JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Feb. 13, 2025) – The ETSU men's basketball team hosts the Samford Bulldogs on Saturday at noon at Freedom Hall. The game is televised nationally on ESPNU, and limited tickets are still available at ETSUTickets.com.
MATCHUP: ETSU (19-7, 11-2) vs. Samford (14-10, 7-6)
DATE: February 14, 2026, 12:00pm
LOCATION: Freedom Hall Civic Center (Johnson City, TN)
LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast
TV: ESPNU (Brock Bowling, Dean Keener)
RADIO: WXSM-AM 640 (
Jay Sandos, Bruce Tranbarger)
TICKETS: ETSUTickets.com
GAME SPONSOR: Lafayette Heat & Air Conditioning
ETSU is closing in on the SoCon regular season title with five games left to play. Their 73-61 win over Chattanooga on Wednesday coupled with Wofford's loss to Samford reduced the Bucs' magic number to four, meaning another win and another Wofford loss would give ETSU the chance to clinch at least a share of the regular season title next Wednesday at Furman.
Jordan McCullum has had a star turn for ETSU the last few weeks, culminating in a career-high 24 points against the Mocs on Wednesday. McCullum has reached double figures in four consecutive games and became the sixth different player to score 20 or more in a game last time out. ETSU is 13-3 when at least one player scores 20 or more points.
The Bucs remain the SoCon's toughest defense, ranking among the nation's best in scoring and field goal defense. They are the only team in the SoCon allowing fewer than 70 points per game in conference play, and they are 13-1 when holding opponents to fewer than 70 this season.
After an uneven start, Samford is rounding into form at the end of the year under first-year head coach Lennie Acuff. The Bulldogs have won four straight by an average of 16.3 points, most recently a 97-80 win over Wofford in Birmingham on Wednesday. Jadin Booth and Dylan Faulkner have been the beating heart of the offense, combining for 38.2 points per game or 49% of Samford's scoring output.
ETSU leads the all-time series 19-7 and won earlier this season at Samford 76-75.
Blake Barkley scored the game-winning points with four seconds left as part of a 26 point, 11 rebound performance that marked career-highs in both categories at the time.
For more information on ETSU men's basketball, go to ETSUBucs.com.
