GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- After wrapping up its finals week, the Tusculum University men's basketball team returns to action this Saturday afternoon when the Pioneers travel to Wingate University for a South Atlantic Conference contest at Cuddy Arena. Tip-off time is 4 p.m. (NEW TIME).
The Pioneers (5-3, 5-1 SAC) are coming off its first league loss of the season after dropping an 82-75 decision to 15th-ranked Lincoln Memorial University. The loss snapped TU's five-game winning streak as well as its 12-game regular-season home winning streak.
Tusculum jumped out to an early nine-point lead in the first half, but LMU used a 13-3 run in the second half and held on late for the win by the Railsplitters. TU's Trenton Gibson led all scorers with a season-high 28 points, while also leading the Pioneers with nine rebounds, six assists and three steals. TU also got 18 points from Inady Legiste and 11 markers by William Vedder.
Wingate (7-2, 4-2 SAC) is riding a three-game winning streak including last Sunday's 79-77 win as Sean Elmore's three-pointer with one-tenth of a second remaining secured the comeback victory for the Bulldogs. Jarren Cottingham, the reigning SAC Player of the Week, led the way with 24 points and six rebounds.
THE SERIES
This will be the 49th meeting between Tusculum and Wingate on the basketball hardwood. Wingate leads the all-time series 31-17, but the Pioneers have won four of the last five meetings including an 87-75 in last year's only meeting, which was the 2020-21 season-opener at Pioneer Arena.
Wingate won the first nine meetings in the series before TU posted its first win against the Bulldogs on Feb. 23, 2002, a 68-64 victory at Wingate. It would start a span for the Pioneers who would win seven of the next nine meetings. Wingate won five straight from 2007-2009 before TU would go 5-1 over the next six meetings from 2009-2011.
Wingate would enjoy the most success of the series over the next five years as the Bulldogs won 11 straight over the Pioneers. In Tusculum head coach J.T. Burton's first visit to Wingate in the 2018-19 campaign, TU snapped a seven-year drought at Cuddy Arena with an 80-77 overtime victory.
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
The Pioneers will be looking to remain atop the SAC standings as they visit Wingate in the first of two meetings this season. The two teams will lock horns again next month in Greeneville (Jan. 5).
After starting the season with losses to USC Aiken and Clayton State, the Pioneers rattled five straight wins over SAC foes Carson-Newman, Catawba, Limestone, UVA Wise and then No. 4 and undefeated Queens.
Leading the charge for the Pioneers is 2021 SAC Player of the Year Trenton Gibson. Gibson is the conference's second-leading scoring averaging 21.7 points per game (25th in NCAA II) including 25.5 ppg in his last two outings. He also leads the team in rebounding (6.3 rpg – T12th in SAC) and assists (3.7 apg – 12th in SAC).
Gibson enters Saturday's game with 1,320 career points, which are the 14th-most in program history and needs 19 points to surpass former All-SAC guard Darius Carter (1338 from 2011-2016) for 13th place on the TU scoring list. Gibson is also fifth in TU history with 350 career assists and is ranked the program's top-five in career free throws made (404 – 3rd) and attempts (507 – 5th). He is already the only Pioneer in program history with 1,000 points, 500 rebounds (563), 300 assists and 100 steals (106) in a career.
Vedder has been a welcomed addition to the Tusculum line-up after playing the last three seasons at Virginia State University. He is second on the team in scoring (13.0 ppg – 24th in SAC) and rebounding (6.1 rpg – 14th in SAC). He is shooting 56.6 percent from the field (9th in SAC) including a respectable 7-of-18 from three-point territory (39%).
Sophomore Inady Legiste is third on the team in scoring averaging 10.6 points per game including 14.2 ppg in his last five contests. In last Saturday's 18-point performance against LMU, he went 5-of-7 from the floor and 7-of-9 from the free throw line. Earlier this season, the 2021 SAC All-Freshman honoree scored a career-best 21 points in TU's home win over Limestone University. He is averaging 4.1 rebounds per game and leads the team averaging 1.62 blocked shots per contest (3rd in SAC / 45th in NCAA II).
