JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Jan. 24, 2025) – Eyeing a third straight Southern Conference victory, the ETSU men's basketball team is set to bring conference rival Chattanooga to Freedom Hall on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m.
 
GAME INFO
DATE: Saturday, Jan. 25
TIME: 4 p.m.
LOCATION: Freedom Hall (Johnson City, Tenn.)
TEAMS: ETSU (12-8, 5-2) vs. Chattanooga (12-8, 4-3)
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: Mahoney's
 
ABOUT THE BUCS

• ETSU is 12-8 overall and 5-2 in SoCon play
• The Bucs have won back-to-back SoCon games following a 65-60 win at Samford last Saturday and taking down Western Carolina by 27 on Wednesday night, 85-58
• Jaden Seymour set a new Freedom Hall scoring record with a career-high 34 points on Wednesday night against the Catamounts, while he registered his 12th career double-double with a season-high 13 rebounds
• As a team, ETSU was plus-22 in the paint, 36-14 and plus-20 in second chance points, 25-5
• ETSU is 9-2 inside Freedom Hall this season
• In their 11 home games this season, ETSU is shooting 48 percent from the field (319-669) and averaging 80.1 points per game … The Bucs have a plus-16.0 scoring margin at home, while averaging 15.7 assists and forcing 14.3 turnovers per game … Opponents are averaging 64.1 points per game, while shooting 40.7 percent from the field (251-616) and 31 percent from beyond the arc (75-245) … Jaden Seymour (17.9), Quimari Peterson (16.7) and John Buggs III (13.2) are all averaging in double figures scoring at home, while Buggs is shooting 48 percent (31-64) from three inside Freedom Hall this season.
• ETSU has gone 109-37 (.747) inside Freedom Hall since the start of the 2015-16 season
• With ETSU's nine made threes on Saturday, the Bucs have made at least one three-pointer in 1,179 straight games – the third-longest streak in the country
• In SoCon play, ETSU leads the league in scoring defense (65.9), steals (8.7), offensive rebounds (14.9) and offensive rebound percentage (.421), while ranking second in scoring margin (+8.7), rebound margin (+6.0) and turnover margin (+2.1)
• Quimari Peterson and Jaden Seymour rank first and second in the SoCon in scoring … Peterson is averaging 18.1 points per game and Seymour is at 17.5 … Peterson and Seymour are the only duo from the same team to rank one-two in their respective conference in scoring … The next closest tandems are Rutgers Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper who rank first and third, along with Army's Jake Rucker and Josh Scovens  
• Peterson ranks 20th nationally in field goals made (138) and is 42nd in points (362)
• John Buggs III ranks 17th nationally in three-point percentage (.442), 33rd in three-pointers made (57) and 35th in three-pointers made per game (3.0)
• Jaden Seymour scored his 1,000th career point and 1,000th point as a Buccaneer in the win over USC Upstate on Nov. 22 … Seymour became the 43rd 1,000-point scorer in program history and now is 17th in program history with 1,262 career points … Seymour needs three points to pass Scott Place (1977-80) for 16th and 26 points to pass Dimeco Childress (1999-02) for 15th and 28 to pass Mike Kretzer (1968-70) for 14th … Overall, Seymour has 1,273 points with 11 of those coming during his freshman season at Wichita State
• Seymour also ranks 10th all-time in program history with 692 rebounds, while his 97 blocks rank sixth 
• 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
• 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  

ABOUT CHATTANOOGA    

• Chattanooga enters the weekend at 12-8 overall and 4-3 in SoCon play
• The Mocs fell 73-69 to Samford on Thursday night in Chattanooga
• Chattanooga is averaging 77.2 points and allowing 72.6 per contest
• The Mocs were picked to finish second in the preseason coaches poll
• Trey Bonham, who is averaging 13.2 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game, was named SoCon Preseason Player of the Year
• Bash Wieland is leading the team in scoring at 13.6 points per game
• Between Bonham and Honor Huff, the Chattanooga duo has combined for 93 of its 194 made three-pointers
• Chattanooga leads the SoCon in free throw percentage (.773), assist to turnover ratio (1.56), while ranking second in field goal percentage (.470) and bench scoring (25.9)

SERIES HISTORY

• Saturday marks the 102nd all-time meeting between the two rivals
• Chattanooga holds a 54-47 series lead
• ETSU won the last match in thrilling fashion as the Bucs rallied from 20 points down to clip the Mocs in overtime, 85-84 in last year's SoCon semifinal game in Asheville
• That win snapped a three-game losing skid to Chattanooga
• The Mocs have won seven of the last 10 meetings
• ETSU is searching for its first win over the Mocs in Johnson City since exactly five years ago to the date – Jan. 25, 2020 … The Bucs won that contest, 75-64
• In three games last season, Quimari Peterson averaged 22.3 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game, while Jaden Seymour is averaging 11.4 points and 5.4 rebounds in seven career games against the Mocs
• ETSU had won 10 straight in the series from Jan. 28, 2017-Feb. 5, 2020, but since then, the Mocs have won seven of the last 10 meetings

UP NEXT
ETSU hits the road to take on UNCG Wednesday night at 7 p.m. inside Fleming Gym.
  
For more information on ETSU men's basketball, go to ETSUBucs.com and click on the men's basketball tab.