GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- THE PIONEERS ARE DANCING! For the first time since 2009 and the third time in program history, the Tusculum Pioneers are playing in the NCAA Division II Tournament. The Sons of Davy Crockett are the No. 6 seed in the Southeast Regional and will face third-seeded and 23rd-ranked Carson-Newman to kickoff of the NCAA postseason this Saturday night at 6 p.m. This year's regional will be held at Tex Turner Arena in Harrogate, Tennessee and hosted by Lincoln Memorial University.
Tusculum (13-5) has won seven of its last eight outings and advanced to the South Atlantic Conference Championship semifinal round for a second straight year, dropping a heart-breaking 60-59 decision to Carson-Newman at Pioneer Arena. Tusculum was whistled for a goal-tend on Tripp Davis' layup with six seconds remaining to give C-N the one-point victory.
The Eagles (16-5) bring an 11-game winning streak with them to Harrogate, the longest active winning streak in the conference. Carson-Newman knocked off top-seeded and 17th-ranked Queens University of Charlotte in last Sunday's SAC Championship game in Charlotte to earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The regional quarterfinal match-up between Tusculum and Carson-Newman will be the first NCAA Tournament meeting between the long-time rivals. While TU will be making its third NCAA trip, this will be Carson-Newman's sixth NCAA appearance and first since 2018 when the Eagles lost in Harrogate to Clayton State, 75-69.
Tusculum previous two NCAA ventures came in 2005 and 2009. In 2005, TU was the No. 8 seed in the South Atlantic Regional in Bowie, Maryland. Tusculum took host Bowie State into overtime before falling 91-88 to the third-ranked Bulldogs. In 2009, TU was again the 8-seed in the Southeast Region in Augusta, Georgia. The Pioneers nearly shocked the No. 4-ranked Jaguars as a last-second three-pointer rimmed out in a 62-60 loss.
Carson-Newman has appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 1994, 2002, 2014, 2015, 2018 and now, 2021. The Eagles are 1-5 in NCAA Tournament play with their lone win coming in the 2002 South Atlantic Regional C-N hosted, knocking off J.C. Smith 77-66 in the semifinal round before falling to Shaw 69-68 in the finals at Holt Fieldhouse. Of C-N's six NCAA appearances, three have been played in Harrogate.
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
Head coach JT Burton has guided the Tusculum men's basketball program back to the promised land as the Pioneers play in the NCAA Division II Tournament for the first time in 13 years.
Burton has led Tusculum to three straight winning seasons, including back-to-back trips to the semifinal round of the South Atlantic Conference Championship.
The Pioneers lead the South Atlantic Conference in three defensive categories including blocked shots per game (4.6 bpg - 12th in NCAA II), steals per game (8.3 spg – 18th in NCAA II) and three-point field goal percentage defense (30.3% - 13th in NCAA II). TU also leads the league in offensive rebounds per game averaging 14.83 rebounds per contest which are 10th in the nation. Tusculum is second in the SAC in total rebounds per contest (41.67 rpg – 8th in NCAA II), third in field goal percentage defense (41.3% - 20th in NCAA II) and fourth in rebound margin (+4.3 – 40th in NCAA II).
Leading the charge for the Tusculum Pioneers is 2021 SAC Player of the Year Trenton Gibson. Gibson becomes the third player in program history to be named conference player of the year joining TU Sports Hall of Fame members Lindsay Houston and Kyle Moore. Houston was named the 1979 Volunteer State Athletic Conference Player of the Year while Moore was tabbed SAC Player of the Year on two occasions (2009 & 2010).
Gibson, a native of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, is the only player in the league this year who is ranked in the SAC's top-five in scoring, rebounding and assists. He is fourth in the SAC in scoring averaging 18.8 points per game and is third in on the boards pulling down 8.2 per contest. His 5.1 assists per game average is third in the conference and 32nd in NCAA Division II.
Gibson has started in all 18 games this season and leads the SAC in minutes played per game averaging 34:56 per outing. He has scored in double figures in 17 of his 18 games this year including a career-best 31 markers against UVA Wise earlier this season. The 2019 SAC Freshman of the Year is shooting 43 percent from the floor, 38 percent from three-point territory and 83 percent from the free throw line (8th in SAC). His 112 free throws made are second in the league and fifth in the nation, while his 135 free attempts are second-best in the SAC and ninth in NCAA II.
In his 79-game career, Gibson has scored 1,152 points which are the 21st-most in Tusculum history. He is also listed in the program's top-10 in assists (320 – 10th), assist average (4.05 apg – 7th), rebound average (6.32 rpg – 4th), free throws made (348 – 6th), free throw attempts (436 – 6th) and free throw percentage (79% - 7th). He is also one rebound away from 500 career rebounds and four steals from the 100th of his career.
Gibson has also shined off the basketball hardwood where he was named last year's recipient of the SAC Elite 20 Award and was selected to the CoSIDA Academic All-District first team.
James West, a graduate student from Woodbridge, Virginia, earned a spot on the All-SAC honorable mention team in his first TU campaign after transferring from NCAA Division I Mount St. Mary's. West was having a solid first month of the season before being injured at Lincoln Memorial (Jan. 2) and was sidelined for the next seven games. He returned to the line-up on Feb. 3 and emerged as one of the hottest players in the conference. He is averaging 16.2 points per contest including 18.4 ppg since his return. He poured in a career-best 26 points in a road win at Coker, following his 22-point effort in TU's 90-74 upset win over eighth-ranked Lincoln Memorial (Feb. 17).
He is coming off one of his worst outings as a Pioneer as he was held to six points and went 0-for-8 from three-point territory in the SAC Semifinal loss to Carson-Newman.
