GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Three in-season tournaments including a trip to the Virgin Islands are just of the highlights with the release of the 2022-23 Tusculum University men's basketball schedule. (2022-23 Schedule)
The Pioneers are slated to play 26 regular season contests including a challenging 18-game South Atlantic Conference slate.
Head coach J.T. Burton, who is entering his fifth season at the helm of the TU program, returns 10 lettermen and three starters from last year's 19-8 team which finished third in the SAC standings for a second straight year and advanced to the quarterfinal round of the league tournament.
New this year, the SAC has been split into two divisions, the Mountain and Piedmont. Tusculum will be competing in the Mountain Division which consists of the Pioneers, Carson-Newman, Limestone, Lincoln Memorial, Mars Hill, UVA Wise and SAC newcomer Emory & Henry. The Piedmont Division includes Anderson, Catawba, Coker, Lenoir-Ryne, Newberry and Wingate.
TU's 26-game regular-season slate includes 12 home games where Tusculum has gone 34-13 over the last four years including 9-4 last season.
The Pioneers will also play three exhibition contests against Indiana State (Nov. 1), Tennessee Wesleyan (Nov. 7) and Furman (Nov. 25).
Tuesday's game at Indiana State will be a reunion as the Tusculum will square off against a former Pioneer and SAC Player of the Year Trenton Gibson. Gibson, who played the last four seasons at TU where he scored over 1,600 points and is utilizing his COVID year with the Division I Sycamores.
Tusculum will host NAIA Tennessee Wesleyan on Nov. 7 for an exhibition game at Pioneer Arena. It will be an "Education Day" game as local elementary schools have been invited to attend this special 11 a.m. tip-off. Tennessee Wesleyan, Coach Burton's alma mater, is coming off an 18-12 season.
TU will host the SAC / Peach Belt Conference Challenge Nov. 11-12 to tip-off the regular season. Tusculum and Lincoln Memorial will be representing the SAC while USC Aiken and Clayton State will be the Peach Belt teams. LMU and Clayton State will open the Challenge followed by a match-up between Tusculum and USC Aiken. On Nov. 12, LMU and USC Aiken will square off, while TU and Clayton State will close out the Challenge.
USC Aiken went 17-12 last season and finished fourth in the Peach Belt. Tusculum leads the series 5-2 with the Pacers coming away with an 85-75 at last year's SAC / PBC Challenge. Clayton State is coming off an 8-20 campaign which included an 83-79 victory over Tusculum. The Lakers finished ninth in the PBC last season and leads the series with TU by a 4-1 margin.
The Pioneers will be off until Nov. 25 when they travel to NCAA-I Furman for an exhibition game against the Paladins. Furman went 22-12 last year and finished second in the Southern Conference.
Tusculum returns home Nov. 26 to face Southeast Region opponent Lees-McRae at Pioneer Arena. The Bobcats are coming off a 15-14 season which included a seventh-place finish in Conference Carolinas. The Pioneers lead the series 17-8, but Lees-McRae has won the last four meetings.
Tusculum opens South Atlantic Conference play on Dec. 3 with a trip to Harrogate to take on national power Lincoln Memorial. The Railsplitters swept the two meetings last year to go 26-5 overall, finished second in the SAC and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division II Tournament.
The Pioneers are back in Greeneville Dec. 7 to host UVA Wise. The Cavaliers went 4-24 overall and finished 13th in the league. Tusculum has won eight in a row over the Cavs to extend its lead in the series to 26-12.
TU makes short trip over Sam's Gap on Dec. 10 to take on long-time rival Mars Hill. The Lions posted a 6-21 ledger last year to finish 11th in the SAC standings. TU leads the series 62-33 and have won five straight over Mars Hill.
On Dec. 14, Tusculum and Emory & Henry will meet on the basketball hardwood for the first time in 42 years. The Pioneers and Wasps were once members of the Smoky Mountain Athletic Conference. The two teams have played 99 previous times with E&H owning a 53-46 lead in the series. TU last played the Wasps during the 1979-80 season resulting in an 87-75 win for the Pioneers. E&H went 16-10 last season as the Wasps played as a D-II Independent while completing their reclassification from Division III.
Tusculum will step out of conference play with a pair of holiday tournaments for its next five games.
