JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Feb. 9, 2024) – The ETSU men's basketball team hosts the reigning Southern Conference champion as Furman visits Freedom Hall on Saturday evening for a nationally televised game. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. on CBS Sports Network. 
 
GAME INFO
DATE: Saturday, Feb. 10
TIME: 6 p.m. 
LOCATION: Freedom Hall  
TEAMS: ETSU (13-11, 5-6) vs. Furman (12-12, 6-5)  
LIVE VIDEO: CBSSN (Dave Friedman / Dean Keener)
LIVE STATS: ETSUBucs.com
RADIO: WXSM-AM 640 | 104.9 NASH ICON (Jay Sandos)
TWITTER: @ETSU_MBB
TICKETS: ETSUTickets.com
GAME SPONSOR: BrightRidge
 
ABOUT THE BUCS

• ETSU has rattled off three straight games and is 13-11 overall and 5-6 in league play
• The Bucs, who have won three straight SoCon games for the first time since 2021, have defeated Mercer, The Citadel and Wofford during this stretch … ETSU hasn't won four straight games since that 2021 run from Jan. 18-30
• ETSU has won four of its last five games with the Bucs having a +2.4 scoring margin during this run … The Bucs are scoring 63.8 points per game and holding opponents to 61.4 points over the last five games … The Blue & Gold have a plus-11 rebound margin during this surge (41.0-30.0), while ETSU is also averaging 7.2 blocks per game (36 total) … Jaden Seymour (15.8 ppg) and Ebby Asamoah (15.0) are both averaging over 15 points per game over the last five contests with Seymour also pulling down 7.6 rebounds per game … Seymour is also 19-of-24 (79%) at the free throw line over the last five games with Quimari Peterson going 9-of-10
• Ebby Asamoah enters Saturday's game needing six made threes to notch 200 for his career, while he's 69 points shy of 1,000 for a career … Jadyn Parker needs 33 more blocks for 200 in his career. 
• Following his season-high five blocked shots Wednesday night versus Wofford, Jadyn Parker moved into a tie for sixth among ETSU single-season shot block leaders with 53 … Parker, who is tied with Greg Dennis, needs three blocks to pass Brad Nuckles (2006-07) for fifth and four to pass Jerald Fields (2001-02) for fourth … Isiah Brown holds the Buccaneer single-season record with 71 in 2010-11
• ETSU is coming off back-to-back-to-back strong defensive showings as the Bucs held Mercer to 49 points on Jan. 31, The Citadel to 60 points last Saturday and Wofford to 50 points on Wednesday night … ETSU has held its last three SoCon opponents to 159 points, matching the fewest points in three straight league games since the 2017-18 season when the Bucs held VMI to 48 points, Furman to 61 and Western Carolina to 50 … Over this three-game span, opponents are averaging 53.0 points, while shooting 38 percent (59-157) from the field and 23 percent from beyond the arc (14-61) … The Bucs are also plus-9.0 in rebounding (39.3-30.3) and plus-18 in offensive rebounds (46-28) … Over the last three games, ETSU has the second-best defensive efficiency in the country at 0.825.  
• As a team, ETSU ranks 17th nationally in offensive rebounds per game (1375), 28th in blocks per game (5.0) and 47th in rebounds per game (39.1)
• Individually, Ebby Asamoah ranks 12th in three-point attempts (195), 27th in made threes (68) and 27th in 3-point field goals made per game (3.0) … Jadyn Parker is 12th in blocks (53) and 20th in blocks per game (2.2) and Karon Boyd is 25th in offensive rebounds per game (3.4)
• Since Feb. 16, 1987, in a game against Davidson, the Bucs have made at least one 3-pointer in 1,148 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 1,214 games
• 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 FURMAN

• Furman, who was the SoCon preseason favorite, sits at 12-12 overall and 6-5 in league play
• The Paladins have lost back-to-back games as Furman fell to UNCG on Sunday and at Mercer on Wednesday 
• Furman has not lost three straight SoCon games since Feb. 5-12, 2022 when the Paladins dropped games to UNCG, ETSU and Chattanooga 
• The Paladins feature the second-highest scoring offense in the SoCon at 80.8 points per game, while Furman ranks ninth in scoring defense at 77.0
• Furman is led by Marcus Foster as he's averaging 19.7 points and 7.6 rebounds per contest, while JP Pegues is at 16.4 points and 4.9 assists per game … Pegues leads the team with 108 made field goals 
• The Paladins have lost 10 of their 13 games played away from Greenville this season 

SERIES HISTORY 

• Saturday marks the 69th all-time meeting with the series being deadlocked at 34-34
• Furman won last month in Greenville, 82-73, while the Paladins have won the last three in the series
• Furman's three-game win streak is the longest in the series since the Paladins won five straight between Feb. 15, 1996 – Feb. 21, 2000 
• ETSU is searching for its first win since taking down Furman 75-71 on Feb. 7, 2022 
• Overall, the Bucs are 19-13 over the Paladins in Johnson City with ETSU winning eight of the last 10

UP NEXT 
ETSU hits the road for back-to-back games as the Bucs play at Chattanooga Wednesday night at 7 p.m. inside McKenzie Arena. 
  
For more information on ETSU men's basketball, go to ETSUBucs.com and click on the men's basketball tab.