For Jon Teitel’s interview with Hall of Fame head coach Debbie Ryan – CLICK HERE
Furman (22-5, 12-2) at East Tennessee State (23-4, 12-2) – 7:00 PM EST (ESPN+)
Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day takes us to Johnson City, Tennessee for one of the major Spotlight Games in the SoCon this year – the Furman Paladins hit the road to take on the East Tennessee State Buccaneers. Furman won the first meeting between both teams 65-56 back in January; Jordan Lyons scored 14 points in the Paladins’ victory and Furman also outrebounded the Bucs by 13 in their first meeting. Furman is now in the beginning of a 3-game stretch that also includes a home game against Wofford and a road game at UNC-Greensboro that will give the Paladins a golden opportunity to potentially vault their way up to a possible NCAA Tournament at-large contender.
Since their first meeting with Furman, ETSU has won 10 out of their next 11 games. The highlight of their current streak was a two-game sweep against UNC-Greensboro to help put them in a prime spot to clinch the top overall seed in the upcoming SoCon Tournament. The only black mark in their current run was a 71-55 home loss to Mercer – even that game was mitigated a bit with a 13-point road win against the Bears. However, the Bucs nearly got caught looking ahead to today when they struggled to get a win against VMI on the road during the weekend.