ETSU (13-8, 8-2 SoCon) vs. College of Charleston (19-3, 9-1 SoCon)

Tuesday, February 6, 2001 - 7:30 p.m.

Johnson City, Tenn. - Memorial Center (13,000)

Tonights Game ... ETSU is 13-8 overall, 8-2 in the Southern Conference ... ETSUs conference start is their best since beginning the 1991-92 conference campaign with an 8-2 record ... ETSU finished that season 12-2 in the SoCon and won the regular season and Conference championship ... The Bucs are 2-1 against SoCon South teams ... The Bucs have swept their season series with Appalachian State and Western Carolina ... ETSU has won 10 of its last 12 games.

Battle of the Titans ... Tonights contest matches the Southern Conferences North Division leader (ETSU) against the South Division leader (College of Charleston) ... ETSU leads the Conference in scoring margin while Charleston ranks second ... The Bucs lead the SoCon in field goal percentage defense while Charleston ranks third ... In two categories -- scoring defense and field goal percentage defense -- the Cougars lead the SoCon and the Bucs rank second.

A Dominating Performance ... The Bucs played an almost flawless game in defeating Western Carolina 98-47 on February 3 ... The 51-point victory was the largest in a Southern Conference game in program history ... The previous mark was 36 points in a 102-66 win against Western Carolina in 1992 ... ETSU tied a season-high with 23 assists and its 18 steals was the second highest of the season ... The Bucs nailed nine three-pointers, their most since hitting 13 against Warren Wilson on Dec. 5 ... The ETSU defense held the Catamounts to 25.5 percent from the field, the lowest by an opponent this season.

A Career Night for Two Freshmen ... Freshmen Ryan Carson and Sam Oatman enjoyed quality games against Western Carolina ... Carson set career highs in points (14) and field goals made (6) ... He tied a career high with two steals ... Oatman tied a career high with six assists.

Scoring Streaks ... Senior Renaldo Johnson has scored in double figures in four consecutive contests ... Johnson has averaged 13.5 points in that span ... For the first time this season, Johnson led the team in scoring (16) and rebounding (10) at UNC Greensboro (Jan. 29) ... For the third time this season, and second consecutive game, one player led the Bucs in scoring and rebounding in ETSUs last game, against Western Carolina ... Junior Dimeco Childress scored a team-high 18 points and grabbed a team-high nine boards.

Steals, Steals and More Steals ... Senior point guard Cliff Decoster has sparked a defensive attack that leads the Southern Conference in steals per game (9.62) ... The Miramar, Fla. native leads the team and ranks third in the Conference with 1.9 steals/game ... His seven thefts at VMI (Jan. 24) are the most by any SoCon player in a game this season and rank second on ETSUs all-time single game steal list ... Trazel Silvers produced eight steals against Appalachian State on March 5, 1992.

Stingy Defense ... After 21 games this season, the Bucs lead the Southern Conference in field goal percentage defense (39.6 percent) and rank second in scoring defense (64.5 ppg) ... The Bucs held Western Carolina to 25.5 percent from the field and 19.0 percent from three-point range ... ETSU has not allowed its opponent to convert 25-or-more field goals in 16 consecutive games ... The Bucs have allowed its opponent to shoot above 45 percent only once in the past 11 games ... After 10 Conference contests, ETSU is holding its opponent to 38.6 percent from the field.

Success in Johnson City ... Since Coach DeChellis arrived in 1996-97, the Bucs are 40-20 (.667) in 60 home contests .... ETSU is 7-2 this season and was 8-5 last season, 10-4 in 1998-99, 9-3 in 1997-98 and 6-6 in 1996-97. On His Way to 1,000 ... Senior D.J. McDuffie needs 82 points to become the 21st player in ETSU history to eclipse the 1,000-point mark ... With six regular season and at least one Southern Conference Tournament game remaining, McDuffie has to average 11.7 points/game to reach 1,000 ... The Greensboro, N.C. native, has netted 918 career points (124 as a fresh., 298 as a soph., 313 as a junior and 183 as a senior) ... Trazel Silvers is the most recent entrant to the 1,000 point club, tallying 1,257 career points fom 1991-94.

Southern Conference Leaders ... After 21 games this winter, ETSU ranks among the Southern Conference leaders in many categories ... ETSU leads the SoCon in field goal percentage defense (39.6 percent), scoring margin (+8.8) and steals/game (9.62) ... The Bucs rank second in scoring defense (64.5 ppg) and turnover margin (+2.57) ... The Bucs rank third in scoring offense (73.3 ppg), rebounding (39.0) and third in rebounding margin (+4.4).

Individual Leaders of the SoCon ... Junior Dimeco Childress ranks 10th in the Southern Conference in scoring (13.7 ppg) ... Childress ranks fifth in the 3-pt. field goals made per game (2.10) and in 3-pt. field goal percentage (38.3) ... junior Cliff Decoster ranks 14th in assists (2.90 apg) and third in steals (1.86 spg) ... senior Renaldo Johnson ranks fourth in field goal percentage (59.0 percent).

Starting Lineups ... The Bucs used the same starting lineup in the first five games and have used the same lineup in each of the last 15 contests ... Records of starting lineup: (Decoster, Childress, McDuffie, Meeks, Johnson - 1-4 / Games 1-5); (Decoster, Childress, Carson, Johnson, Seels - 1-0 / Game 6): (Decoster, Childress, Lawson, Meeks, Johnson - 11-4 / Games 7-21).

In the Southern Conference ... ETSU is 33-38 (.465) in the Southern Conference since head coach Ed DeChellis took over in 1996-97 ... The Bucs are 7-2 this winter ... ETSU opened this winters campaign with 11 consecutive non-conference games, going 5-6.

On Television ... The Bucs have two scheduled appearances on television during the 2000-01 season ... Their TV debut came on January 2, 2001 when ETSU fell at Chattanooga, 67-58 ... ETSU will also be televised when it hosts College of Charleston at 7:30 p.m. on February 6 ... Nate Ross and Rich Jablonski will call the game ... Both games are carried by Comcast/Charters Sports Southeast (CSS) ... In addition, the Southern Conference Tournament will be telecast.

The Head Coach ... Fifth-year head coach Ed DeChellis has compiled a 62-70 (.470) record at ETSU ... He now ranks fifth all-time in victories ... Madison Brooks won 370 games from 1948-73 ... DeChellis came to Johnson City after 10 years as an assistant at Penn State University.

On the Bench ... Joining head coach Ed DeChellis and second-year assistant Hilliary Scott are two new assistant coaches for the 2000-01 season ... Tom Conrad comes to ETSU after serving the past four years as head coach at Charleston Southern ... Conrad led the Buccaneers to their first-ever NCAA Tournament bid in 1997 ... Scott Wagers also joins the staff, after serving as a high school head coach for the past nine years ... Wagers compiled a 120-24 record at Robinson High School in Tampa, Florida in his five-year tenure.

The Buccaneer Radio Network ... WJCW-AM is the flagship station of the Buccaneer Radio Network. The network will broadcast every mens basketball game and the coaches show. Chip Kessler will serve as the Voice of the Bucs.