For yesterday’s weekly Hoops HD Report podcast – CLICK HERE
For Jon Teitel’s All-Conference Awards for 2019 – CLICK HERE
Wofford (8-5, 0-0) at East Tennessee State (12-2, 1-0) – 4:00 PM EST (ESPN+)
Today’s UTR Game of the Day kicks off the New Year with a matchup of two of the powers in the SoCon – East Tennessee State will host Wofford. The Terriers got off to a slow start by losing 4 of their first 5 games in D1 play (including losses to Butler and Missouri), but have now won five out of their last six D1 games that included a win at North Carolina in mid-December. Most of the core from last season has graduated and moved on, but now Storm Murphy (14.8 PPG) and Nathan Hoover (13.6 PPG) are the top two scorers for a Terriers team that shoots a solid 39.2% from 3-point land.
While Wofford is the defending SoCon champion, East Tennessee State has the target on their backs as the favorites to win the league this year. However, there were only two games against teams from the multi-bid leagues on the Bucs’ schedule this year – one was a loss at Kansas and another was at LSU where ETSU got a decisive 74-63 victory. The Bucs also have a loss at North Dakota State, so they are pretty much looking at winning the SoCon as their only path to advancing to the NCAA Tournament this season. Tray Boyd (14.6 PPG) and Bo Hodges (14.2 PPG) lead the way for East Tennessee State.