GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- After an 18-day break in the season, the Tusculum University men's basketball team returns from the holidays with a pair of South Atlantic Conference home games this week at Pioneer Arena.
The Pioneers (7-4, 7-2 SAC) will host Wingate University in a rare Wednesday afternoon contest and follow with a Saturday afternoon clash against visiting Catawba College. Both games will tip-off at 4 p.m. (ET).
TU bounced back from back-to-back losses and closed out the pre-holiday slate with consecutive victories including a 69-49 road win at Lenoir-Rhyne University in its last outing. With the wins, the Pioneers climbed back into the top-spot in the league standings and are in a three-way tie for first place with nationally-ranked Queens University of Charlotte (11-2, 7-2 SAC) and Lincoln Memorial University (10-2, 7-2 SAC). The Wingate Bulldogs (11-3, 7-3 SAC) are just a half game away from the SAC-lead.
Tusculum begins an important stretch where the Pioneers will play five of its seven January games at home. During his three-plus seasons at TU, head coach J.T. Burton has led the Pioneers to a 29-10 record in home games including 11-2 over the last two campaigns.
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
Leading the charge for the Pioneers is 2021 SAC Player of the Year Trenton Gibson. The 2021 CoSIDA Academic All-American leads TU in scoring and assists, and is second on the team in rebounding. His 21.1 points per game is the second highest scoring average in the SAC and 26th-best in NCAA Division II. He had his string of 20-point games stopped at four in a row when he was held to 15 points in his last game at Lenoir-Rhyne. But he also contributed a career-best 11 rebounds for his 10th career double-double.
Gibson's 6.2 rebounds per game average is 13th in the conference, while his 4.4 assists per game are fifth in the SAC including 6.0 apg in his last four outings.
He has moved into 11th on Tusculum's all-time scoring list with 1,380 career points during his 90-game career. With his 11-rebound effort against the Bears, he raised his career-board tally to an impressive 572, which averages out to 6.36 per game which is fourth in the TU record book.
Virginia State University transfer William Vedder is second on the roster averaging 11.0 points per game and his third on the team pulling down 5.6 rebounds per contest (T17th in SAC) including 10 boards in his last outing against Lenoir-Rhyne for his third double-digit rebound game in his inaugural TU season.
The hottest player on the Tusculum roster of late has been sophomore forward Inady Legiste. The 2021 SAC All-Freshman Team standout is coming off his best outing in a TU uniform with his career-high 24 points at Lenoir-Rhyne. He went 11-of-14 from the floor including 2-of-3 from three-point territory. He is averaging 10.8 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. He also leads the team in blocked shots averaging 1.64 rejections per game (2nd in SAC / 43rd in NCAA II). His 43 career blocks are already the 11th most in school history and needs one more block to move into the Tusculum top-10.
All-SAC guard James West IV is fourth on the roster with his 7.9 points per game, but has missed his last three games due to injury. He has played in eight games this year including six starts.
Veteran forward Brandon Mitchell has emerged as one of Tusculum's all-time leaders in blocked shots and rebounds. His 180 career blocks are a school record and are ranked in the league's top-10 in that category. His career block tally is also the most by a Division II active player. His 689 career rebounds are the fourth-most by a Pioneer while his 5.94 boards per game average are eighth in TU history. His 306 career offensive rebounds are a TU record and the third-most in the SAC record book.
This season, he leads the Pioneers averaging 6.5 rebounds per game (10th in SAC) including 2.82 offensive rebounds per contest (5th in SAC). He is also averaging 7.3 points per game while shooting a team-best 67.9 percent from the field (T2nd in SAC).
Junior forward Justin Mitchell averages 7.1 points and 5.6 rebounds per game and is the only player on this year's roster who has started in all 11 contests this season.
True freshman KJ Crump is averaging 7.0 points and 1.9 rebounds per game. His 2.2 assists per game average is third on the team and is shooting 41.5 percent from three-point land.
Junior forward Jacob Hobbs posted his best outing of his collegiate career in his last home outing at Pioneer Arena where he tallied 21 points and shot 7-of-12 in a win over Newberry College. He went 3-of-6 from three-point territory and 4-of-5 from the free throw line. He has played in all 11 games with five starts and is averaging 4.1 points and 2.5 rebounds per contest.
