GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University men's basketball team will be looking to get back to its winning ways when the Pioneers play three games over the next week.
Tusculum is scheduled to travel to Anderson University on Wednesday and Lenoir-Rhyne University on Saturday before returning home on Monday to host Mars Hill University. The Feb. 1st Mars Hill game was a recent schedule change as the MHU game, which was postponed on Jan. 13, will be played this Monday at 5:30 p.m. at Pioneer Arena.
The Pioneers (6-4, 6-4 South Atlantic Conference) opened the season winning four of its first five games, but have dropped three of its last four outings including last Wednesday's 85-59 setback at 13th-ranked Queens University of Charlotte.
LAST WEEK
Tusculum went 0-2 a week ago with road losses at Limestone University and Queens. The Pioneers were held to 60 points per game and did not shoot about 40 percent from the floor in either contest.
In TU's 68-61 loss at Limestone, the Pioneers committed a season-worst 26 turnovers resulting into 26 points for the Saints who won their first game as a SAC member. Tusculum was led by Trenton Gibson who posted a double-double with 28 points and 12 rebounds, but he would be the lone Pioneer in double-figure scoring.
In last Wednesday's loss at Queens, Gibson became the 28th player in the storied history of Tusculum men's basketball to scored 1,000 points in a career. He finished the game with 14 points, matching the 14-point effort by sophomore Joshua Scott.
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
Gibson leads the way for the Pioneers averaging 19.3 points and 7.2 rebounds per contest. His scoring average is third in the league and 43rd in NCAA Division II, while his board average is sixth-best in the conference. His 1,007 career points are currently 26th on the all-time list and has scored in double figures in nine of his 10 starts this year.
Gibson is ranked in TU's top-10 in career free throws made (306), free throw attempts (384), free throw percentage (.797), rebounding average (5.90 rpg) and assists per game average (3.80 apg).
Scott is third on the team in scoring averaging 8.3 points per contest, while also grabbing 4.6 rebounds per game. Freshman Inady Legiste is posting 7.6 points and 4.9 rebounds per game while shooting 49.1 percent from the floor and 45.5 percent from three-point territory.
Sophomore point guard Keaston Brown is fifth in scoring average with 6.0 per game and is also hauling in 2.4 boards per outing. Along with Gibson, he is the only other Pioneer to have started in all 10 games this season. Guard Zack Dixon is tallying 5.7 points per game while senior forward Brandon Mitchell is posting 5.7 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. He has 13 blocked shots to his credit for a 1.3 rejections per game average which is second in the SAC and 49 in the country. His 149 career blocked shots are the second-most in TU history and 10 off the record 159 posted by Brad Hawks (2001-2005).
Tusculum is averaging 79.9 points per game (5th in SAC) while allowing 77.6 points per contest (7th in SAC). TU leads the SAC in steals averaging 8.5 thefts per game (18th in NCAA II). The Pioneers are also second in the conference in blocked shots per game (3.4 bpg – 37th in NCAA II) and offensive rebounds per game (12.7 rpg – 28th in NCAA II).
SCOUTING ANDERSON
Anderson will be seeing their first action since January 9 when the lost at home, 72-66 to Carson-Newman. The Trojans (1-3, 1-3 SAC) have been quarantined twice this season and have played only four games this season.
Jeff Brookman is in his sixth season at the helm of the Anderson program and has led the Trojans to back-to-back winning seasons including last year's 17-12 record while finishing fifth in the SAC standings.
Tusculum and Anderson last met in the SAC Quarterfinal played in Greeneville where TU came away with a 21-point win over the Trojans.
Senior Quin Nottingham leads AU averaging 12.3 points per game including a season-best 22 markers in a season-opening loss to Catawba. Sophomore guard James Crosby II is posting 11 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. Junior Kai Rivers leads AU on the boards pulling down 6.3 rebounds per night.
SCOUTING LENOIR-RHYNE
The Lenoir-Rhyne Bears (7-2, 7-2 SAC) have been the hottest team in the league of late posting wins over nationally ranked foes Lincoln Memorial and Queens this month. L-R's 89-83 victory over LMU on Jan. 9 snapped the Railsplitters 39-game winning streak. They followed last Monday's 71-66 triumph over 15th-ranked Queens. In that game, L-R erased a 12-point second half deficit.
Darius Simmons leads the Bears with his 17.7 points per game while reigning SAC Player of the R.J. Gunn is posting 15.2 points a night including 23 markers in a win over Coker in his last outing.
L-R head coach Everick Sullivan is in his fifth year in Hickory and led the Bears to the 2019 NCAA II Tournament and finished as SAC Tournament finalists that same season.
SCOUTING MARS HILL
Like Anderson, the Mars Hill Lions have been unable to gain and schedule momentum due to the pandemic. MHU (0-4, 0-4 SAC) played three games in December but had its first four games of the calendar year postponed. The Lions returned to the court for the first time since Dec. 19 dropping a road contest at nationally-ranked LMU on Monday.
Mars Hill is scheduled to play at Limestone on Wednesday of this week and travel to Catawba on Saturday before playing their cross-mountain rivals from Tusculum on Monday.
Sophomore Trey Belin leads the Lions with his 17.0 scoring average including his 22-point effort on Monday at LMU where he went 6-of-10 from three-point territory. Senior Reggie Wright is second on the team with his 14.8 points per game, while Javonte Cooke and Austin Gilyard are averaging 12.0 and 10.0 points per game, respectively.
Vic Finora, who is in his fourth season at MHU, has increased the Lions overall and conference win totals each year and led Mars Hill to its first SAC Tournament appearance in a decade.
FOLLOW THE PIONEERS
The "Voice of the Pioneers" Brian Stayton will describe all the action on the Pioneer Sports Network on WSMG-AM (95.5 FM / 1450 AM) and on-line at https://jewel955.com/listenlive. Live video and live stats for all Tusculum basketball games are available at: www.TusculumPioneers.com.
