ASHEVILLE, N.C. (March 7, 2024) – The ETSU men's basketball team begins a new chapter to its 2023-24 season as the Buccaneers open postseason play Friday night in Asheville. The seventh-seeded Buccaneers take on No. 10 VMI in the opening round of the Southern Conference Tournament at 7:30 p.m. inside Harrah's Cherokee Center Asheville.
 
GAME INFO
DATE: Friday, March 8
TIME: 7:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Harrah's Cherokee Center Asheville 
TEAMS: No. 7 ETSU (16-15) vs. No. 10 VMI (4-27) 
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+ (Dave Friedman / Dean Keener)
LIVE STATS: SoConSports.com
RADIO: WXSM-AM 640 | 104.9 NASH ICON (Jay Sandos)
TICKETS: ETSUTickets.com
SoCon Tournament Headquarters
 
ABOUT THE BUCS
·      ETSU enters the SoCon Tournament as the No. 7 seed after finishing the regular season at 16-15 overall and 8-10 in league play
·      The Bucs won three of their final four regular season games with wins over VMI, The Citadel and UNCG
·      ETSU ended the regular season with a thrilling 66-65 win over UNCG thanks to Quimari Peterson scoring the game-winning field goal with 4.1 seconds remaining
·      Jaden Seymour was named third team all-SoCon, while Jadyn Parker landed a spot on the SoCon all-defensive team
·      Seymour started all 31 games, averaging 15.1 points and 6.2 rebounds in 31.5 minutes per game. Seymour led the team in total points scored (468), field goals made (156), and free throws made (116). The Charlotte, N.C. native scored in double figures 26 times, including a career-high 30-point performance against Mountain West Conference favorite Utah State on Dec. 22. Seymour also added three double-doubles and grabbed six or more rebounds 19 times on the season
·      Parker was one of the top defensive players in the conference as he led the league in total blocked shots (71) and blocks per game (2.3). The Shallotte, N.C. native totaled 71 blocks on the season, which tied ETSU's single-season record with Isiah Brown (2010-11). Parker ranks eighth nationally in blocked shots and 15th in blocks per game. Parker registered at least one block in 27 games and had three or more blocks in 14 games. Parker's season high was five blocks, which he did three times – versus Tennessee Tech, Wofford and Furman
·      Ebby Asamoah has netted 85 three-pointers on the season, which ranks eighth-most among ETSU single-season leaders … The Buccaneer guard needs one to move into seventh, two to climb into sixth and five to tie Rashawn Rembert for fifth
·      Jadyn Parker tied the single-season program record by recording his 71st blocked shot on Saturday versus UNCG … Parker is tied with Isiah Brown as he had 71 in 2010-11
·      As a team, ETSU has blocked 152 shots, which leads the SoCon … The 152 swats rank fifth-most in single-season program history and the Bucs need four more to move into fourth
·      As a team, ETSU ranks 13th nationally in offensive rebounds per game (13.6) and 25th in blocked shots per game (4.9)
·      Individually, Ebby Asamoah ranks 15th in three-point attempts (248), 34th in made threes (85) and 37th in 3-point field goals made per game (2.8) … Jadyn Parker is ninth in blocks (71) and 15th in blocks per game (2.3)
·      Since Feb. 16, 1987, in a game against Davidson, the Bucs have made at least one 3-pointer in 1,155 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 1,222 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)
 
BUCS IN THE SOCON TOURNAMENT
·      ETSU is 42-25 (.627) all-time in the SoCon Tournament … The Bucs are 22-14 all-time in SoCon first round and quarterfinal games
·      ETSU is searching for its first SoCon Tournament win since knocking off Chattanooga in the 2021 quarterfinals
·      The Bucs have never been the No. 7 seed in the SoCon Tournament
·      The No. 7 seed has reached the title game in three of the last four tournaments, while the winner of the No. 7-10 game has reached the finals in four of the last nine
·      The No. 7 seed has won the last five games against the No. 10 seed … The last time the No. 10 seed won was in 2018 when Chattanooga beat Samford, 89-79
·      The last team to win four games to win the SoCon Championship was Clemson in 1939
·      The Bucs have played in 12 SoCon title games with ETSU winning eight of them – the last coming in 2020
 
ABOUT VMI
·      VMI enters SoCon Tournament play with an overall record of 4-27
·      The Keydets lost their last 12 games to end the regular season, which includes a pair to ETSU
·      VMI's last win was back on Jan. 20 when the Keydets beat The Citadel 70-63 in Lexington, marking their lone SoCon win of the season
·      The Keydets are looking for their first SoCon Tournament win since 2021 when VMI defeated No. 3 seed Furman 91-90 in overtime
·      VMI's leading scorer is Brennan Waktins as he's averaging 15.2 points per game; however, Watkins missed the last nine games of the regular season
·      Tyran Cook is VMI's second leading scorer at 12.7 points per game
·      As a team, VMI is averaging 69.0 points per game, while allowing 82.1 per contest
·      The Keydets lost all 17 games played away from home this season (15 away, two neutral)
 
SERIES HISTORY
·      ETSU leads the all-time series, 58-15
·      The Bucs swept the regular season series with a 74-73 win in Lexington back on Jan. 24, while ETSU took down the Keydets 82-69 on Feb. 21 in Johnson City
·      ETSU has won four straight in the series, 17 of the last 18 and 27 of the last 29
·      In the two games this season, Jaden Seymour averaged 19.0 points and 8.0 rebounds, while Ebby Asamoah posted 18.5 points and five rebounds … Jadyn Parker was at 12 points, nine rebounds and 2.5 blocks in the two contests
·      The Bucs and Keydets have met three times in the SoCon Tournament with ETSU winning two of the three matchups … The Bucs won 70-57 in the 2020 quarterfinal game where ETSU went on to defeat Western Carolina and Wofford to claim the tournament title … ETSU won 99-84 back in the 1990 semifinal game and then defeated Appalachian State 96-75 in the title game … VMI's lone postseason win over the Bucs came in the 1988 semifinal where they Keydets won 79-60
 
UP NEXT
The winner of Friday's game advances to take on No. 2 seed UNCG in the quarterfinals at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.
  
For more information on ETSU men's basketball, go to ETSUBucs.com and click on the men's basketball tab.