GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University men's basketball team returns to action this Saturday as the Pioneers travel to the Palmetto State to take on Newberry College. It will be TU's only action on the hardwood this week.
This will be the first of two meetings between the Pioneers and the Wolves this season. Tusculum and Newberry will play a rematch on Feb. 6, 2021 in Greeneville. Newberry has only played once this season dropping an 80-62 loss to No. 2 Lincoln Memorial on Nov. 21. The Wolves have had games against Anderson and Lenoir-Rhyne postponed. Newberry is scheduled to play at Carson-Newman on Wednesday before hosting the Pioneers this weekend.
LAST WEEK
The Pioneers (2-0, 2-0 South Atlantic Conference) remained undefeated on the young season with a 109-96 win over UVA Wise last Tuesday at Pioneer Arena. TU junior guard Trenton Gibson poured in a career-high 31 points thanks to 19-of-21 shooting from the free throw line. His 19 made free throws tied a program single-game record while his 21 attempts are the third-most by a Pioneer.
Tusculum's SAC clash with defending conference champion Lincoln Memorial University was postponed last Saturday due to a positive COVID test with a member of the LMU team. The game will be rescheduled for later this season.
TU also played an exhibition game at Southern Conference preseason favorite Furman University where the Pioneers were bested, 95-62 by the Paladins, who are ranked sixth in the country in the CollegeInsider.com Preseason Mid-Major Top-25.
Tusculum Ray Tyler led the Pioneers with his 13 points in his 25 minutes of action. Tyler shot 4-of-10 from the floor including 2-of-4 from three-point land and 3-of-4 from the free throw line. Rookie Yan Kankela played well in his 24 minutes on the floor as he tallied 10 points and hauled in a team-best seven rebounds. TU's regular starters played in only a combined total of 25 minutes in the exhibition at Furman.
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
Trenton Gibson, a 6-4 junior from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, is second in the league in scoring averaging 22.5 points per game (10th in NCAA II). He also leads the team in assists dishing out 5.0 helpers per contest which is fourth in the SAC and 13th in the country. His 7.0 rebounds per game average is eighth in the league and 43rd in NCAA II.
Gibson, who is in his third season with the Pioneers, currently has career totals of 859 points, 366 rebounds and 239 assists to his credit. His .795 career free throw percentage is seventh in Tusculum history while his 3.75 career assists per game average is seventh in the TU record book.
James West IV, a graduate student from Woodbridge, Virginia, is second on the team in scoring with his 14.5 points per game average. The Mount St. Mary's transfer posted a season-best 21 points on four 3-pointers against UVA Wise.
Sophomores Justin Mitchell and Joshua Scott are third and fourth on the roster in scoring, posting 12.0 and 11.5 points per game, respectively. Mitchell (Lexington, Ky.) is shooting a blistering 69.2 percent from the floor including 57 percent from three-point territory. Scott (Pompano Beach, Fla.) leads the team on the board with his 8.5 rebounding average (4th in SAC / 20th in NCAA II). He accounted for his first collegiate double-double with 13 points and 11 boards against UVA Wise.
Sophomore DyQuavis Wilkins (Greenville, N.C.) is contributing 9.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game off the bench while shooting 62 percent from the field and 40 percent from downtown.
Senior forward Brandon Mitchell is averaging 7.0 points and 5.0 rebounds and has blocked three shots for the Pioneers. In his 87-game career, the Virginia Beach, Virginia product has totaled 599 points, 511 rebounds and his 139 career blocked shots are the second-most in school history, 20 behind TU shot-block leader Brad Hawks (159 from 2001-2005). Mitchell is averaging 5.87 rebounds per game for his career, which is the seventh best average in program history.
Sophomore guard Keaston Brown (Lexington, Ky.) is averaging 6.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. Brown has earned a spot in the starting line-up in this year's first two games. In his nine career starts, Tusculum is 8-1 in those outings.
SCOUTING THE WOLVES
The Newberry Wolves return two starters from last year's 14-15 team that is picked to finish eighth in this year's SAC Coaches' Poll. Back from last season's starting five are QuanDaveon McCollum and TJ Brown, who was second on the team in scoring.
Brown scored a team-best 22 points in the season-opening loss to Lincoln Memorial. He also pulled down nine rebounds and played in 31 minutes. McCollum added a dozen points along with eight rebounds, while Robin Bedford dished out four assists to go along with his career-high six points.
Veteran head coach Jason Taylor is in his second season at Newberry as he looks to build the Wolves into the SAC power similar to the job he did in his nine years at Anderson. He guided the Trojans to six winning seasons resulting in four 20-win campaigns and four NCAA Tournament appearances.
THE SERIES
This will be the 46th meeting between Tusculum and Newberry in a series which began in 1978. Tusculum has won four in a row and five of the last six meetings to take a 23-22 lead in the series. The last five meetings have been decided by 10 points or less with two of those games going into overtime. Tusculum is 3-0 all-time in overtime games against the Wolves with two of them coming at Eleazer Arena.
FOLLOW THE GAME
The "Voice of the Pioneers" Brian Stayton describes all the action of Tusculum basketball on the Pioneer Sports Network. Fans can listen locally on WSMG Radio at 95.5 FM and 1450 AM, and on-line at jewel955.com. Live video and live stats links for all games this week are also available at www.TusculumPioneers.com.