Eagles Return to the Road to Face Rival Tusculum on Saturday

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. — The Carson-Newman men’s basketball team will attempt to get back on track Saturday afternoon when it travels to Greeneville, Tenn., to take on South Atlantic Conference rival Tusculum.

The Eagles (6-8, 1-3 SAC) and Pioneers (8-7, 2-2) are scheduled to tip off at 4 p.m. in Pioneer Arena.

C-N enters the contest on a three-game losing streak after dropping a 93-81 decision to Wingate at home on Wednesday, and Eagles head coach Dale Clayton said things won’t get any easier against Tusculum.

“They are coming back from playing in the Division II national tournament,” Clayton said. “When you are looking at them, this team has a lot of experience and has had a lot of success. They’ve played a very difficult schedule. I would expect going to Tusculum to be a very tough game.”

Saturday’s matchup will feature two teams that play completely different styles of basketball. C-N prefers an up-tempo pace and is averaging 74.5 points per game this season. The Pioneers, who are last in the SAC in scoring offense with an average of 63.3 points per game, strive to slow the game down and be patient in their motion offense. All but two teams in the conference have attempted 200 or more shots than Tusculum this season.

“Controlling the tempo is always the No. 1 thing when you play Tusculum,” Clayton said. “Their style of play is just so different with the way that they run their motion and the way they pack it in on defense and the way they play their percentages. They are just always very difficult to play. It creates a lot of problems for a lot of teams.”

For the Eagles to be successful against the Pioneers, they will have to find a way to slow down Tusculum senior guard Kyle Moore, who is the reigning SAC Player of the Year. Moore is second in the conference in scoring, averaging 22.2 points per game. The Gainesville, Fla., native has scored 20 points or more 33 times during his Tusculum career and has surpassed the 30-point plateau eight times.

“Kyle is really good at catching and shooting off of screens,” Clayton said. “He’s the best 3-point shooter in our league and he does a great job of reading screens.”

Both C-N and Tusculum have been two of the better defensive teams in the conference this season. The Eagles are fourth in the league in scoring defense (73.9), third in field goal percentage defense (41.4 percent) and fourth in 3-point field goal percentage defense (32 percent). The Pioneers lead the league in scoring defense (59.8), are second in field goal percentage defense (39.8) and first in 3-point field goal defense (27.4).

“You’ve got to find a way to get some easy baskets against them,” Clayton said. “But that’s difficult to do because they don’t extend themselves.”

The Eagles lead the all-time series 85-40, but Tusculum has won nine out of the last 11 meetings, including the last three games.