Rookie guard KJ Crump is fourth on the team with 8.8 points per game while playing in every game this season including six starts. The 5-7 freshman is shooting 16-of-32 from three-point territory while also posting 2.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists per outing. Crump opened the month with a season-best 18 markers in the road win at No. 4 Queens. He made his first five shots of the game against the Royals including 4-of-4 from three-point land to start the contest.
All-SAC guard James West IV is fifth on the roster averaging 7.9 points per game while junior Justin Mitchell is averaging 7.6 points and 6.0 rebounds per game (16th in SAC) and is the only player on the roster to have started in all eight games this season. Mitchell is dishing out 2.4 assists per game while his 1.4 steals per game average is best on the team and 13th in the league.
Graduate student Brandon Mitchell is the seasoned-veteran on the squad playing in 113 career games. He is Tusculum's all-time leader with 177 blocked shots, which are 10th in the SAC record book and the most by an active Division II player. His 659 career rebounds are the seventh-most in school history including 292 offensive rebounds which are the fourth-most in conference history. This season, he is averaging 6.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. His best game of the year came in his last road outing at Queens where he went 7-of-7 from the floor for his 15 points while also grabbing 11 rebounds for his 11th career double-double.
Junior transfers Jalen Crowder and Jacob Hobbs have been making contributions in their inaugural Tusculum campaigns. Crowder, who transferred from Caldwell Tech, is averaging 4.3 points and 1.4 rebounds per contest. His 11-point effort at Catawba last month has been his best TU outing to date. Hobbs, who played his first two collegiate campaigns at Division I Lipscomb University, is averaging 1.6 points and 2.1 rebounds per game this season, and has appeared in all eight games this year including three starts.
SCOUTING WINGATE
The Wingate Bulldogs provide the opposition for Saturday's South Atlantic Conference clash. Wingate is tied for third place in the league standings with a 4-2 SAC record. Wingate opened the year with regional wins over Belmont Abbey and Converse before dropping a 75-70 decision at Lenoir-Rhyne in its conference opener.
The Bulldogs handed nationally-ranked LMU their only loss of the season with a 75-71 home win at Cuddy Arena. WU followed with a home victory over Newberry before dropping a road decision at Carson-Newman. But three straight close wins over USC Aiken (79-75), Limestone (82-80) and Catawba (79-77) has righted the ship for head coach Brian Good.
Junior guard Jarren Cottingham leads the way for the Bulldogs where he is averaging 17.3 points per contest (5th in SAC) including 22.0 ppg in his last two contests. The two-time All-SAC performer is shooting 41.5 percent from the floor and 84.4 percent from the free throw line (5th in SAC). He is also grabbing 5.3 rebounds per game.
Sophomore guard Sean Elmore is second on the roster with his 12.4 points per game average. He is the team's top three-point threat average 3.0 triples per game (2nd in SAC / 48th in NCAA II) and his shooting 39 percent from the perimeter and 84.6 percent from the charity stripe.
Sophomore Donnell Nixon II and junior Andreas Wilson are averaging 9.1 points per game apiece, while Rashaard Pringle are posting 7.9 points per contest.
Wingate leads the conference in three-point defense (28.3% - 27th in NCAA II) and free throw percentage (73.8%).
FOLLOW THE GAME
Wingate University will provide video and live stats for Saturday's game and will be available on their web site (www.WingateBulldogs.com) and the TU web site (www.TusculumPioneers.com). The Pioneer Sports Network will not be broadcasting Saturday's Wingate game.
UP NEXT
The Pioneers will return home this Wednesday (Dec. 15) to host Newberry College before closing out the pre-Christmas portion of the schedule with a Dec. 18 trip to Lenoir-Rhyne University.