Caldwell Tech transfer Jalen Crowder is averaging 4.5 points and 1.3 rebounds per contest. His 11-point effort in this year's first meeting with Catawba was his best TU outing to date. He also posted nine markers in last month's win at Lenoir-Rhyne.
SCOUTING WINGATE
The Wingate Bulldogs provide the opposition for Wednesday's South Atlantic Conference home clash. 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 first 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 the Bulldogs followed with four straight wins over USC Aiken, Limestone, Catawba and Tusculum.
Wingate dropped an 80-72 setback to nationally-ranked Queens, but has responded with three straight victories over Mars Hill, USC Aiken and UVA Wise to improve to 11-3 overall.
Junior guard Jarren Cottingham leads the way for the Bulldogs where he is averaging 17.4 points per contest (3rd in SAC) including 20.0 ppg in his last four contests after being held to just seven points in the season's first encounter with the Pioneers. The two-time All-SAC performer is shooting 44 percent from the floor and 84.5 percent from the free throw line (6th in SAC). He is also grabbing 5.4 rebounds per game (21st in SAC) and dishing out 2.9 assists per contest (10th in SAC).
Sophomore guard Sean Elmore is second on the roster with his 13.1 points per game average including 13 points in last month's meeting with Tusculum. He is the team's top three-point threat average 3.0 triples per game (2nd in SAC / 38th in NCAA II) and his shooting 38.9 percent from the perimeter (5th in SAC) and 78.3 percent from the charity stripe.
Junior Andreas Wilson is third on the WU roster averaging 11.4 points per game while averaging 2.86 three-pointers made per game (3rd in SAC). He went 6-of-10 from long-range against Tusculum as he finished with 22 points. He is coming off a season-best 24 markers in Saturday's 93-72 win at UVA Wise.
Sophomore Donnell Nixon II is averaging 9.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game (6th in SAC). Nixon also leads the team with his 1.71 steals per game (4th in SAC). He scored a career-high 21 points to go along with seven rebounds and seven assists in last month's home win over Tusculum.
Wednesday will be the 50th meeting between Tusculum and Wingate on the basketball hardwood. Wingate leads the all-time series 32-17, but the Pioneers have won four of the last six meetings. 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 CATAWBA
After starting the season 1-5, the Catawba Indians have bounced back and enter this week winners of three in a row and four of their last five to move to 5-6 overall and 4-5 in SAC play.
This weekend will be the 53rd recorded meeting between Tusculum and Catawba. The Indians lead the series 28-24 but the Pioneers have won the last three meetings an 86-74 TU victory at Catawba in this year's first encounter.
Catawba boasts the SAC's top scorer in guard Caleb Robinson who is averaging 21.3 points per game (23rd in NCAA II). He scored a career-best 42 points in last month's road win at Limestone University as he went 16-of-19 from the floor and 9-of-13 from the free throw line. He has eclipsed 20 points on five occasions including 23 markers in the loss to Tusculum. Robinson is also tops on the team in rebounding, hauling in 7.5 boards per game (5th in SAC).
Trevion Lamar is second on the team in scoring averaging 14.7 points per game, while Michael Hueitt (13.0 ppg) and Ray Kowalski (10.3 ppg) are third and fourth, respectively on the team in scoring.
New to the Catawba line-up is Bernard Pelote who tallied a double-double with 27 points and 10 rebounds in his Indians' debut in a home win over UVA Wise in the Tribe's last outing.
TICKETS
Admission for 2021-22 Tusculum home basketball games is $10 for all entrants and children 12 and under will be admitted free. Tusculum students will be admitted free and valid Tusculum ID is required.
Fans may also purchase tickets online in advance through HomeTown Ticketing at www.TusculumPioneers.com/information/tickets. Spectators using HomeTown Ticketing can choose to print tickets at home or use mobile entry tickets at the gate. All attendees are currently required to wear face masks while inside Pioneer Arena.
FOLLOW THE PIONEERS
Fans can watch the action of Tusculum basketball all season at TusculumPioneers.com on the Pioneer Sports Network and the SAC Digital Network. The radio call of the games will also be available locally on WSMG Radio on 95.5 FM and 1450 AM, as well as online at https://jewel955.com/listenlive.
