By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech men's basketball team takes its yearly trek down I-40 for a pair of Nashville tilts, starting with a Thursday match-up against Ohio Valley Conference rival Tennessee State.
Tip is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. CT and will follow the Golden Eagle women's contest slated for a 5:00 p.m. start. Tech will then head back to Nashville on Saturday to square off in a 4:00 p.m. affair with Belmont.
Tennessee Tech (3-20, 3-13) at Tennessee State (3-16, 2-14)
Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021
8:00 p.m. CT
Gentry Center – Nashville, Tenn.
The Broadcasts
TV: None
Radio: 106.1 The Eagle (Dylan Vazzano)
Webcast: ESPN+ (Alex Gould & CJ Eke)
SERIES/OPPONENT NOTES
Thursday marks the 72nd meeting all-time between Tech and Tennessee State, with the Golden Eagles owning a 36-35 lead in the series.
In Nashville, the series is deadlocked at 17-17 all-time. While TSU won the most recent match-up in the Gentry Center, Tech claimed each of the prior three contests in Nashville.
The Tigers claimed victory in three of the past four tilts between the two programs, including both meetings last season.
In last year's first contest, in Cookeville, Tennessee State broke the hearts of Golden Eagle fans with a 72-67 victory in overtime.
After Jr. Clay hit a pair of free throws to put Tech up by three with 1.7 seconds to play, the Tigers went the length of the floor and banked in a game-tying triple at the buzzer to force the extra period.
Clay stuffed the stat sheet in the loss, leading all scorers with 21 points while adding five rebounds, five assists and five steals.
Keishawn Davidson added 14 points, six boards and four dimes while former Golden Eagle Hunter Vick produced 15 points off the bench.
In the rematch in Nashville, Tech couldn't gain traction on the offensive end of the floor, shooting 29.9 percent from the floor, 11.1 percent from 3-point range and 57.1 percent from the charity stripe.
Clay (below) led the purple and gold with 16 points and a career-high nine rebounds. Tujautae Williams chipped in 10 points in the 70-55 loss to the Tigers.
Tech took home the win in this year's tilt in Cookeville, with Keishawn Davidson leading the way with a career-high 19 points, as well as six assists and two steals.
Damaria Frankling added 16 points and four dimes while Marcus Hopkins accounted for 10 points and six boards.
QUICK HITTERS
The Golden Eagles couldn't overcome an elite, first-half shooting performance by Eastern Kentucky Monday, falling to the Colonels at home, 83-72.
EKU fired at clips of 69 percent from the floor and 69.2 percent from 3-point range in the opening stanza, scoring a whopping 56 points.
Jr. Clay scored a game-high 23 points on 10-for-16 shooting while Damaria Franklin added 16 points and six rebounds. Austin Harvell chipped in 11 points and five boards to the mix as well.
In Tech's win over Eastern Illinois, the team compiled a whopping 25 assists on 28 made field goals, the team's highest total of helpers since dishing out 27 on Dec. 6, 2018 against Warren Wilson.
At EKU, the Golden Eagles drilled 15 3-pointers in the contest, tied for the fourth-most in a single game in program history.
Tennessee Tech earned its first win of the 2020-21 campaign by defeating SEMO 72-63 on Dec. 30, 2020, holding off a second-half surge by the Redhawks.
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 Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