TU travels to Daytona Beach, Florida for the Embry-Riddle Holiday Classic (Dec. 16-17). Tusculum opens against Davis & Elkins in the first recorded meeting against the Senators. D&E went 8-21 last season and finished 10th in the Mountain East Conference.
The Pioneers will close out the pre-Christmas slate when they face host Embry-Riddle. The Eagles are coming off a 24-10 campaign which included a runner-up finish in the Sunshine State Conference and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16. The two teams have played on two previous occasions with the series being tied 1-1. TU won the last meeting in 1995, by an 85-83 score in a game played in Maryville, Tennessee.
Tusculum will be bringing in the New Year YES US Virgin Islands Classic. Joining the Pioneers at this unique holiday tournament will be Clinton College, Edward Waters, Fisk, Kentucky State, Livingstone, Virginia State and West Virginia State.
The Pioneers will open the Classic against Livingstone on Dec. 31 in the inaugural encounter with the Blue Bears. Livingstone is coming off a third-place finish in the CIAA South Division and went 15-10 overall. TU will play two more games on Jan. 1-2 to close out their stay in the US Virgin Islands.
Tusculum returns to SAC play on Jan. 5 when the Pioneers travel to Limestone. The Saints finished ninth in the league last season with a 10-17 record which included a pair of losses at the hands of Tusculum. The Saints lead the series 9-5.
TU will have a home rematch with Mars Hill on Jan. 7 before traveling to arch-rival Carson-Newman on Jan. 11. The Eagles finished fifth in the SAC standings and posted a 20-11 record. C-N has dominated the overall series by a 119-61 margin, but TU has won three straight over the Eagles including a sweep last year. In the last meeting, TU's Jalen Crowder buried a game-winning 3-pointer with three seconds left in a 68-67 win in Jefferson City.
The Pioneers will play three of its next four games in Greeneville, beginning with a Jan. 14 match-up with Wingate. The Bulldogs finished fourth in the SAC after going 21-8 which included a split in the season series as TU and Wingate held serve on their home court. The Bulldogs have a 32-18 series lead but the Pioneers have won four in a row over Wingate in Greeneville.
Tusculum will travel to Coker on Jan. 21 for the only meeting of the season with Cobras. Coker went 5-22 last season (12th in SAC) which included a pair of losses to the Pioneers. TU leads the series 10-8 and have won five in a row with the Cobras.
Tusculum closes out January with home rematches against LMU (Jan. 25) and Limestone (Jan. 28) before hitting the road for rematches at Emory & Henry (Feb. 1) and UVA Wise (Feb. 8).
The Pioneers are back on the TU campus for their longest home-stand of the season with three in a row beginning with a Feb. 11 match-up with Lenoir-Rhyne. TU and the Bears split last season's two games with each team winning on the road. Lenoir-Rhyne finished eighth in the conference with a 10-18 record. L-R leads the series 31-23, but Tusculum has won five of the last seven meetings. Lenoir-Rhyne shocked the college basketball world last weekend as the Bears posted a 57-47 exhibition win at Division-I Louisville.
Tusculum will host Carson-Newman on Feb. 15, before the Pioneers welcome Newberry for Senior Day on Feb. 18. TU swept the regular-season series a year ago, but the Wolves exacted revenge and upset the Pioneers 60-59 in the SAC Quarterfinal in Greeneville. Newberry went 15-13 while finishing third in the conference. Tusculum owns a slight 25-24 edge in the series and have won six of the last eight contests with Newberry.
TU will be on the road for a pair of tough SAC contests with trips to Anderson (Feb. 22) and Catawba (Feb. 25) to wrap up the regular-season.
Anderson went 11-17 last season to tie for ninth place in the SAC which included a pair of setbacks to the Pioneers. The Trojans lead the series 16-10, but the Pioneers have narrowed the gap winning six straight over AU.
The Tusculum-Catawba series has been an entertaining one over the years. The Catawba Indians went 11-16 and finished seventh in the league table which included two losses to Tusculum. Catawba owns a 28-25 lead in the series as the Pioneers have won four in a row over the Tribe.
The SAC Tournament will begin Mar. 1 with quarterfinal games at the top-four seeds, before moving onto Greenville, South Carolina on Mar. 4-5 at Timmons Arena at Furman.
The NCAA Division II regionals will be held at campus sites Mar. 10-14 with the winners advancing to Evansville, Indiana for the NCAA Elite Eight (Mar. 22-25).
