JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Nov. 21, 2024) – After hitting the road for the first time last Saturday, the ETSU men's basketball team returns home to play a pair of home games this weekend in the ETSU MTE (Multi-Team Event). The Bucs host USC Upstate on Friday at 7 p.m. and Queens (NC) on Sunday at 5 p.m. inside Freedom Hall. On Saturday, USC Upstate and Queens will play at 6 p.m.
FRIDAY'S GAME INFO
DATE: Friday, Nov. 22
TIME: 7 p.m.
LOCATION: Freedom Hall
TEAMS: ETSU (2-2) vs. USC Upstate (2-4)
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+ (Keith Brake & Bruce Tranbarger)
LIVE STATS: ETSUBucs.com
RADIO: WXSM-AM 640 (Jay Sandos)
TWITTER: @ETSU_MBB
TICKETS: ETSUTickets.com
GAME SPONSOR: Atmos Energy
SUNDAY'S GAME INFO
DATE: Sunday, Nov. 24
TIME: 5 p.m.
LOCATION: Freedom Hall
TEAMS: ETSU (2-2) vs. Queens (2-3)
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+ / Nexstar (Pete Yanity, Deen Keener, Dave Friedman)
LIVE STATS: ETSUBucs.com
RADIO: WXSM-AM 640 (Jay Sandos)
TWITTER: @ETSU_MBB
TICKETS: ETSUTickets.com
GAME SPONSOR: Hardee's
ABOUT THE BUCS
· ETSU has split its first four games to start the 2024-25 season
· The Bucs are coming off a tough 76-70 setback at Davidson last Saturday
·
Jaden Seymour poured in a game-high 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting against the Wildcats
· Seymour enters the weekend needing 11 points to hit the 1,000-point mark for his career and he needs 22 points to reach the milestone in his ETSU career … Seymour has 989 points in 106 career games, while he has 978 points in 100 career games as a Buc … Seymour is looking to be the first Buccaneer player to score 1,000 points at ETSU since Bo Hodges accomplished the feat during the 2019-20 season
·
Quimari Peterson was named to the Lou Henson Early Season Watch List this week … Peterson is averaging 16.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.3 steals per contest … The Gary, Ind. native has started all four games for the Blue & Gold and is averaging 26.9 minutes per game … The award will be given to the top mid-major player in March
· Peterson and Seymour rank fourth and fifth in the SoCon in scoring … Peterson is averaging 16.8 points per game and Seymour is at 16.5 per contest … The duo also rank sixth and seventh in the league in field goal percentage with Seymour hitting at a 55.8 percent clip and Peterson is at 54.0
·
Allen Strothers ranks third in the conference in assist/turnover ratio (4.33) and is second in steals (2.5)
· As a team, the Bucs lead the SoCon in blocks per game (4.8), while ranking third in steals per game (10.0), scoring defense (65.8) and field goal percentage (.467)
· ETSU has made at least one three-pointer in 1,163 straight games – the third-longest streak in the country
· ETSU was picked to finish third in the SoCon Preseason Coaches Poll … The Bucs picked up two first-place votes, while reigning champion Samford was pegged number one and Chattanooga was selected second
·
Jaden Seymour and
Quimari Peterson landed SoCon preseason honors
· ETSU received 19 votes in the preseason CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll
· The Bucs return 10 players from last year's 2023-24 roster
· ETSU only lost 8% of its scoring and 9% of its minutes played from last year's roster to the transfer portal – the fewest amount of production from any SoCon program
· Coach Savage and his staff brought in five new players to complete the 2024-25 roster … The five newcomers include four transfers –
Curt Lewis (Missouri),
John Buggs III (North Texas),
Davion Bradford (Wake Forest) and
Roosevelt Wheeler (VCU) … In addition, true freshman
Brandon Crawford is the fifth Buccaneer newcomer
ABOUT USC UPSTATE
· USC Upstate sits 2-4 through its first six games of the 2024-25 season
· The Spartans are coming off a 95-63 win over Southern Wesleyan on Tuesday night where five players scored in double figures, including Mister Dean netting a game-high 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting
· Two of USC Upstate's four losses have been decided by five points or less with the Spartans falling 85-80 at Wake Forest and 89-85 to UNC Wilmington
· Mister Dean is averaging a team-best 19.7 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, while shooting 71 percent from the field (49-69)
· As a team, the Spartans are averaging 83.8 points and allowing 82.8
· USC Upstate is led by first-year head coach Marty Richter where he spent the last six years as an assistant at Drake … Richter was also an assistant with the "Dunk City" FGCU team that reached the Sweet 16 in 2012-13
SERIES HISTORY
· Friday is the 16th all-time meeting between the two programs
· ETSU leads the series, 9-6
· The last time the two teams met was on Nov. 18, 2021, when the Bucs won, 56-43 in Freedom Hall
· USC Upstate had won five straight in the series prior to that ETSU win
· ETSU has won six of the eight meetings in Johnson City
ABOUT QUEENS
· Queens is 2-3 through its first five games of the 2024-25 season
· The Royals have dropped three straight after opening the season with wins over University of Lynchburg and Western Carolina
· Queens' losses have come at Utah, BYU and Appalachian State
· As a team, the Royals are averaging 66 points per game and allowing 70.6
· Asjon Anderson leads the team in scoring at 12.4 points per game … Anderson and Chris Ashby have both netted 11 triples on the season
· Malcolm Wilson is averaging 5.4 points and 8.8 rebounds per game
· Queens reached the quarterfinals of the ASUN Tournament a year ago after defeating FGCU in the opening round
· The Royals are led by head coach Grant Leonard who is in his third season at the helm
SERIES HISTORY
· Sunday is the second all-time meeting between ETSU and Queens
· Queens won the first meeting, 78-75, back on Dec. 14, 2022, inside Freedom Hall
·
Jaden Seymour and
Allen Strothers combined for seven points, six rebounds and five assists in that contest where ETSU was outscored 41-34 in the second half
UP NEXT
ETSU heads back on the road to take on Charlotte Wednesday afternoon at 2 p.m. inside Halton Arena.
For more information on ETSU men's basketball, go to ETSUBucs.com and click on the men's basketball tab.
