JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Feb. 7, 2025) – The ETSU men's basketball team eyes a season sweep over the league leaders as the Buccaneers host defending Southern Conference champion Samford on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. inside Freedom Hall.
 
Saturday is a doubleheader as the Buccaneer women host league-leading UNCG at 1:30 p.m. Below are Things to Know for the doubleheader.
 

• Fans will only be required to show their men's basketball ticket for entry into both games.
• Fans who have only women's basketball tickets will be sent tickets from the ETSU Ticket Office this week with seating inside Freedom Hall, good for all games. The seating location will be determined based off price level for women's basketball season tickets.
• Fans who have Season Tickets to both teams will be able to sit in their Men's Basketball season ticket locations for both games.
• Courtside Club will open following the completion of the women's basketball game or one hour prior to the tip-off of men's basketball, whichever occurs first. 
• Fans with parking passes located in Lots G & A will be able to park in their respective lots with a permit prior to the start of each game.
• Parking lots B & C will be open for parking without the requirement of a parking pass prior to and during the women's basketball game.
• For questions or concerns please contact the ETSU Ticket Office at 423-439-3878 or email tickets@etsu.edu

GAME TO BE BROADCAST LOCALLY ON COMET WCYBDT3
Saturday's doubleheader will be broadcast live on COMET WCYBDT3 through a partnership with WCYB and Food City. The broadcast crew of Keith Brake (play-by-play) and Bruce Tranbarger (analyst) will provide the call for both games. Comet is transmitting on WCYB channel 5.3 and on cable and satellite. If you cannot find Comet on cable or satellite, please call your cable or satellite provider. For those who are out of market, the games will still be streamed live on ESPN+.
 
ETSU TO HONOR TOMMY WOODS
The ETSU Athletics Department will honor Buccaneer great Tommy Woods prior to Saturday's men's game at 4 p.m. During a pregame celebration, Woods' jersey will be retired inside Freedom Hall. Woods, the first African-American player in program history, is ETSU's all-time leading rebounder with 1,034, while he averaged 16.2 rebounds per game for his career. Woods played for ETSU from 1964-67 where he was a two-time all-Ohio Valley Conference selection.
 
GAME INFO
DATE: Saturday, Feb. 8
TIME: 4 p.m.
LOCATION: Freedom Hall (Johnson City, Tenn.)
TEAMS: ETSU (14-10, 7-4) at VMI (11-12, 5-5)
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+ / Comet WCYB 5.3 (Keith Brake/Bruce Tranbarger)
LIVE STATS: ETSUBucs.com
RADIO: WXSM-AM 640 (Jay Sandos)
TWITTER: @ETSU_MBB
 
ABOUT THE BUCS

• ETSU is 14-10 overall and 7-4 in SoCon play
• The Bucs have won back-to-back games with wins over Furman (72-69) and most recently VMI (62-55)
• ETSU defeated VMI 62-55 Wednesday night in Lexington for the series sweep over the Keydets
• Karon Boyd grabbed a career-high 20 rebounds and Jaden Seymour notched his sixth double-double of the season with 18 points and 10 rebounds
• Boyd's 20 rebounds were the most by a Buccaneer since Mike Smith grabbed 20 against FGCU back on Jan. 8, 2011
• With the 20 rebounds, Boyd is just one of 18 Division I players to accomplish the feat this season against a Division I team
• ETSU held VMI to 26 first-half points on Wednesday … ETSU 7-3 this season when holding opponents to 30 points or less in the first half and the Bucs are 95-15 when accomplishing the feat since 2015-16
• The Bucs are now 13-1 this season when holding the opposition to less than 70 points
• ETSU has won 10 of its 13 games inside Freedom Hall this season
• The Bucs are 110-38 (.743) inside Freedom Hall since the start of the 2015-16 season
• Quimari Peterson and Jaden Seymour lead the Blue & Gold in scoring at 18.0 and 17.6 points per game
• The duo rank first and second in the SoCon in scoring and are the only teammates to lead their respective conference in scoring across the country
• Peterson (433 points) and Seymour (422 points) have combined for 855 points this season … They are the only teammates across Division I basketball to have scored over 420 points this season
• ETSU is eyeing its third straight crowd of over 5,000 fans on Saturday with 5,015 fans attending the Chattanooga game on Jan. 25 and a season-best 5,211 fans watching last Sunday's win versus Furman … There has never been a run of three straight crowds over 5,000 fans inside Freedom Hall since ETSU moved into the facility
• Quimari Peterson extended his streak of scoring in double figures to 21 straight games after netting 11 points at VMI … Peterson now has 911 career points (905 as a Buccaneer)
• With ETSU's six made threes on Sunday, the Bucs have made at least one three-pointer in 1,183 straight games – the third-longest streak in the country
• 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 13th in program history with 1,334 career points … Seymour needs 18 points to pass Jerald Fields (2000-04) for 13th all-time on the ETSU scoring list and 34 to pass Harley "Skeeter" Swift (1967-69) for 11th … Overall, Seymour has 1,345 points with 11 of those coming during his freshman season at Wichita State
• 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 SAMFORD      

• Samford is the reigning SoCon regular season and defending tournament champion
• The Bulldogs sit 19-5 overall and 9-2 in SoCon play
• Samford's two conference losses have come to ETSU and at Furman
• The Bulldogs are ranked No. 9 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25
• Samford ranks third nationally in three-pointers made per game (11.3), seventh in turnovers forced per game (16.4), ninth in steals per game (9.8), 11th in scoring offense (84.4), 12th in assists per game (17.7), 17th in bench points (30.9), 19th in fastbreak scoring (14.7) and 24th in effective field goal percentage (.563)
• Samford has four played averaging in double figures in scoring – Trey Fort (13.9), Jaden Brownell (13.8), Rylan Jones (11.2) and Collin Holloway (10.1)
• Jones ranks 26th nationally in assists (132)

SERIES HISTORY

• Saturday is the 25th all-time meeting between ETSU and Samford
• The Bucs lead the series, 17-7
• ETSU won last month in Birmingham, 65-60, snapping the Bulldogs' 28-game home win streak
• This is a rematch of last year's SoCon title game where Samford won 76-69
• Samford had won six straight in the series prior to ETSU's win last month
• ETSU is 7-4 against Samford in Johnson City, but the Bulldogs have won the last three
• Five of the 11 games in Johnson City have been decided by four points or less with Samford winning three of them … Two of the 11 games in Johnson City have gone to overtime
• The Bucs' last win in Johnson City was back on Jan. 15, 2020, when ETSU won 88-63

UP NEXT
ETSU hits the road for two straight games starting Wednesday at Western Carolina with a 6 p.m. start in Cullowhee, N.C.
  
For more information on ETSU men's basketball, go to ETSUBucs.com and click on the men's basketball tab.