GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University men's basketball team will play three games in a five-day stretch this week as the 2020-21 season continues.
TU will host South Atlantic Conference foe UVA Wise on Tuesday before traveling to NCAA Division I Furman University on Wednesday. The Pioneers will close out the week on Saturday as they make the short trip to Harrogate, Tennessee to take on defending SAC regular-season and tournament champion Lincoln Memorial University.
LAST WEEK
Tusculum (1-0, 1-0 SAC) opened the season last Saturday with an 87-75 victory over visiting Wingate University. Five Pioneers scored in double-figures led by All-SAC guard Trenton Gibson who accounted for team-highs with 14 points, six rebounds and six assists.
Freshman guard Kobe Funderburk scored four 3-pointers in a two-minute span for his 12 points to thwart a late-game Wingate rally and secure the victory. Sophomore DyQuavis Wilkins shot 5-of-7 from the floor and scored 12 points, while the sophomore duo of Justin Mitchell and Joshua Scott finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
SCOUTING UVA WISE
The UVA Wise Cavaliers will be playing in their season-opener when they roll into Greeneville on Tuesday. UVA Wise is coming off an injury-riddle 6-22 season in the program's inaugural South Atlantic Conference campaign. The Cavs posted two league victories with those coming against Anderson and Coker.
Coach Blake Mellinger returns six players to this year's roster including the 2019-20 SAC statistical scoring champion and preseason first team All-SAC honoree Cameron Whiteside. Whiteside started in all 28 games last season and averaged 20.8 points per game while shooting a team-high 50.6 percent from the field. The Thomasville, North Carolina product ended the season ranked in the top-five in seven individual categories. Whiteside scored in double-figures 27 times last season including five 30-point performances as he sits at 953 career points through his first two seasons in Wise.
Tuesday will be the 35th recording meeting between the Pioneers and UVA Wise. TU leads the series 22-12 and have won the last four meetings and 10 of the last 12 encounters.
SCOUTING FURMAN
On Wednesday, the Pioneers will be at Furman for an exhibition game at Timmons Arena on the Greenville, South Carolina campus. This will be the first time Tusculum and Furman have squared off on the basketball hardwood, but it won't be the Pioneers first trip to Timmons Arena. TU made its inaugural trip to the Furman campus last spring for the semifinal round of the Pilot/Flying J South Atlantic Conference Basketball Championship, which has been held at Timmons Arena for the last several years.
Furman is the preseason favorite to win the Southern Conference according the league's media poll and were picked second by the SoCon basketball coaches. Furman returns four starters from last year's club that posted a 25-7 record and finished second in the conference. Over the past three years, the Paladins have amassed a 73-25 mark including back-to-back 25-win campaigns.
The Paladins have a Tusculum tie as Preseason All-SoCon forward Clay Mounce is the brother of former Tusculum center Chase Mounce (2013-2017). Chase earned All-South Atlantic Conference second team honors in 2014-15 and is 15th on TU's all-time scoring list with 1,273 points.
SCOUTING LMU
Second-ranked Lincoln Memorial recorded its 33rd consecutive win on Saturday with an 80-62 home win over Newberry College in their season-opener LMU shot 51.9 percent for the game and connected on 10 three-pointers while holding the Wolves to 37.9 percent shooting.
LMU swept both the SAC regular-season and tournament titles while posting a 32-1 overall record and ended the year listed second in the country and were ready to host the Southeast Regional before the season was halted due to the pandemic. Before meeting Tusculum on Saturday, LMU will make the long trip to Coker College on Tuesday.
Preseason All-American and All-SAC choice Cameron Henry led the Railsplitters in scoring with 21 points, while also grabbing five rebounds and made four steals.
Saturday will be the 182nd recorded meeting between Tusculum and Lincoln Memorial in the longest running rivalry in Pioneer history. LMU leads the all-time series 137-44 and have won 27 of the last 28 meetings. In those 28 games, LMU has been nationally ranked in 24 of them. TU snapped a 24-game losing streak to the Railsplitters on Feb. 27, 2019, a 78-76 victory in Greeneville.
FOLLOW THE GAMES
The "Voice of the Pioneers" Brian Stayton describes all the action of Tusculum basketball on the Pioneer Sports Network for the UVA Wise and LMU games only. Fans can listen to Tuesday's and Saturday's locally on WSMG Radio at 95.5 FM and 1450 AM, and on-line at jewel955.com. Saturday before the matchup at Lincoln Memorial. Live video and live stats links for all games this week are also available at www.TusculumPioneers.com.
