LEXINGTON, Va. (Dec. 30, 2022) – After opening Southern Conference play with a win at Wofford on Thursday, the ETSU men’s basketball team looks to close out 2022 with another road victory when the Buccaneers take on VMI Saturday in Lexington. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. inside Cameron Hall.

FINAL GAME OF 2022

DATE: Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022

TIME: 1 p.m.

LOCATION: Cameron Hall

TEAMS: ETSU (5-9, 1-0) at VMI (5-9, 0-1)

LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+

BROADCAST TEAM: Wade Branner (play-by-play), Grafton Young (analyst)

RADIO: WXSM-AM 640 | 104.9 NASH ICON

RADIO TEAM: Voice of the Bucs Jay Sandos

LIVE STATS: VMIKeydets.com

TWITTER: @ETSU_MBB

ABOUT THE BUCS

• ETSU enters Saturday’s game with an overall record of 5-9 and a SoCon mark of 1-0
• The Bucs snapped their five-game losing skid with a 73-71 road win at Wofford on Thursday night
• Jordan King (Albany, N.Y.) notched his 1,000th career point in Thursday’s comeback win over Wofford … King, who has made at least one three-pointer in 32 straight games, has scored 652 points in 46 career games at ETSU, while he netted 348 points in 47 games at Siena
• Thursday’s win at Wofford marked ETSU’s first victory this season where the Bucs trailed at halftime
• The win was also the Bucs’ first true road victory of the season and Wofford’s first home loss of the year
• Justice Smith (Lyons, N.Y.) tied a season-high with 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting on Thursday night
• Over his last four games, Smith is averaging 12.5 points and shooting 55 percent from the field (18-of-33)
• The Blue and Gold grabbed 15 offensive rebounds in Thursday’s win over Wofford … ETSU has posted double-digit offensive rebounds in 10 of its 14 games this season, averaging 11.7 offensive boards per game … The Bucs rank second among SoCon teams in offensive rebounds per game and second in offensive rebound percentage (.338)
• ETSU tied a season high with 10 made threes last night at Wofford, while shooting 50 percent from beyond the arc … Since 2010-11, the Bucs have made at least 10 threes and shot 50 percent from three-point range 27 times … ETSU is 23-4 in those games when accomplishing the feat during this span
• Since 1961-62, ETSU has won 29 games when closing out the year (30 losses) … The Bucs have won four of their last five games before opening the New Year and seven of 11 … Saturday is just the fifth time since 1961-62 where the Blue and Gold are playing on New Year’s Eve … ETSU is 2-2 in those games, while winning the last two matchups – a 74-55 win at Mercer in 2017 and a 102-75 win over VMI in 2016 …The Bucs fell to Tennessee twice on New Year’s Eve (2014 and 1996)
• Despite going 0-4 in non-conference true road games, the Bucs won their first SoCon road game with Thursday's victory at Wofford ... Dating back to last season, ETSU has won its last three road SoCon games as the Bucs ended the year with wins at The Citadel and UNCG ... The three-game road SoCon win streak is the longest in the league
• As a team, the Bucs have made at least one three-pointer in 1,106 straight contests – the fourth-longest streak in the country

ABOUT VMI 

• VMI has dropped three straight games and enters Saturday’s game with an overall record of 5-9 and sits 0-1 in league play
• The Keydets suffered an 85-62 road loss at Furman on Thursday night
• VMI is a perfect 5-0 at home this season and is 25-5 at home since the start of the 2020-21 season
• The Keydets are led by Sean Conway as he’s averaging 15.2 points and 6.4 rebounds per game … Conway also leads VMI with 38 made threes and 77 made field goals
• Conway ranks third in the SoCon in three-point field goal percentage (.463), while Devin Butler is fifth (.452) … Conway is also third in three made per game (2.7) and Butler is seventh (2.4)
• As a team, VMI is averaging 10.8 made threes per game, while shooting 39 percent from long distance
• The Keydets are averaging 75.8 points per game and allowing 75.4
• VMI ranks seventh nationally in threes made per game, 16th in free throw percentage (.772), 17th in three-point attempts per game (27.6) and 19th in three-point percentage (.391) 

SERIES HISTORY

• ETSU leads the all-time series, 54-15
• The Bucs had their 13-game win streak over VMI snapped last season when the Keydets won 83-79 on Jan. 29, 2022 in Lexington
• Last season’s loss was ETSU’s first setback to VMI since Jan. 17, 2015
• ETSU has won 23 of the last 25 over VMI dating back to 1998-99 season
• The Bucs have won five of the last six and 10 of the last 12 over the Keydets in Lexington
• The last time ETSU lost back-to-back games to VMI in Lexington came during the 1996-97 – 1997-98 seasons … The Bucs lost 97-75 on Feb. 23, 1997 and fell 74-65 on Feb. 21, 1998
• The last time the Bucs lost back-to-back games to VMI came during the 1997-98 – 1998-99 seasons … ETSU lost 74-65 on Feb. 21, 1998 and then suffered a 58-55 setback on Jan. 2, 1999

HOW TO FOLLOW THE BUCS

• Fans can watch Saturday’s game on ESPN+ with Wade Branner (pbp) and Grafton Young (analyst) on the call
• Saturday’s game will also be broadcast on WXSM-AM 640 and 104.9 NASH ICON with Voice of the Bucs Jay Sandos on the call, starting with the Atmos Energy Pregame show at 12:30 p.m.
• Live stats will also be available via VMIKeydets.com
• UP NEXT

ETSU hosts Western Carolina in its SoCon home opener on Wednesday, Jan. 4 … Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. inside Freedom Hall.  

For more information on Buccaneer men’s basketball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the men’s basketball tab.