JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Jan. 26, 2024) – Coming off a road win at VMI on Wednesday, the ETSU men's basketball team returns home to host league-leading Samford on Saturday inside Freedom Hall. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. 
 
GAME INFO
DATE: Saturday, Jan. 27
TIME: 4 p.m. 
LOCATION: Freedom Hall  
TEAMS: ETSU (10-10, 2-5) vs. Samford (17-3, 6-1)  
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+  (Keith Brake/Bruce Tranbarger)
LIVE STATS: ETSUBucs.com
RADIO: WXSM-AM 640 | 104.9 NASH ICON (Jay Sandos)
TWITTER: @ETSU_MBB
TICKETS: ETSUTickets.com
GAME SPONSOR: Lafayette Heat & Air • First 1,000 fans receive a pom-pom
 
ABOUT THE BUCS

• ETSU snapped a five-game losing streak with a 74-73 win at VMI on Wednesday night 
• With the win, the Bucs moved to 10-10 overall and 2-5 in league play
• Jaden Seymour and Jadyn Parker each notched their sixth career double-double in Lexington … Seymour finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds, while Parker notched 13 points and 10 boards
• Wednesday marked the first time two Buccaneers had double-doubles in the same game since Feb. 3, 2021 when Damari Monsanto (22pts/10reb) and Silas Adheke (11pts/10reb) accomplished the feat at Mercer
• ETSU out-rebounded the Keydets by 18 on Wednesday night (47-29) and the Bucs turned 18 offensive rebounds into 16 second-chance points … VMI was without a second-chance point on six offensive rebounds 
• Seymour and Ebby Asamoah are both averaging over 15 points per game on the season … Seymour leads the Bucs at 15.5 points per game and Asamoah is at 15.2 points per contest … Asamoah also paces the Blue & Gold with 53 made triples … Asamoah has made at least one three-pointer in 18 of his 19 games this season 
• As a team, ETSU is averaging 71.7 points per game and allowing 70.5
• Since Feb. 16, 1987 in a game against Davidson, the Bucs have made at least one 3-pointer in 1,144 consecutive games ... ETSU was 0-for-8 in that 1987 game ... With Western Kentucky going 0-for-21 from beyond the arc on Nov. 9 at Wichita State, the Bucs now have the third-longest streak in the country behind Duke and UNLV … UNLV tops the list with 1,211 games
• ETSU leads the SoCon in average home attendance at 3,268, while Chattanooga is second at 3,137
• 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 SAMFORD

• Samford is tied atop the SoCon standings as the Bulldogs are 17-3 overall and 6-1 in conference play
• The Bulldogs had their 17-game win streak snapped Wednesday night when Samford lost at Furman, 78-68 … The 17-game win streak was the longest in the country 
• Samford picked up one vote in the latest AP Top 25 Poll 
• The Bulldogs are led by Achor Achor and A.J. Staton-McCray … Achor is averaging 16.9 points and 6.0 rebounds, while shooting 62 percent from the field and 49 percent from beyond the arc … Staton-McCray is posting 13.4 points, while he leads the team with 41 steals and 32 made threes 
• Achor ranks 22nd nationally in field goal percentage and Staton-McCray is 32nd in steals 
• Rylan Jones has 110 assists to 25 turnovers on the season … Jones ranks third nationally in assist/turnover ratio (4.4) and 27th in total assists 
• As a team, the Bulldogs – who are ranked No. 8 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll – are averaging 89.3 points per game and allowing 75.4
• Samford ranks third nationally in scoring offense, steals per game (11.5), and fastbreak points (18.1), while ranking fifth in assists per game (19.1), three-point percentage (.403) and turnovers forced per game (18.0), ninth in three-pointers per game (10.4) and 10th in effective field goal percentage (.571) and win percentage (.850)

 
SERIES HISTORY 

• ETSU leads the all-time series, 16-4, but Samford has won the last three contests
• The Bucs had won 12 straight over the Bulldogs before dropping the last three 
• ETSU is 7-3 against Samford at home; however, the Bulldogs have won the last two
• Two of the 10 home meetings have gone to overtime, while three of the 20 games in the series have gone to overtime … ETSU is 3-0 in those overtime games – the last coming on Jan. 3, 2019

UP NEXT 
ETSU heads back on the road for another midweek SoCon game as the Bucs play at Mercer Wednesday night at 7 p.m. inside Hawkins Arena. 
  
For more information on ETSU men's basketball, go to ETSUBucs.com and click on the men's basketball tab.