JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (July 18, 2024) – The ETSU men's basketball team will play a pair of ASUN teams this upcoming 2024-25 season, as the Southern Conference and ASUN announced a two-year scheduling alliance on Thursday. Each SoCon team will play two games against ASUN opponents through this alliance with games taking place in early November and December.
 
The Bucs will host Eastern Kentucky on Friday, Nov. 8, while ETSU travels to Jacksonville on Saturday, Dec. 14.
 
Eastern Kentucky won the ASUN regular season championship a year ago after going 12-4 in league play. This will mark the 52nd all-time meeting between the two programs and first since Dec. 18, 2015, when ETSU won 87-81 inside Freedom Hall. The Bucs have won three straight in the series, while the Colonels lead the series, 28-23. The two schools were members of the Ohio Valley Conference with ETSU playing from 1958-77 and EKU from 1948-2021.
 
ETSU and Jacksonville have history from the Bucs' time in the ASUN as the two teams have met 20 times with the Blue & Gold leading the all-time series, 20-13. The last meeting between the programs was on Feb. 20, 2014, when the Dolphins won 91-86 in Jacksonville. ETSU defended its home floor earlier that season with a 76-75 win. The Bucs defeated Jacksonville in the 2009 ASUN Championship game to punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament. The series dates back to the 1969-70 season.
 
This agreement comes in response to the emphasis placed on NET rankings for postseason prospects and an ever-changing landscape in college athletics which, for many, has made it difficult to fill a 30-game schedule with quality opponents.
 
"We are very excited to partner with the ASUN to form a two-year scheduling alliance," said SoCon Commissioner Michael Cross. "It is apparent to anyone involved in men's basketball that the current scheduling process is flawed and that getting two teams to agree to play one another is incredibly difficult. As NCAA Tournament access has continued to erode for mid-major programs and conference schedules expand due to conference realignment, identifying meaningful non-conference games against attractive regional opponents has become very important. Leadership from the Directors of Athletics in both conferences and willingness from the coaches to experiment with this concept were the necessary ingredients to establish this alliance. Their willingness to recognize that change is needed in scheduling took vision and compromise. I'm confident this will be a very beneficial partnership for both the SoCon and the ASUN."
 
ETSU made a run to the SoCon Championship game a year ago, marking its 13th appearance in the SoCon title game. The Bucs, who return 10 players from last season's squad, finished 19-16 in head coach Brooks Savage's first season. ETSU won three games in three days to get to the championship game with wins over VMI, UNCG and Chattanooga.
 
The start of the 2024-25 season is just over 100 days away. Season tickets are currently on-sale and can be purchased by calling the ETSU Ticket Office at 423-439-3878 or visiting ETSUTickets.com.
 
Below are the full SoCon-ASUN matchups for 2024-25.
Round 1
Nov. 4 - FGCU @ UNCG
Nov. 8 - Eastern Kentucky @ ETSU
Nov. 8 - Western Carolina @ Queens
Nov. 9 - VMI @ Bellarmine
Nov. 9 - Wofford @ Lipscomb
Nov. 11 - Stetson @ The Citadel
Nov. 11 - Jacksonville @ Furman
Nov. 11 - Chattanooga @ Austin Peay
Nov. 15 - Samford @ North Alabama
Dec. 4 - West Georgia @ Mercer
 
Round 2
Dec. 1 - North Alabama @ Wofford
Dec. 3 - Lipscomb @ UTC
Dec. 4 - Bellarmine @ Western Carolina
Dec. 4 - Furman @ FGCU
Dec. 7 - Queens @ VMI
Dec. 8 - Austin Peay @ Samford
Dec. 8 - Mercer @ Stetson
Dec. 14 - ETSU @ Jacksonville
Dec. 14 - UNCG @ North Florida
Dec. 16 - The Citadel @ Central Arkansas
 
For more information on Buccaneer men's basketball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the men's basketball tab.