JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Dec. 9, 2023) – After playing four straight games away from Johnson City, the ETSU men's basketball team finally returns to Freedom Hall, as the Buccaneers open a three-game home stand Sunday afternoon against Tennessee Tech. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. with the Buccaneer women starting the doubleheader against Lees-McRae at 1:30 p.m. 
 
GAME INFO
DATE: Sunday, Dec. 10
TIME: 4 p.m. 
LOCATION: Freedom Hall
TEAMS: ETSU (4-4) vs. Tennessee Tech (3-6) 
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: BrightRidge
TICKETS: ETSUTickets.com 
 
ABOUT THE BUCS

• ETSU, who has had a week off between games, sits 4-4 on the season 
• The Bucs are coming off a 61-59 comeback win at Jacksonville State last Sunday, marking ETSU's first true road win of the season 
• Ebby Asamoah netted a game-high 22 points against the Gamecocks for his fourth 20-point scoring game of the campaign
• Over his last five games, Asamoah is averaging 20.2 points, while shooting 48 percent from the field (32-67) and 47 percent from beyond the arc (20-43) 
• For the season, Asamoah leads the SoCon in three-point field goals per game (3.5), second in three-point field goal percentage (.424), fifth in scoring (16.6) and 10th in blocked shots (0.9)
• Sunday marks the Bucs' first home game since defeating Davidson 70-68 on Nov. 17 – a span of 24 days 
• The Blue & Gold are 2-0 at home this season and have gone 92-31 (.748) inside Freedom Hall since the start of the 2015-16 season 
• The Bucs have made at least one three-pointer in 1,132 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 TENNESSEE TECH

• Like the Bucs, Tennessee Tech hasn't played since last Sunday when the Golden Eagles defeated Alice Llyod, 108-82
• The Golden Eagles are 3-6 though nine games this season 
• Tennessee Tech has four players averaging over 10 points per game with three players posting 14 points per contest 
• Rodney Johnson Jr. and Jayvis Harvey are both averaging 14.3 points, while David Early is adding 14 points and Josiah Davis is at 10.4 points per game 
• Harvey landed a spot on the Preseason All-OVC Team
• Tennessee Tech is averaging 71.9 points per game and allowing 78.2 per contest 
• The Golden Eagles are shooting 47 percent from the field and averaging less than 11 turnovers per game 
• Tennessee Tech has lost 35 of its last 37 non-conference road games

SERIES HISTORY 

• Tennessee Tech leads the all-time series, 38-37
• The Golden Eagles have won the last two and five of the last six meetings
• Tennessee Tech won 69-62 last season in Cookeville, marking the first meeting since the 2015-16 season 
• The last Buccaneer win in the series was an 87-78 victory on Feb. 16, 2015 
• ETSU has won eight of the last nine meetings in Johnson City and is 20-7 against Tennessee Tech at home since the start of the 1958-59 season 

UP NEXT 
ETSU continues its home stand next Friday when the Bucs host Tusculum at 7 p.m. since Freedom Hall. 
  
For more information on ETSU men's basketball, go to ETSUBucs.com and click on the men's basketball tab.