For the second straight Saturday, ETSU and Chattanooga will meet on the hardwood as the Buccaneers eye a regular season sweep over their in-state rival. Tip-off for the 98th all-time meeting is set for 4 p.m. inside Freedom Hall.
ABOUT THE BUCS
· ETSU suffered its first conference road loss of the season on Wednesday night as the Bucs fell at Mercer, 71-67 in overtime
· Jalen Haynes (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) led the Bucs with a career-high 27 points, while he also grabbed eight rebounds … Over the last three games, Haynes is averaging 22.7 points, 9.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks, while also shooting 64 percent from the field (27-42)
· The Bucs are searching for their first home win in conference play as ETSU has dropped its first four league games inside Freedom Hall … Overall, the Bucs have lost seven straight at home and haven’t won inside Freedom Hall since Nov. 30
· Since the 2015-16 season, ETSU has scored 75 or more points 127 times … The Bucs are 111-16 in those contests, while reaching the century mark in nine of those
· games.
· ETSU is 84-7 when shooting 50 percent or better since 2015-16 … The Bucs are 4-2 this year when shooting over 50 percent.
· ETSU has made at least one three-pointer in 1,114 straight games – the fourth-longest streak in the country
ABOUT CHATTANOOGA
- Chattanooga has dropped four straight games and sits 11-11 overall and 3-6 in SoCon play
- The Mocs are playing their third straight game without SoCon Preseason Player of the Year Jake Stephens who was averaging 21.8 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.4 blocks in 20 games this season
- Chattanooga is coming off an 85-80 loss to Wofford at home on Wednesday night
- The last time the Mocs lost four straight games was in 2018-19 when they had three four-game losing skids … Chattanooga hasn’t lost five straight since 2017-18 when they suffered eight straight losses
- With Stephens sidelined, Jamal Johnson is now the team’s leading scorer at 13.6 points per game, while Dalvin White is adding 9.6 points and leads the country in assist/turnover ratio (4.0)
- Chattanooga leads the SoCon in three-point field goal percentage (.370), three-pointers made per game (11.5), rebounding margin (+5.1) and blocked shots (4.1), while ranking second in field goal percentage defense (.425), rebounding offense (37.5), rebounding defense (32.3), assists (15.6) and assist/turnover ratio (1.3)
- The Mocs are averaging 78.2 points per game and allowing 71.0
SERIES HISTORY
· ETSU is eyeing the regular season series sweep after taking down the Mocs one week ago, 78-62 … In last Saturday’s game, Jordan King scored a game-high 29 points, while Jalen Haynes added 23 points and 13 rebounds and Jamarius Hairston posted 10 points and seven boards
· Saturday is the 98th all-time meeting with Chattanooga leading the series, 51-46
· The Bucs have won four of the last six and seven of the last 11 meetings over the Mocs in Johnson City, but Chattanooga has won the last two by a combined eight points
MORE ON THE RIVALRY
The rivalry between the Buccaneers and Mocs is in many ways directly related to the similarities between the programs … Both teams’ successes have mirrored each other since their time in the SoCon … Overall, the teams have accounted for 54 overall championships (22 for ETSU), 33 regular season titles (including North Titles) with the Bucs winning 14, 23 NCAA appearances (11 by the Bucs), each program has one Sweet 16 appearance, 16 Players of the Year (10 by the Bucs) and 17 Coaches of the Year (9 by the Bucs) … The teams have met six times in the SoCon Championship game with both teams winning three of them … The most points scored by the Bucs against the Mocs was 104 in the win back in 1990-91, while UTC scored 107 in the victory back in 1973-74 … Thirty-four of the previous 97 meetings have been decided by five points or less, including five by one point.