West is shooting 43.8 percent from the floor and 40.9 percent from three-point land. He is averaging 3.45 three-pointers per game this season including 4.00 treys per contest in his last seven outings. His eight 3-pointers made at Coker are tied for the seventh most in TU history. He is averaging 3.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.
Senior forward Brandon Mitchell has been playing solid basketball down the home stretch for the Pioneers. In the SAC Semifinal against Carson-Newman, he posted 13 points, six rebounds and a career-best seven blocked shots. In the C-N game, he posted a personal milestone, becoming only the ninth player in program history to record 600 career rebounds. Ironically, he posted his 500th career board in last year's SAC Semifinal against Lincoln Memorial.
He became Tusculum's all-time blocked shots leader in the regular-season finale against Lenoir-Rhyne with his 160th career block. He enters the NCAA Tournament with 168 career blocked shots to his credit.
His 604 career rebounds are the ninth most in program history while his 5.86 rebounds per game average is eighth in the TU record book. He has totaled 710 career points, 66 assists and 76 steals while starting in 75 of his 103 games as a Pioneer. This year, Mitchell is averaging 6.9 points, 5.7 rebounds and a team-best 1.78 blocked shots per game (2nd in SAC / 13th in NCAA II).
Rookie forward Inady Legiste earned a spot on this year's SAC All-Freshman Team as the 6-7 rookie is averaging 9.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game (11th in SAC) while leading the team in field goal percentage at (.508 – 10th in SAC). Legiste is also second on the roster in blocked shots, averaging 1.33 rejections per game (46th in NCAA II), which are third in the league. He tallied 13 points off the bench in the win over LMU. He also posted 11 points, nine rebounds and three blocks in the SAC Semifinal vs C-N.
Sophomore Justin Mitchell has accounted for 7.6 points and 3.1 rebounds per game for the Pioneers in his 17 outings including 10 starts. He is averaging 11.2 points per game in his last seven outings including a career-best 18 in the SAC Quarterfinal win over Catawba.
Sophomore Joshua Scott is sixth on the team with his 6.8 points per game average. Scott is also pulling down 4.3 rebounds per game. He accounted for his second double-double of the year against Catawba in the SAC Quarterfinal with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Sophomore point guard Keaston Brown is averaging 6.3 points and 2.3 rebounds per contest as he has played in all 18 games including 12 starts. Brown is second on the team in assists, dishing out 2.44 helpers per game and has the team lead in steals posting 1.33 per game (11th in SAC).
SCOUTING CARSON-NEWMAN
After starting the 2020-21 campaign with a 1-3 record, the Eagles rattled of wins in 15 of its next 17 games including an 11-game winning streak entering the NCAA Postseason.
Head coach Chuck Benson has orchestrated one of the best turnarounds in his 11 seasons in Jefferson City and earned him SAC Coach of the Year honors.
Part of that 11-game winning streak is a perfect 3-0 run through the SAC Tournament including Sunday's win at Queens in the championship game.
Carson-Newman is getting the job done, especially on defense where the Eagles top the SAC charts in scoring defense (65.3 ppg - 11th in NCAA II), field goal percentage defense (.391 - 5th in NCAA II) and fewest personal fouls per game (16.0 - 42nd in NCAA II).
C-N is third in the SAC in defensive rebounds per game (27.9 rpg - 29th in NCAA II), second in steals (7.4 spg - 46th in NCAA II), and second in scoring margin (+11.1 - 19th in NCAA II).
Offensively, the Eagles are second in the league in field goal percentage (48.4% - 33rd in NCAA II) and three-point field goal percentage (40.6% - 10th in NCAA II).
All-SAC senior Tripp Davis leads the Eagles averaging 13.0 points per game offensively and sparks C-N defensively with his SAC-best 2.43 steals per contest (8th in NCAA II). He scored the game-winning layup with six seconds remaining in the Eagles' 60-59 SAC Semifinal win over Tusculum on Mar. 4.
Senior EJ Bush is second on the roster posting 12.9 points per game including a season-high 23 points in last week's win at Tusculum. For his efforts, he was named the SAC Tournament Most Valuable Player.
Ren Dyer, the 2021 SAC Freshman of the Year is posting 11.4 points and a team-best 7.0 rebounds per contest. He earned a spot on the SAC All-Tournament Team as did All-SAC junior Luke Brenegan, who is fourth on the roster with his 11.1 ppg average.
Bryant Thomas leads the league with his 2.05 blocked shots per game (6th in NCAA II) to go along with his 6.4 points and 5.6 rebounds per contest.
THE SERIES
This will be the 177th recorded meeting between Tusculum and Carson-Newman (C-N leads the series 118-58). TU has won 22 of the last 38 encounters with the Eagles.
Since 2003, TU is 12-6 versus the Eagles at Holt Fieldhouse while C-N holds an 11-10 edge in games played in Greeneville during that same time span. TU has won four of the last six meetings.
The two teams have met every year since the 1996-97 campaign. During that span, C-N leads the series 29-24. The last time the two teams met at a neutral site was March 1, 2002 in the SAC Semifinals in Hickory, N.C. where the Eagles came away with an 88-51 win.
FOLLOW THE PIONEERS
Coverage of all the action of Tusculum men's basketball is 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 are available at www.TusculumPioneers.com.
NCAA II SOUTHEAST REGIONAL HOMEPAGE
For more information about this year's NCAA II Men's Basketball Southeast Regional hosted by Lincoln Memorial is available at the following link: https://lmurailsplitters.com/sports/2021/3/8/D2MBBSoutheastRegionalChampionship.aspx
