By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech men's basketball team will look to make it two straight victories on Saturday, playing host to Eastern Kentucky in a 7:30 p.m. CT Ohio Valley Conference match-up in the Hooper Eblen Center.
Tennessee Tech (5-15, 2-5) vs. Eastern Kentucky (8-12, 5-2)
Saturday, Jan. 25, 2020
7:30 p.m. CT
Eblen Center (7,500) – Cookeville, Tenn.
The Broadcasts
TV: WCTE (Michael Cooper & Steve Smith)
Radio: 106.1 The Eagle (Roger Ealey)
Webcast: ESPN+ (Dylan Vazzano & Rob Schabert)
SERIES/OPPONENT NOTES
Saturday marks the 140th meeting all-time between the two programs, with Eastern Kentucky owning a 76-63 lead in the series.
When competing in Cookeville, the Golden Eagles hold a 38-30 advantage over the Colonels all time.
This match-up marks the fifth-longest series in program history, one of six with 100 or more contests between the two teams.
Last season, the two squads split its two-game series, each team pulling off road victories.
Tech started it with a thrilling, 91-85 triumph in Georgetown, Ky., played on the campus of Georgetown College because of a scheduling conflict at EKU's Alumni Coliseum.
Jr. Clay boasted one of the best performances of his career in the contest, scoring a team-high 22 points while flirting with a triple-double. He hauled in nine rebounds and dished out eight assists while hitting 8-of-11 shots from the field.
Later in the season, EKU held off a valiant comeback effort by the Golden Eagles, edging Tech 67-66 in Cookeville. The purple and gold, trailing by as many as 14 points, had a few opportunities to hit the winning bucket late, but couldn't get a shot to fall.
It was Jared Sherfield's time to shine in the contest, dropping 19 points and eight rebounds to pace the Golden Eagles offensively. Jr. Clay added 14 points, five rebounds and six assists while Hunter Vick chipped in 11 points and six boards.
Earlier this season, EKU took the first meeting between the schools, a 74-59 decision in Richmond.
Darius Allen led Tech in the contest, scoring 16 points with five rebounds. Jr. Clay added 11 points and eight boards while Hunter Vick provided nine points off the bench.
This year's Eastern Kentucky squad is led offensively by Jomaru Brown, who averages 16.8 points per game. He adds 3.4 rebounds per contest while hitting 74.3 percent from the free throw line.
Ty Taylor adds 13.5 points and 3.6 boards per game while firing at a 36.0 percent clip from 3-point range. Also in double figures for the Colonels is Tre King, averaging 10.4 points and 5.7 rebounds.
Darius Hicks leads the team in rebounding with 6.8 per contest. Leading the team in assists with 2.8 per game, is JacQuess Hobbs.
TRENDING
A total team effort propelled Tech to its first OVC win in the comfort of the Eblen Center this season, as the Golden Eagles took down long-time foe Morehead State Thursday evening, 71-59.
Almost directly out of the gate, it was Tech's contest to lose. After Morehead State took a 4-2 lead very early in the contest, a move to the bench seemed to light a fire for the Golden Eagles. Junior walk-on Maverick Smith entered the contest just two minutes in and promptly hit a 3-pointer for his first bucket of the season.
Tech didn't trail the rest of the night.
The triple by the veteran guard kick-started a 19-4 run by the purple and gold that resulted in a 13-point lead, the team's largest of the night until the very end of the contest. The Golden Eagles spent the remainder of the contest bending, but not breaking, keeping at least five points of separation from the Eagles until the end.
A 7-0 run by Morehead early in the second half looked ominous to some, as the visitors closed the gap to just those five points with 13:34 to go. Freshman Dane Quest delivered one of the biggest shots of the contest, burying a trey from the corner in front of the Tech bench to put the Golden Eagles back up by eight and steal back some much-needed momentum.
Clay led the Golden Eagles with 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting and added five assists to the mix, marking his 13th straight game in double figures this season. Davidson posted 12 points with five rebounds and six dimes while Williams turned in a season-high 12 points.
Smith, who was named the Special Olympics Player of the Game for his inspiring play that clearly shifted the contest in favor of the Golden Eagles early, scored a season-high five points while playing nearly 12 tough minutes off the bench.
He also racked up a steal and rebound. Senior Cade Crosland chipped in eight points while Darius Allen collected seven points, seven rebounds and three steals. Reece Wilkinson tied Allen for the team lead in boards with seven as well.
Prior to the contest at Lipscomb, Coach Pelphrey and his staff named the team's fifth captain in freshman point guard Keishawn Davidson. Also serving as captains for the young Tech squad in 2019-20 are sophomores Jr. Clay, Hunter Vick and Amadou Sylla, as well as senior Cade Crosland.
With an 83-70 win over Martin Methodist on November 9, Tech head coach John
Pelphrey earned his first victory as the leader of the Golden Eagle program.
Pelphrey, who was named the 13th head coach in Golden Eagle history in April, also earned career win No. 150 on the night, the same day the Tech football team earned its 150th victory in Tucker Stadium on the day they celebrated the 150th anniversary of college football.
Both Davidson and Sylla were honored by the OVC on Nov. 11, picking up two of the league's first three weekly honors of the 2019-20 campaign. Davidson was named OVC Freshman of the Week while Sylla was recognized as the OVC Newcomer of the Week.
It marked the first time since 2015-16 that Tech claimed two of the OVC's three weekly accolades.
The last time it occurred was Feb. 1, 2016 when Torrance Rowe won OVC Player of the Week and both Ryan Martin and Hakeem Rogers shared OVC Newcomer of the Week honors.
Tech was predicted to finish 12th overall in the 2019 OVC race in voting by the league's head coaches and SIDs.
ROSTER BREAKDOWN
The 2019-20 Tech roster features 17 players (13 scholarship student-athletes) representing five states and three countries.
Nine Golden Eagle players hail from the state Tennessee, while Florida and Texas each boast two Tech players. Alabama and Illinois are represented by one Tech player each.
Two international players round out the roster, including one Golden Eagle from Canada and another from Mali.
Tech has three seniors, three juniors, five sophomores, three redshirt freshmen and three true freshmen.
Eleven Golden Eagles stand 6-foot-5 or taller while the other six measure in at 6-foot-4 or shorter.
Seven members are new to the Tech squad for 2019-20, including Darius Allen, Keishawn Davidson, Larry Kuimi, Michael Lolio, Dane Quest, Amadou Sylla and Tujautae Williams.
INEXPERIENCED BUNCH
While the 2019-20 Golden Eagles welcomed in seven new faces to the roster this season, that number doesn't show just how little this team spent together coming into the season. In addition to a brand new coaching staff, 10 of Tech's 17 players had never suited up for the Golden Eagles heading into the season-opener.
Tech players that have or could make their Golden Eagle debut in 2019-20 are senior transfer Darius Allen, JUCO transfers Larry Kuimi, Amadou Sylla and Michael Lolio, true freshmen Keishawn Davidson, Dane Quest and Tujautae Williams, and redshirt freshmen Chase Ridenour, Caden Mills and Reece Wilkinson.
Only two Golden Eagles played at Tech in both 2017-18 and 2018-19, including senior Cade Crosland and junior Maverick Smith. Hunter Vick was on the roster in 2017-18, but redshirted due to an injury.
The 2019-20 Tech roster came into the year with just 58 combined starts at the Division I level, including 31 by Hunter Vick, 19 by Jr. Clay, four by Garrett Golday, three by Jared Sherfield and one by Darius Allen (at Baylor).
Photo by Thomas Corhern
