2017-18 Tennessee Tech Men's Basketball Schedule
By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Fourteen home games, the Emerald Coast Classic and a new twist to Ohio Valley Conference play proves there is plenty to get excited about for Tennessee Tech men's basketball fans as the team released its regular-season schedule Friday (Sept. 8).
The 2017-18 slate will officially kick off Friday, Nov. 10 as the Golden Eagles play host to Midway University as part of a double header with the Tech women's basketball team that will also kick off the season-long celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Hooper Eblen Center.
Much like the 2016-17 season, Tech's non-conference slate presents plenty of challenges and high-quality opponents. In all, TTU will take on 13 non-conference opponents, 11 of which took part in postseason action of some sort last season.
"Once again, we have a really challenging slate in front of us," head coach Steve Payne said. "I thought last year that our team – which had lost four starters – wasn't quite ready for the schedule that we had put in front of them. The quality of teams that we had lined up in non-conference play; I thought we paid a price for that in our development and our consistency, but I always felt like we were moving in the right direction.
"I think our conference play kind of showed that as we were competing for the top three spots in the league going into the last week of the season. We'd like to, obviously, be a little more successful in the non-conference slate this season, and I feel like we are situated to do that. It will definitely be a challenge again."
The Golden Eagles play host to four more non-conference foes, welcoming Boyce College to the Eblen Center, as well as regional and in-state rivals Kennesaw State, Lipscomb and Chattanooga.
"I'm excited that we have some home games, especially early this year," Payne said. "It's great to keep our rivalry going with Lipscomb. That's been a good series for us. Getting Kennesaw State in here early in the year is also another good regional rivalry game that we can hopefully develop. We are looking forward to December 17th and facing Chattanooga again. We took a year off from playing each other last year, but that's been a good game for our fans in the previous years that we have played them. Hopefully, we can continue that for a long time."
Tech will rack up plenty of miles during the non-conference stretch as well, starting with a Nov. 13 road contest at TCU. The game, as well as a match-up at New Mexico on Nov. 21 will act as part of the Destin Realty Emerald Coast Classic, a multi-team tournament that will take place on the campus of Northwest Florida State College in Niceville, Fla. from Nov. 24-25. The Golden Eagles will face off in the neutral location against Omaha on the 24th and then play either Jackson State or Maryland-Eastern Shore on the 25th.
"Early games at TCU and at New Mexico are just tough, tough tests," Payne explained, "but, again, those are good opportunities for our team to grow. We have had some of those types of contests every year, and there are times that we have played really well in them and had a chance, and times that we have not played very well. But I think that we have always grown in those types of games.
"The tournament in Florida over Thanksgiving is at a neutral site, so it will give us a tournament atmosphere and hopefully prepare us for the OVC Tournament. We'll start with Omaha, which is coming off of a very good year last year and will provide a heck of a challenge for us. Then, we'll turn around and play again the next day."
Also on tap for Tech are December trips to Furman (which won a share of the Southern Conference regular season title last year), Dayton (which won the Atlantic 10 regular season title last year) and Central Michigan.
"Furman won the SoCon [Southern Conference] last year, and we played a tough game against them at home," Payne recalled. "They are experienced in toughness and maturity, and overcame us at the end. We will try to come back and return the favor to them at their place. It will tough, however, as they return most of those guys and will be picked very high in their league.
"Dayton has been a perennial NCAA tournament team, so when we go up there, we'll be playing in front of 13,000 people. Central Michigan lost a couple of those guards from last season, thank goodness. It's a tough place to play on the road, but another good challenge for our team."
The Golden Eagles will close out their non-conference schedule with a visit to venerable Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind. for a meeting with Indiana and the Hoosiers.
"Indiana is a special place in college basketball," Payne explained. "You know that you are going to play some of the best players in the country; we are going to play against future NBA players, future Hall of Fame kind of coaches. But you get to go into a special, special place in college basketball, in Assembly Hall and play. It's an experience that our kids can take back with them. Not many people get to do what they're going to get to do that night, and get to go on and play at the University of Indiana."
"I think that it's a very challenging schedule, which we have had in the last few years. But I think that is what is necessary to prepare our team for conference play. If we win all of our games in non-conference and don't win in the OVC, it is still not a successful season. We want to win every game that we play at Tennessee Tech, but our conference play is more important than our non-conference play."
"Our non-conference schedule is meant to toughen us up and prepare us for OVC play. This schedule will do that. We will have to be thick-skinned, we will have to be tough, and we will have to keep improving. We are going to have to see a very challenging level of basketball, night-in and night-out. We will have to rise to that occasion and it can only make us better."
The Ohio Valley Conference moves to an 18-game schedule for the 2017-18 season, providing not one, but two Golden Eagle match-ups against long-time rivals Austin Peay and Murray State during the first year of a three-year rotation. Tech will also face off twice against Belmont, Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville State, Tennessee State and Morehead State, which represent the conference opener on Dec. 28.
Tech will host Southeast Missouri and UT Martin in single contests while making solo stops at SIUE and Eastern Illinois.
"There are always surprises in our league," Payne said. "Every team has good players, and it seems like whoever can stay healthy and build a little momentum early in conference play usually has a good shot at the end. When you get in the OVC, every night is a battle. Every night brings good coaching and good players. You can't afford to have a bad night. You could be the best team in the league and be playing the worst team in the league, and if you have a bad night, you will lose in this league.
The OVC Tournament, which will take place from Feb. 28 through Mar. 3, will move to the Ford Center in Evansville for the first time in league history.
"I think it will be another great OVC season, and with the change in the conference tournament venue, I think it will be exciting," Payne said. "It will be a little different for Tennessee Tech fans, and we hope that everyone will be going to Evansville in March and supporting the Golden Eagles and make it a lot of fun. I am looking forward to this year, this team, and this conference race."
Season tickets for Tennessee Tech basketball are on sale now. Call (931) 372-3940, visit the Hooper Eblen Center ticket office, or log on to TTUsports.com to order yours today.
Photo by Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
