By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech men's basketball team rounds out its 2019-20 regular season with the most important contest of the year Saturday evening, a match-up at Jacksonville State with a berth into the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament hanging in the balance. Simply put, if the Golden Eagles defeat the Gamecocks in the 7:00 p.m. CT tilt, they will earn a trip to Evansville, Ind. and the league's postseason event next week. A loss will end the postseason hopes of Tech and first-year head coach John Pelphrey.
Tech can clinch as high as the tournament's No. 7 seed with a win and a loss by Morehead State. Should the Eagles win in their contest against Eastern Kentucky, a win by the Golden Eagles will clinch them the No. 8 seed.
Tennessee Tech (9-21, 6-11) at Jacksonville State (12-18, 7-10)
Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020
7:00 p.m. CT
Pete Mathews Coliseum (3,500) – Jacksonville, Ala.
The Broadcasts
TV: None
Radio: 106.1 The Eagle (Dylan Vazzano)
Webcast: ESPN+
SERIES/OPPONENT NOTES
Saturday marks the 39th meeting all-time between the two programs, with Tech owning a 22-17 lead in the series.
When competing in Jacksonville, the Gamecocks hold a 9-8 advantage over the Golden Eagles all time.
Prior to this season's first match-up, Jacksonville State had won each of the past five meetings between the two schools, and six of the past seven. Before that run, Tech had won six of seven match-ups with the Gamecocks.
Last season, the Gamecocks claimed both match-ups between the two programs, starting with a dominant defensive showing in their 65-48 win over Tech in Jacksonville.
Former Golden Eagle Micaiah Henry represented the only Tech player in double figures, scoring 11 points with five rebounds.
Jr. Clay scored nine points with five boards off the bench after returning from an injury. Garrett Golday added seven points off the bench as well.
In the rematch in Cookeville, Jacksonville State used a great first half to claim a 67-57 victory in the Eblen Center.
Healthy in his second appearance against the Gamecocks, Clay dropped a team-high 17 points with five assists and five steals.
Hunter Vick scored 13 while corralling a career-high eight rebounds. Golday produced a then career-high 11 points with six boards while making his second career start.
When the two teams met earlier this month, Tech pulled off an incredible 75-74 victory, hitting a 3-pointer with 7.7 seconds to play.
It was Cade Crosland providing the heroics, burying his seventh triple of the night for a career-high 21 points. Hunter Vick added 15 points off the bench with a team-high five rebounds.
Jr. Clay scored 13 points with seven assists, three steals and just two turnovers. Keishawn Davidson chipped in 12 points, eight dimes, a career-high five steals and only one turnover.
This year's Jacksonville State squad is led offensively by Jacara Cross, who averages 12.5 points and 4.6 rebounds. He also leads the Gamecocks with a 61.6 field goal percentage.
De'Torrion Ware ranks next for JSU in scoring with 12.2 points and 5.2 boards per game. He shoots 34.8 percent from 3-point range as well.
Kayne Henry averages 10.9 points and team-highs of 6.6 rebounds, 24 steals and 19 blocks.
Derrick Cook paces the Gamecocks with 3.3 assists per game, adding 5.4 points and 3.0 rebounds to the mix.
LAST TIME OUT
Sometimes, it's just a game of inches. That was the case in the Curb Event Center Thursday evening, as a last-second, 26-foot heave from sophomore Jr. Clay came up just short, allowing the Belmont Bruins to outlast the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team, 65-62.
The Golden Eagles turned in one of its better defensive showing of the season, holding the hometown Bruins to just 65 points, well off their season average of 81.2 per game. That effort was particularly evident in the second half, as Belmont managed just 27 points on 37.9 percent shooting and a 1-for-9 showing from beyond the arc.
Trailing by as much as 12 points in the second half, the Golden Eagles displayed the same tenacity and grit that led the team to four wins in their previous five games entering the night. Over a four-minute stretch, Tech had the deficit down to just four points following four-straight triples from freshman Keishawn Davidson, sophomore Jr. Clay and senior Cade Crosland.
With just six minutes play, Tech had closed the gap to a single point, led by another Davidson trey and a nice sequence involving Clay. After being called for a tough foul, Clay answered by picking off and finishing the play off with a layup to cut the score to 55-54 in favor of the Bruins.
Sophomore Amadou Sylla played a critical role down the stretch, hitting a pair of free throws with Tech trailing by six with under four minutes on the clock. On the next possession, the forward connected on a huge bucket while drawing a foul, trimming it to a two-point game. After missing the ensuing freebie, he made up for it with a big block on the opposite end of the court.
Belmont's Nick Muszynski, who led all scorers on the night with 23 points, scored 14 of them in the second half, including a hook shot with 2:27 to play to put the Bruins back up by four. Another Clay layin with 90 seconds to go cut it back to a two-point contest.
The Bruins scored the final point of the contest on a free throw with just over a minute to play, but missed the second one, giving Tech some hope. While Belmont collected the offensive rebound off the miss, the Golden Eagles held strong on defense on back-to-back possessions, earning one last try at sending the game to overtime.
Davidson led the Golden Eagles offensively, scoring 17 points on 6-for-10 shooting with a trio of makes from beyond the arc. He also dished out three assists and corralled five rebounds with a pair of steals. Sylla chipped in 10 points, five boards and three blocks off the bench.
Clay recorded double figures for the 23rd consecutive game, tying for the fifth-most such performances by a Golden Eagle in a single season the 1984-85 campaign. The point guard accounted for 12 points, all of which came in the second half. He also tallied three dimes, four boards and three steals. Crosland just missed double digits, sinking 3-of-7 attempts from downtown for nine points.
TRENDING
After struggling to put up just 11 total points in a four-game stretch earlier this season, Jr. Clay has since run off 23 straight double-digit scoring performances. That streak ranks tied for the fifth-longest by a Golden Eagle since 1984-85 with Willie Jenkins, who tallied 23 straight during the 2003-04 season.
John Best's 28 straight double-figure scoring performances during the 1992-93 season ranks as the longest in one season, accounting for every game played by Tech that year. Best strung together 44 straight double-digit scoring efforts dating back into the 1991-92 season.
Damien Kinloch ranks fourth all-time with 26 straight double-figure scoring efforts during the 2002-03 campaign.
Jr. Clay picked up his 100th assist of the season against UT Martin, making him and freshman Keishawn Davidson the first pair of Tech teammates to each total at least 100 assists in the same season since 2001-02. That year, Cameron Crisp dished out 122 dimes while DeAntoine Beasley doled out 104 assists.
Tech captured its 400th victory in the Eblen Center Thursday evening, defeating UT Martin 78-65.
Serving as captains for the young Tech squad in 2019-20 are freshman Keishawn Davidson, sophomores Jr. Clay, Hunter Vick and Amadou Sylla, junior Maverick Smith and 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
