ETSU men seek bounceback at Samford; Lady Bucs host Mocs

JOHNSON CITY — While East Tennessee State was falling to Western Carolina on Wednesday night, Furman defeated Samford to move into a tie with the Buccaneers for first place at the top of the Southern Conference. ETSU (12-6, 4-1) will look to get back on track against those same Bulldogs on Saturday in Birmingham, Ala. The Buccaneers are 16-7 all-time against Samford, including two wins in a row, having scored 78.2 points a contest in those 23 games. Shooting woes hampered ETSU against the Catamounts. Brian Taylor II (23 points), Cam Morris (19) and Blake Barkley (15) combined to connect on 20-of-40 from the field, but the rest of the team managed to hit just 2-of-17 shot attempts. Taylor, a transfer from SIU Edwardsville, leads the Bucs, providing 14.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists a contest, while Morris (UMass Lowell) contributes 14.3 points and 4.6 boards, and Northwestern transfer Barkley totals 13.7 points and 4.9 boards for the Bucs. Samford (9-9, 2-3) is led by former Lipscomb head coach Lennie Acuff, who took over as the Bulldogs coach after Bucky McMillan left after last year's 22-11 campaign that ended with an NIT berth. McMillian, who is now at Texas A&M, led Mountain Brook High School from just outside of Birmingham to the championship of The Classic at Tennessee High in 2019. A four-game win streak, which included a Southern Conference win over VMI, has been followed by a 1-3 SoCon stretch, including Wednesday's 77-73 loss to Furman. Samford, which is currently in a three-way tied for sixth in the SoCon, has one other league victory against Western Carolina (82-77), while other setbacks were to North Carolina-Greensboro (89-82) and Chattanooga (88-79). Samford, which has two wins over Appalahian Athletic Conference (NAIA) members, are led by Jadin Booth, a transfer from Florida Southern, who has contributed 19.9 points a contest, along with 63 3s, connecting at a 41.2 percent clip. Dylan Faulkner, a 6-foot-9 post player, who followed Acuff to Samford, has tallied 17.4 points, 7.1 rebound and 27 blocked shots. Another transfer, Keaton Norris from Wright State, is providing 10.4 points and 4.9 assists for the Bulldogs. ETSU, which is tied at the top of the SoCon with Furman at 4-1, will conclude its current three-game road swing with a visit to Chattanooga on Wednesday, with the Bucs returning to Freedom Hall to face The Citadel on Jan. 24. WOMEN CHATTANOOGA AT ETSU The East Tennessee State (7-10, 0-2) women's basketball teams returns to Brooks Gym on Saturday at 4 p.m. for its third straight Southern Conference home game, having lost the first two against Furman and Wofford by a combined six points. Chattanooga (10-5, 2-0) will serve as the opponent, currently sitting in a first place tie very early in the SoCon campaign with North Carolina-Greensboro. ETSU and Western Carolina are the lone SoCon clubs without a league win. History isn't on ETSU's side, having posted an 8-34 all-time mark against the Mocs, including seven losses in a row. The last time the Bucs finished on top against the Mocs was in 2022, which snapped another losing skid of five games against Chattanooga. The Brenda Mock Brown-coached Bucs last won against the Mocs at home in 2019. Austin Peay transfer Anala Nelson is the lone double figure scorer for ETSU, providing 10.2 points and 2.4 assists a contest. The next highest scorer is Carmen Richardson, who is providing 7.9 points, and Meghan Downing, who has 7.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.1 blocks a contest. Freshman Emmah McAmis, a graduate of Wise Central, has played in 16 games, with three starts, contributing 3.9 points and 3.1 boards for the Bucs. Chattanooga has won six straight, including SoCon contests with Wofford (61-42) and Furman (61-44). The Mocs are led by Caia Elisaldez, with 14.5 points and 5.0 assists a contest, along with Gianna Corbitt, who is providing 14.3 points and 7.6 rebounds, and Kalifa Ford, who is contributing 10.7 points and 1.9 steals a game. The Deandra Schrimer-coached Mocs, which is the rare Division I college team that doesn't have a transfer on its roster. ETSU will hit the road for its next two games, including next Thursday at Western Carolina and the following Saturday at North Carolina-Greensboro. The Lady Bucs returns to Brooks Gym on Jan. 30 to face Samford.