Highs and Lows of the season
Besides being one of the few schools to pair a regular-season title with a conference championship this season, East Tennessee State’s win over LSU back in December has to be a huge high. What stands out to me about this win is not just the fact it came in the form of a true road victory, but that the game really wasn’t all that close.
After a slow start offensively, ETSU took the lead with just over six minutes to play in the first half and would never trail again. In fact, East Tennessee led by as many as 23 points in the second half on the way to a final score of 74-63. Besides counting as a clear quality non-conference win, this game showed off two of Steve Forbes’ hallmarks – rebounding toughness and fighting for quality shots. The Buccaneers out-rebounded the Tigers 40 to 29 and grabbed an insane 19 offensive boards against an LSU team who isn’t typically beaten on the glass. And then ETSU went 23-42 (54.7%) inside the three point line and largely succeeded at getting to the rim at a high rate.
Another high for this group was grabbing a season sweep against UNC Greensboro. The Spartans came into conference play as one of ETSU’s main challengers for the SOCON, and UNCG had won six of eight over ETSU in recent years. East Tennessee State used stifling defense and big second half runs in both contests to turn the tide, helping the Buccaneers on the way to securing the league title.
In terms of lows, how much would you like to split hairs? Sure, the loss at North Dakota State was disappointing at the time, but the Bison ended up 25-8 and won the Summit Conference Tournament. Even arguably the biggest letdown on the season, a sixteen point home defeat to Mercer was washed down with the team ending the season by rattling off a twelve game win steak.
If there’s a clear low for ETSU in 2019-20, it simply has to be the obvious disappointment of not getting to play in the NCAA Tournament. There’s dozens of teams and hundreds of players who unfortunately weren’t given a crack to participate in the crown jewell of college basketball. But, I really feel for East Tennessee State, who I believe had a legitimate chance to not only score a tournament win, but had the feel of a squad who could play its way to the second weekend at least. Perhaps the team and the fans can find at least a little solace in knowing the season ended with the Buccaneers as champs.