ETSU has been good fit for Morris, McCullum

NOTE: Wednesday's game against Furman was in progress at press time. Check out johnsoncitypress.com and timesnews.net, along with Friday's edition of the newspapers for a recap of the game. East Tennessee State basketball coach Brooks Savage had specific needs in the post. He found great fits with Cam Morris III and Jordan McCullum. The pair of 6-8 posts, along with Blake Barkley, have given the Bucs the presence they've needed down low. In the Bucs' 86-72 win over Wofford on Sunday, the trio combined for 49 points. Morris is the team's leading scorer at 14.9 points per game, while Barkley is at 14 per game. McCullum had a big game against the Terriers with 17 points, his most this season against a Division I opponent. "You think they will be good players before you sign them, but you have no idea if they're going to be your leading scorer or a starter," Savage said. "You hope you don't miss, and you hope it turns out right. We liked Cam, but you never know until you coach them. The biggest thing is they're like-minded, high character and they want to win." They had a 16-7 overall record and 7-2 in the Southern Conference heading into Wednesday's game. In this era of transfers and NIL, Savage compared putting the team together like an Olympic team as the Bucs had only three players back from last season's squad. Morris, an Alabama native, played at UMass Lowell before coming to ETSU as a grad student. He explained there was a comfortable feeling when he visited Johnson City. "When I came here, it felt like home," Morris said. "I was closer to home and they told me how everybody loves basketball here." McCullum, a sophomore transfer from Murray State, is from East Tennessee. He was the TSSAA Class A Player of the Year at Harriman High School. He also played at Huntington Prep in West Virginia where he was a teammate to another current Buc. "I liked Johnson City because it was close to home, and I played in high school with Maki Johnson," McCullum said. "If you can go somewhere where you already got a little chemistry, and you can build on that." The three post players quickly formed a bond with Morris serving as a mentor to Barkley and McCullum. "They're just some young guys looking up to the older guy, trying to learn a lot of things," Morris said. "I've been around for a long time. So they're just trying to get a few tricks and things to learn to do." McCullum joked about Morris being the old, old man. He admitted to being far from mastering the head fake which Morris uses so effectively. But, he credited Morris for helping him become a more physical player. The post players spent many hours together before the season to create their strong bonds. "We had a long summer, and we had a lot of early mornings and late nights," McCullum said. "It's just being in the gym all the time together. You just going to grow close to each other. As quick as your team can come together and build chemistry is better. We try to go out to eat and chill in each other's rooms, and just try to be like family." They're most appreciative of the ETSU fan base. When they go to most other SoCon schools, they see nowhere near the support they experience inside Freedom Hall Civic Center. "It's exciting. We get to see the smiles on people's faces when we score and we get a good stop and the crowd cheering," Morris said. McCullum added, "I love the atmosphere. The fans always show up and make sure to be loud. It's just a great atmosphere, and they stay engaged on social media. At Murray State, the fans were nowhere near as engaged as our fans here." The fans obviously enjoying winning, and they see the effort which the Bucs play with. As Savage alluded to earlier, Morris said the team's success is much about having like-minded players. "It's the hunger the guys have," he said. "The one common goal that we have is we want to win. After a loss, we have to pick it up. It's everybody that has to pick it up, and we come out stronger than ever."