By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Fresh off a big Ohio Valley Conference victory in just its third home game of the season, the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team hits the road for a tilt with Eastern Illinois on Saturday, Jan. 2.
The 4:00 p.m. CT tilt kicks off a three-game road slate for the purple and gold, with a visit to "Death Valley" and match-ups with Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State on the horizon as well. At the conclusion of the stretch away from Cookeville, Tech will have played 10 of its first 13 games on the road.
Tennessee Tech (1-9, 1-2) at Eastern Illinois (3-5, 0-1)
Saturday, Jan. 2, 2021
4:00 p.m. CT
Lantz Arena – Charleston, Ill.
The Broadcasts
TV: None
Radio: None
Webcast: ESPN+ (Mike Bradd & Jack Ashmore)
Game Notes
Tennessee Tech
Eastern Illinois
SERIES/OPPONENT NOTES
Saturday marks the 44th meeting all-time between Tech and Eastern Illinois, with the Golden Eagles owning a 26-17 lead in the series.
In Charleston, Tech holds an 11-10 advantage, but the Panthers have claimed three of the past five match-ups in Lantz Arena.
In last season's tilt, also in Charleston, Eastern Illinois came out on top with an 84-59 victory.
Despite the loss, Jr. Clay (below) turned in a terrific performance with 22 points, three rebounds, two assists and three steals.
In two career games against the Panthers, Clay is averaging 18 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 3.0 steals per game while shooting 46.2 percent from the field and 88.9 percent from the charity stripe.
Darius Allen chipped in 12 points with a trio of triples for the Golden Eagles.
Panther Kashawn Charles went off in the affair, drilling five 3-pointers on his way to game-high 23 points off the bench.
This represents the first time in series history that a team has hosted the tilt three-straight times, with the previous two meetings also occurring at Lantz Arena.
EIU's longest winning streak in the series sits at four games from Jan. 10, 1998 to Feb. 4, 1999.
Tech's longest winning streak in the series was six-consecutive spanning Jan. 24, 2004 through Jan. 19, 2006.
The two teams are set to square off a second time this season, with a meeting in Cookeville set for 4:00 p.m. CT on Feb. 13, 2021.
QUICK HITTERS
Tennessee Tech earned its first win of the 2020-21 campaign by defeating SEMO 72-63, holding off a second-half surge by the Redhawks.
The star of the night was Jr. Clay, who balled out to the tune of a season and game-high 22 points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals.
He set career highs with 11 free throws made and 14 attempted while making a 3-pointer for the 20th-consecutive game dating back to last season.
Amadou Sylla scored the team's first six points on the night, dropping a season-high 13 with seven rebounds in his first start of the year.
The win snapped an 11-game skid for the Golden Eagles, the longest in program history, after going through arguably the toughest non-conference slate in the history of the team.
A year after facing nine opponents who had won 20 games the previous season, Tech loaded up on a tough gauntlet yet again for the 2020-21 campaign.
Six of Tech's seven non-conference opponents won at least 19 games a season ago, with No. 10-ranked Tennessee as the only team with less (17).
Six of Tech's seven non-conference games came on the road, with the match-up against in-state rival Chattanooga the lone tilt in the Eblen Center.
At the conclusion of its final non-conference tilt at Western Kentucky, Tech's seven foes not in the OVC had combined for a 44-10 mark in 2020-21.
OVC opponents Austin Peay, Belmont and Murray State each compiled 21 or more wins a season ago and will square off with Tech twice this season, just adding to the incredibly challenging slate in 2020-21.
Through six games, Tech already has more double-doubles (three) as it did all of last season (two).
Tech was predicted to finish 9th overall in the 2020-21 OVC race in voting by the league's head coaches and SIDs. The Golden Eagles were selected to finish 8th in the OVC media poll.
Last season, Jr. Clay and Keishawn Davidson became 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.
With an 83-70 win over Martin Methodist on November 9, 2019, 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.
TOP IN THEIR STATES
Three of Tech's players for the 2020-21 season boast a particularly impressive feat as part of their respective resumes, all finishing as finalists for the Mr. Basketball Award for their state during their high school careers.
Junior guard Jr. Clay was a two-time finalist at the TSSAA Division II Class AA level while at The McCallie School in Chattanooga, earning the honor in 2017 and again in 2018.
Transfer sophomore guard CJ Gettelfinger was one of three finalists at the TSSAA Division II Class A level in 2018 while competing for Grace Christian Academy in Knoxville.
Freshman forward Kenny White Jr. was named a finalist for Kentucky's Mr. Basketball Award in 2020 while starring for Madisonville-North Hopkins High School in Madisonville, Ky.
Head coach John Pelphrey, a University of Kentucky Hall of Famer, was a Mr. Basketball Award winner during his high school days, claiming the honor for Paintsville High School in 1987.
ROSTER BREAKDOWN
The 2020-21 Tech roster features 15 players (13 scholarship student-athletes) representing six states and three countries.
Six Golden Eagle players hail from the state Tennessee, while Arkansas and Illinois each boast two Tech players. Alabama, California and Kentucky 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 one graduate student, one senior, five juniors, four sophomores and four true freshmen.
Nine Golden Eagles stand 6-foot-5 or taller while the other six measure in at 6-foot-4 or shorter.
Nine members are new to the Tech squad for 2020-21, including Damaria Franklin, CJ Gettelfinger, Shandon Goldman, Austin Harvell, Marcus Hopkins, Taelon Peter, Jalen Stayton, Jamaal Thompson and Kenny White Jr.
Photo by WKU Athletics
