ROCK HILL, S.C. --- The Tusculum Pioneers have earned the No. 5 seed in the 2024 South Atlantic Conference Men's Basketball Championship and will face fourth-seeded Carson-Newman in a quarterfinal contest this Wednesday at 5 p.m. in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
This year's SAC Championship will be held this Tuesday through Friday at the Rock Hill Sports and Events Center. Quarterfinals will be played Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by Thursday's semifinal and Friday's championship game.
Tusculum (14-12, 12-8 SAC) overcame a sluggish start to the 2023-24 campaign and ended the regular-season with a three-game winning streak and won seven of its last nine games. Through its first 10 games of the year, TU sat at 3-7 including 1-3 in league play.
Lincoln Memorial, Wingate and Catawba finished in a three-way tie for the SAC Championship. LMU earns the top-seed and will face No. 8 seed Lenoir-Rhyne in the tournament's first quarterfinal on Tuesday. Wingate is the No. 2 seed and will face No. 7 Anderson, also on Tuesday.
Tusculum and Carson-Newman will open day two action on Wednesday, followed by the final quarterfinal match with No. 3 Catawba and No. 6 Coker.
The winner of the Tusculum / Carson-Newman game will advance to take on the LMU / Lenoir-Rhyne winner in Thursday's first semifinal at 5 p.m. The SAC Championship game will be held on Friday night beginning at 7 p.m.
The Pioneers and Eagles split the two regular-season meetings. C-N recorded an 83-73 win in Greeneville on Dec. 13, 2023. Tusculum answered with an 84-81 victory in Jefferson City last month (Feb. 14, 2024).
Tusculum and Carson-Newman have met in the SAC Tournament on four previous occasions (2002, 2005, 2010, 2021). The teams met in the 2002 SAC semifinal in Hickory, North Carolina where the top-seeded Eagle won 88-51. They met again three years later in the 2005 quarterfinal where Tusculum won 93-76 in Greeneville. In 2010, the Pioneers and Eagles met in the quarterfinal in Greeneville where the seventh-seeded Carson-Newman upset TU 76-60. The teams last met in the SAC Tournament three years ago in the 2021 semifinal as C-N won a 61-60 thriller at Pioneer Arena.
The winner of the SAC Championship will earn the league's automatic berth to next week's NCAA Division II Southeast Regional. Tusculum's lone SAC Tournament title came in 2005.
Tickets for the SAC Championship are available for purchase at the gate or on-line at www.TheSAC.com/championships/tickets. Daily tickets are $12 for adults, $9 for seniors (60 & older) and $5 for college students, military and children ages 13 and under. An All-Session pass (which includes all games for both the men's and women's basketball championships) is also available and may be purchased for $43 for adults and $33 for children and seniors.
2024 SAC Men's Basketball Championship
Rock Hill Sports & Event Center | Rock Hill, S.C.
Tuesday, March 5, 2024 (Quarterfinal)
Game 1: No. 1 Lincoln Memorial vs No. 8 Lenoir-Rhyne, 5 p.m.
Game 2: No. 2 Wingate vs No. 7 Anderson, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, March 6, 2024 (Quarterfinal)
Game 3: No. 4 Carson-Newman vs No. 5 Tusculum, 5 p.m.
Game 4: No. 3 Catawba vs No. 6 Coker, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 7, 2024 (Semifinal)
Game 5: Game 1 winner vs Game 3 winner, 5 p.m.
Game 6: Game 2 winner vs Game 4 winner, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, March 8, 2024 (Championship Game)
Game 7: Game 5 winner vs Game 6 winner, 7 p.m.