By Layne Weitzel, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – After playing five of its first seven games on the road, Tennessee Tech finally returns home to Cookeville for the remainder of 2017 and will face the Cumberland Phoenix to start its home stand.
Tip-off is set for Thursday, Dec. 7 at 6 p.m. CT.
"We are absolutely looking forward to getting home in Cookeville and the Hooper Eblen Center – no question about that," said head coach Kim Rosamond.
Tech has only faced Cumberland twice in its history, its last meeting coming on Dec. 1, 1994 that the Golden Eagles won 78-50.
The Phoenix come to Cookeville on a two-game win streak via blowouts, defeating Hiwassee College 69-34 and Carver College 73-37. They will treat Thursday's game versus Tech as an exhibition. Cumberland was previously ranked 22nd in the NAIA DI Coaches' Preseason Top-25 Poll but has since fallen out of the Week 1 rankings, which were released Tuesday.
The Golden Eagles ended the most challenging portion of their non-conference schedule on Sunday, falling to the top-25 ranked Kentucky Wildcats 82-54 in Lexington. They had also played at Wright State on Friday in an 82-59 loss.
To close its non-conference slate, Tech will host Cumberland, IUPUI, Winthrop and Lipscomb. OVC play begins Dec. 28 against Morehead State, and Eastern Kentucky will also travel to Cookeville on Dec. 30.
"I know that we're going to take these lessons that we've learned this last month, and we're going to apply them when we get to Dec. 28," said Rosamond. "For us, that's when it gets real. We've just got to be ready when OVC play starts, but we need to finish strong in December."
- 2016-17 record: 15-12, 4-10 Mid-South Conference
- Notables: Cumberland has played three teams ranked in the NAIA top-25 poll – No. 3 Freed-Hardeman, No. 4 Vanguard and No. 25 Talladega (all rankings were current as of game time). It defeated Talladega by one point… The Phoenix are ranked last in the eight-team Mid-South Conference in scoring offense (averaging 63.78 points per game) but are second in scoring defense (allowing just 54.11 points per game).
Photo by Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
