January 2, 2011

The Bucs Stop Here on Monday in Rematch of A-Sun Title Game

 

Pre-Game Notes for ETSU

MACON, Ga. – Mercer University's men's basketball team will resume Atlantic Sun Conference play on Monday (Jan. 3) when it plays host to East Tennessee State University at the University Center. The game is the second half of a women's-men's doubleheader, with tip-offs at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., respectively.

The Bears (3-10, 0-2 A-Sun) will be seeing the Buccaneers for the first time since the championship game of the 2010 A-Sun tournament (won by ETSU, 72-66). That game was also played at Mercer, which is the host site of the A-Sun tournament through 2013.

Mercer opened 2010-11 A-Sun play back on December 2 and 4 with a pair of setbacks to Belmont (89-67) and Lipscomb (77-65) in Nashville. While the Bears have gone 1-3 in the four games played since that time, the quartet of non-conference bouts has come versus some quality competition.

After defeating Navy on Dec. 10, Mercer lost a heart-breaker to Georgia (56-53) before a capacity crowd in Macon 13 days later. That was followed by last week's losses on back-to-back days to Charlotte (64-63) in Macon on Thursday (Dec. 30) and at Georgia Tech (87-78) on Friday (Dec. 31) to complete the Bears' non-conference action for the season.

Jeff Smith had a stellar week for MU, putting up 23 points on Georgia Tech and 13 versus Charlotte. The senior raised his scoring average to a team-leading 14.8 points per game, while also shooting nearly 42 percent from the field. Smith also averages a team-high 3.8 assists per game.

Fellow senior Brian Mills has also been red hot of late, especially during the Bears' latest non-league quartet of bouts. The Douglasville, Ga. native has raised his scoring average to a career-best 12.9 points per game during the span. Mills also shares the team lead in rebounds at 5.8 boards per game (often against larger foes).

Senior forward Brandon Moore is also averaging in double-figure scoring at 11.7 p.p.g. He shares the rebounding lead at 5.8 caroms per contest, as well. Moore is the team's top shooter among the starters by hitting 48 percent from the floor.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT:

ETSU will enter the match-up versus the Bears with a record of 6-7 overall and 1-1 in the A-Sun. In its A-Sun opener, the Bucs were upstaged by USC Upstate, 60-59, on December 5 and evened their league ledger last Thursday with a convincing 72-59 victory over Campbell at home.

The sub-.500 record by ETSU is deceiving in that several of its losses have come at the hands of some well-respected programs. The Bucs have dropped games to Kentucky, Murray State, Charleston, Ole Miss, Southern Mississippi State and Northeastern. The Bucs also have wins over Dayton, Mississippi State and Appalachian State to their credit.

The Buccaneers have a trio of players averaging in double-figures (and a fourth just fractionally away from that mark). The group is led by Mike Smith, who checks in at 15.1 p.p.g. and a team-leading 6.9 rebounds per game. Smith was an A-Sun pre-season all-conference selection in 2010-11.

Micah Williams, also a pre-season All-A-Sun pick, and Isiah Brown average 12.4 and 10.9 p.p.g., respectively. Williams is shooting more than 51 percent from the field and also pulls down an average of 6.8 boards per contest, all while blocking nearly two shots per game on the defensive end.

Justin Tubbs checks in at 9.8 p.p.g., as well as 4.5 r.p.g., to round out ETSU's top scorers.

In its most recent A-Sun win over Campbell, Tubbs poured in a game-high 21 points and Adam Sollazzo came of the Bucs' bench to tally 17 points in the 72-59 victory. ETSU forced the Camels into 17 turnovers, while also out-shooting the guests by a 46-to-39 percent margin. The Bucs also converted 18-of-27 free throws (compared to 7-of-14 by CU).

GAME NOTES:

*ETSU leads the overall series versus the Bears by a 9-2 margin.  Mercer had never beaten the Bucs until last season when Mercer took both regular season meetings (83-78 on Jan. 9, 2010 in Macon and 82-77 on Feb. 14, 2010 in Johnson City).

*MU is not only hoping to use the ETSU game to pick up its first A-Sun win of the season, but also to snap its current three-game overall skid.

*Since the calendars rolled over to the new millennium, Mercer has a composite record of 5-6 in its first game of each new year.

*Mercer would like nothing more than to parlay the strong offensive showing versus Georgia Tech to close 2010 right into its 2011 games. Against the Yellow Jackets, Mercer had four players score in double digits (J. Smith, Mills, Moore and Langston Hall) in a game for the first time since the opening round win over Belmont in the A-Sun tournament on March 4, 2010 (a span of 15 games between the accomplishment).