Getty ETSU Head coach Steve Forbes.
Both East Tennessee State and UT Martin won their openers and will try to turn the early success into a winning streak when they clash on Saturday at Skyhawk Arena.
The game (8 p.m. ET start time) won’t be on TV anywhere, but you can watch it live on ESPN+, the streaming service from ESPN that has exclusive coverage of Southern Conference and OVC basketball games this season, plus tons of other college basketball and live sports every week, all the 30-for-30 documentaries and additional original content (both video and written) all for $4.99 per month.
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East Tennessee State won its opener against the Newberry Wolves (NCAA D-II) riding four players who reached double-figures in scoring. Tray Boyd III led the way with 20 points and four rebounds off the bench, while guard Bo Hodges netted 14 points. Isaiah Tisdale and Patrick Good each had 10 points.
“I think that’s just buying into the system,” said Boyd, who made 3 of 6 from 3-point range. “We practice ‘one more pass’ all the time. To catch it, if you got a shot, you take it. But if you see someone else has a greater shot, you give it up. I think we buy into that.”
ETSU coach Steve Forbes enjoyed to see Hodges more aggressive from the field. He finished 7 of 12 shooting the ball.
“One of the things about running motion is it opens up the floor,” Forbes said. “I thought Bo did a really good job finding the holes and cutting.”
Tennessee-Martin had no problem dispatching St. Louis College of Pharmacy Eutectics (NAIA) in their opener, collecting the 106-48 win.
“We wanted to come out and play as good of basketball as we could from the tip,” head coach Anthony Stewart said. “We made it a conscious effort to come out with energy and enthusiasm on the defensive end.”
Craig Randall led the way with 19 points for UT Martin, while Derek Hawthorne, Jr. added 16 points and eight rebounds.
“I was overall pleased with the performance of the guys,” Stewart said. “I’m concentrating on defense and they know it. I’m really worried about defense. We are talented enough on the offensive end that if we execute, we can get just about any shot or look that we want. We can be as good as we want to be if we play defense.”
UT-Martin compiled three 20-win campaigns from 2014-17, but have not had a winning season since.
“We are still trying to figure things out,” Stewart said. “We are trying to build our chemistry and get a feel for one another.”
In the matchup between the teams last year, East Tennessee State won by 18 point in a blowout.