 points, five rebounds, three blocks, three steals, four assists and zero turnovers 
• Peterson provided the go-ahead play when he made a driving off-balanced lay-up with less than 30 seconds left and converted the three-point-play, while Tyler Rice sealed the game with a pair of clutch free throws with 10 seconds remaining 
• As a team, ETSU blocked a season-high 11 shots against the Golden Eagles with Jadyn Parker swatting five shots … The 11 blocks matched the most by a Buccaneer team since Feb. 25, 2018 against Furman 
• Parker's five blocks were the most by a Buccaneer since David Burrell swatted six shots in the SoCon championship game versus UNCG on March 6, 2017
• Ebby Asamoah is averaging a team-best 16.2 points per game, while shooting 43 percent from beyond the arc and leads the Bucs with 31 made triples 
• Asamoah ranks 15th nationally in three-pointers per game (3.4), 27th in total made threes and 41st in three-point field goal percentage 
• The Blue & Gold are 3-0 at home this season and have gone 93-31 (.750) inside Freedom Hall since the start of the 2015-16 season 
• The Bucs have made at least one three-pointer in 1,133 straight games … After Western Kentucky went 0-for-21 earlier this month, the Bucs have the third-longest active streak in the country behind Duke and UNLV 
• The 2023-24 Buccaneer roster features 15 players ... ETSU's roster consists of one graduate player, two redshirt juniors, four juniors, one redshirt sophomore, three sophomores and four freshmen … Three players hail from North Carolina and Indiana, and one each from Tennessee, Iowa, West Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Kentucky, Virginia and Maryland
• The Bucs return four players from last year's roster who logged minutes, including starters Jaden Seymour and Allen Strothers, along with Justice Smith and Braden Ilic … Overall, ETSU only returns 29 percent of its scoring, 37 percent of its rebounding and 38 percent of its minutes played in 2022-23 … Seymour totaled 253 points, 218 rebounds and 1,793 minutes, Smith posted 237 points, 111 rebounds and 683 minutes, while Allen Strothers recorded 109 points, 51 rebounds and 776 minutes and Braden Ilic added for 46 points, 33 rebounds and 199 minutes
• After losing three starters and eight players from last year's team, head coach Brooks Savage and his staff brought in 11 new guys for the 2023-24 season … Seven of the Bucs are transfers – Ebby Asamoah (Delaware), Karon Boyd (USC Aiken), DJ Hughes (Butler), Jadyn Parker (North Florida), Quimari Peterson (John A. Logan), Tyler Rice (William & Mary) and Timmy Fasehun (Gulf Coast State College) … Four Bucs are true freshmen – Maki Johnson (Huntington Prep), Gabe Sisk (Ballard HS), Jaxson Jones (The Skill Factory) and David Meriwether (Lawrence North HS) 

ABOUT TUSCULUM

• Tusculum sits 3-5 through its first eight games of the season 
• The Pioneers are coming off an 83-73 loss to Carson-Newman on Wednesday night 
• Tusculum has played two top-10 teams with the Pioneers splitting those contests … Tusculum defeated then-No. 8 UNC Pembroke 81-80 on Nov. 18 and dropped an 84-73 decision to No. 7 North Georgia 
• The Pioneers are led by Connor Jordan as he's averaging 13.3 points per game, while Josiah Morris is posting 10.3 points and leads the club with 21 made three-pointers 
• As a team, Tusculum is averaging 76.8 points per game and allowing 81.0

SERIES HISTORY 

• Friday marks the 63rd all-time meeting between the two programs with ETSU leading the series, 43-19
• This is the first meeting since Dec. 28, 2017 when ETSU won 84-65
• ETSU has won the last 16 games in the series
• The first-ever meeting was played in 1921-22 with ETSU winning both games that season – 49-18 in the first game and 27-19 in the second 

UP NEXT 
ETSU concludes its home stand on Wednesday night when the Bucs host Kansas City at 7:30 p.m. inside Freedom Hall. Wednesday is another basketball doubleheader with women's basketball taking on Gardner-Webb at 5 p.m. 
  
For more information on ETSU men's basketball, go to ETSUBucs.com and click on the men's basketball tab.