No. 11 – Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles
The Golden Eagles were respectable (15-17, 10-10) last season, but the roster was gutted by transfer and graduation and John Pelphrey is starting over. The return of Mekhi Cameron, JaJuan Nicholls and Grant Slatten gives the former Arkansas coach a core he can build around.
Nicholls and Cameron each averaged over eight points per game, but Cameron appeared in just seven games due to injury. Nicholls missed the season’s first nine games, so the two didn’t play together. The veteran Slatten is a 38 percent shooter from deep.
Pelphrey went hard after junior college players to fill his roster gaps. He was looking for players that had serious ‘game experience’. Point guard Ty Owens (Polk State), wing Jah’Kim Payne (Highlands Community College) and guard C.J. McPherson were all, top-150 juco players.
Pelphrey says he wanted to build a roster that had game experience.
“We’re still very young and inexperienced with one another,” said Pelphrey. “These players are getting 30 to 60 games in junior college and the same thing for these players that are coming from the portal. They have serious college experiences.”
Malik Ferguson (Georgia State) and Dani Pounds (Old Dominion), Mekhi Turner (Kennesaw State) and Brandon Muntu (Western Michigan) have that extensive D1 experience.
Pelphrey, who our Joey Loose ranked as the 203rd best Division 1 coach (second best in the OVC), wanted his team to get bigger and more athletic and believes this is the tallest and most physical team he’s had at TTU.
Nicholls, Pounds and Turner are each 6’8. Three-star high school recruit Jacobe Whitted is a 6’7 wing that averaged twenty points and ten rebounds during his senior year.
TTU will be slightly better than last season. Unfortunately, the entire league will be better too.
The Golden Eagles open the season on November 3 at Western Kentucky.