By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Fresh off a much-needed Ohio Valley Conference victory over Eastern Kentucky Saturday night, the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team will look to make it two in-a-row Thursday evening as the Golden Eagles make the 90-minute trip down I-40 to take on in-state rival Tennessee State.
The 7 p.m. CST tilt marks the first of two match-ups between the East Division foes, with both teams looking for different outcomes with a victory. With a win, the Golden Eagles will keep its OVC Tournament hopes alive and give the squad some much-needed momentum headed into a Saturday meeting with the perennial East Division favorite Belmont Bruins.
A mark in the win column for the Tigers simply adds to the building blocks of arguably the youngest team in the league while providing a base line for future success.
Tennessee Tech (10-11, 2-6) at Tennessee State (3-18, 0-6)
Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015
7:00 p.m. CST
Gentry Center (10,500) – Nashville, Tenn.
The Broadcasts
TV: None
Radio: 106.1 The Eagle (Roger Ealey)
Webcast: OVC Digital Network
SETTING THE STAGE
Tennessee State doesn't enter the 59th meeting between these two programs with an intimidating record or flashy statistics. But a look closer at the Tigers' 2015 campaign shows just how far the young team has come under first-year head coach Dana Ford.
Despite a 3-18 overall record, and 0-6 mark in conference play, TSU has shown vast improvement in a short amount of time, losing nine contests this season by less than 10 points, including four in OVC play alone.
Included in those close defeats is a somewhat surprising performance against Belmont in the Tigers' most recent contest. Tennessee State led the Bruins by double digits early in Nashville, eventually falling 63-55.
Even with the growing pains, the Golden Eagles know not to discount the match-up with Tennessee State, as history has revealed this rivalry to constantly throw out the record books when the two teams meet. The all-time series is deadlocked at 29-29, with the Tigers claiming victories in four of the past five contests.
The Golden Eagles will visit Nashville after claiming arguably their most impressive, and certainly most crucial, victory of the season, an 83-81 overtime win over the defending OVC Tournament Champion Eastern Kentucky Colonels.
As he has done all year, junior Charles Jackson led Tech in scoring, rebounding and blocks in the game, claiming his NCAA-leading 14th double-double of the year with 18 points and 10 rebounds. He is averaging 14 points and 9.2 boards per game this season, along with a team-best 27 blocks and 21 steals. He also took home his fourth adidas® OVC Newcomer of the Week honors on Monday after his performances last week.
Fellow junior college transfer Torrance Rowe also is coming off a huge performance against EKU. The guard collected his first career double-double after posting 14 points, 10 assists, not to mention five rebounds. He is averaging 10.6 points this season.
Tech also saw strong performances from Dwan Caldwell (11 pts., eight reb.), Aleksa Jugovic (14 pts., 4-of-7 3FG) and Javon McKay (12 pts., 5-for-5 FG) against the Colonels. Caldwell ranks second on the year in scoring for the Golden Eagles, averaging 11.7 points and adding 5.2 boards on the glass.
Photo by Jim Dillon
