MACON, Ga. (Feb. 27, 2026) – Somewhere deep in the recesses of his college basketball command center, Jon Rothstein is warming up his battle cry, but it is not March yet. There is still one game to be played.
The ETSU men's basketball team heads south to play the Mercer Bears in the 2025-26 regular season finale on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 4:30p.m.

MATCHUP: ETSU (21-9, 14-3) vs Wofford (18-11, 10-6)
DATE: February 28, 2026, 4:30pm
VENUE: Hawkins Arena (Macon, GA)
TV: ESPN+
RADIO: WXSM-AM 640 (Jay Sandos)
LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast

ETSU clinched the outright regular season championship last Saturday with a win at UNCG, becoming the 27th outright SoCon champion since 1990. Of the previous 26, 17 have gone on to win the SoCon tournament. The Buccaneers have done it three times: in 1990 under Les Robinson, 2004 under Murry Bartow, and 2020 under Steve Forbes. The Bucs enter the final day of the regular season ranked 125 in the NET, 134 in KenPom, and 15 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25. They are KenPom's top SoCon team in defensive efficiency and second in offensive efficiency.

The team they are second to is Mercer, as Ryan Ridder's group has defied preseason expectations for a strong 2025-26 campaign to put them in the upper reaches of the SoCon for much of the year. They have lost two of their last three, including a 94-90 loss to Chattanooga on February 19, their first loss at Hawkins Arena in 14 games this season.

The Bucs and Bears have met 44 prior times, with ETSU winning 33 of them. They used a 14-0 run in the second half on January 3 to beat Mercer 77-71 at Freedom Hall.

For more information on ETSU men's basketball, go to ETSUBucs.com.