By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech men's basketball team will head down I-40 for its annual match-up in Nashville with in-state and Ohio Valley Conference foe Belmont Thursday evening. Tip is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. CT and will follow the Tech women's contest against the Bruins, which starts at 5:00 p.m.
Tennessee Tech (9-20, 6-10) at Belmont (22-7, 13-3)
Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020
7:00 p.m. CT
Curb Event Center (5,000) – Nashville, Tenn.
The Broadcasts
TV: None
Radio: 106.1 The Eagle (Roger Ealey)
Webcast: ESPN+
SERIES/OPPONENT NOTES
Thursday marks the 27th meeting all-time between the two programs, with Tech owning a 14-12 lead in the series.
When competing in Nashville, the Bruins hold a 7-2 advantage over the Golden Eagles all time.
Tech won the first 11 match-ups with the Bruins in the all-time series, which began during the 1956-57 campaign.
Tech currently ranks tied for second among OVC teams in terms of regular-season victories against Belmont since the team joined the league in the 2012-13 season. The Golden Eagles, Murray State and Eastern Kentucky all boast three wins against the Bruins, trailing only Jacksonville State's five. The Gamecocks have won four of their last six regular-season meetings with the Bruins, falling in both tilts this season.
Belmont won both contests in last seasons' series, defeating Tech 79-67 in Nashville before traveling to Cookeville and cruising to a 93-65 win over the Golden Eagles on their home court.
Former Golden Eagle Malik Martin led Tech with 17 points while fellow former Tech hoopers Courtney Alexander II and Micaiah Henry added 11 and 10 points, respectively. Jr. Clay also scored in double figures with 12 points.
In the rematch, Clay paced the Tech offense, dropping 20 points with eight rebounds. Hunter Vick collected 15 points, four rebounds and three steals.
Belmont outlasted the Golden Eagles in Cookeville earlier this season, 92-84.
Hunter Vick led the purple and gold with 21 points and 5-for-5 shooting from deep off the bench. Clay added 19 points, five rebounds and eight assists while Darius Allen tacked on 18 points and eight boards.
This year's Belmont squad is led offensively by Adam Kunkel, who averages 17.1 points per game. He adds 2.8 rebounds per contest while hitting 40.5 percent from 3-point range and 84.8 percent from the free-throw line.
Nick Muszynski adds 14.8 points and 6.4 boards per game while firing at a 58.8 percent clip from the field. He also leads the OVC with 1.6 blocks per game while ranking fourth in field goal percentage.
Also in double figures for the Bruins is Tyler Scanlon, averaging 12.2 points and 4.6 rebounds.
Grayson Murphy leads the team in assists with 6.3 per contest and in rebounds with 7.5 per game. He also leads the team in steals with 2.7 per tilt.
LAST TIME OUT
For the fourth time in five games, the Tech men's basketball team came out on top in OVC action, this time besting Southeast Missouri, 71-62, on Senior Day in the Eblen Center.
Tech's three senior members, Cade Crosland, Darius Allen and Tyler Thompson, were each honored prior to the team's contest Saturday. Each of the three also earned a start on the night, the first of Thompson's career. To earn a victory on their special night was just the icing on the cake.
Saturday's contest featured 11 lead changes and six ties, with the first double-digit lead of the night coming with just a minute to play. The Redhawks took their largest advantage of the day with a seven-point lead in the first half, but Tech answered with an 8-0 run to take its first lead of the game.
Southeast Missouri jumped back on top by one with under a minute in the first half, but again, the Golden Eagles had an answer. Sophomore Amadou Sylla made a turnaround jump shot and, with three seconds to play, Crosland buried a triple to give the purple and gold a 35-31 lead headed into the break.
SEMO took its final lead of the contest with just under six minutes to play and with just 3:29 on the clock, cut the Tech lead to three points. It was all Tech down the stretch, as the Golden Eagles turned in a 9-0 to go up by as much as 12. A late three from the Redhawks kept it from a double-digit win, but the clutch play by the Golden Eagles in crunch time was evident.
Sylla, named the Special Olympics Player of the Game, was one of the key cogs late, scoring eight of his 10 points and grabbing five of his six rebounds in the second half alone. Four more Golden Eagles finished the day in double figures, led by freshman Keishawn Davidson. The point guard scored 14 points with four assists.
Sophomore Jr. Clay tallied 12 points with team-highs of seven assists and four steals while freshman Tujautae Williams tied his season-high with 12 points. He also added six boards to tie for the team lead. Allen chipped in 10 points and five boards, playing particularly well in the second half, with eight points over the final 20 minutes.
TRENDING
After struggling to put up just 11 total points in a four-game stretch earlier this season, Jr. Clay has since run off 22 straight double-digit scoring performances. That streak ranks tied for the sixth-longest by a Golden Eagle since 1984-85 with Anthony Fisher, who tallied 22 straight during the 2007-08 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.
Willie Jenkins ranks fifth all-time with 23 straight double-figure scoring efforts during the 2003-04 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
