Golden Eagles draw Appalachian State in ESPNU BracketBuster
The pairings for the 2010 ESPNU BracketBuster match-ups have been announced and the Tennessee Tech men’s basketball team will square off against Appalachian State in Boone, N.C. on Feb. 20.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The pairings for the 2010 ESPNU
BracketBuster match-ups have been announced and the Tennessee Tech
men’s basketball team will square off against Appalachian
State in Boone, N.C. on Feb. 20.
Appalachian State is currently 12-9 overall and 6-4 in the
Southern Conference. The Mountaineers and Golden Eagles will be
meeting for the sixth time in program history. Appalachian State
owns a 3-2 advantage in the all-time series. As part of the
contract for the BracketBuster game, Appalachian State will play a
return game in Cookeville next season.
Tech is currently 12-10 overall and 6-5 in OVC play. The Golden
Eagles are currently riding a four-game winning streak, and have
won five of their last six games, all in OVC play.
The Golden Eagles and Mountaineers do not share any common
opponents this season and OVC teams are 2-2 against the Southern
Conference.
Appalachian State is led by Donald Sims, who is averaging 22.6
points per game in conference play. Isaac Butts is averaging 8.0
rebounds per game in SoCon play, and the Mountaineers are
out-rebounding their SoCon opponents by 8.8 boards per game.
TTU coach Mike Sutton, an Appalachian State Alumni, is 1-1 in his
career against the Mountaineers. Sutton earned his master’s
degree from Appalachian State in 1979.
The Mountaineers are coached by Buzz Peterson, who is in the first
year of his second stint as the head coach at Appalachian State.
Peterson led the Mountaineers to a 79-39 record, three Southern
Conference championships and an NCAA Tournament appearance from
1996-2000. Peterson played his collegiate basketball at the
University of North Carolina, and helped the Tar Heels to four ACC
championships and one national championship from 1981-85.
“Coach Peterson has done an outstanding job and he’s
got a very good team,” Sutton said. “This is going to
be a challenge and we’re very excited for it.”
Tech's first BracketBuster game was in 2006, when the Golden
Eagles lost at Bradley, 77-62. In 2007, Tech defeated Northwestern
(La.) State, 85-84, in overtime. In 2008, the Golden Eagles dropped
an 88-80 contest at East Tennessee State and last year Tech fell at
Ball State 59-55.
All 11 Ohio Valley Conference schools, including reclassifying
Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, are participating in the Bracket
Buster event. Five schools will host games this season while the
six will go on the road.
The 2010 OVC BracketBuster match-ups include: Oral Roberts (13-10)
at Austin Peay (13-10), Northern Illinois (8-11) at Eastern
Illinois (11-11), Winthrop (11-10) at Eastern Kentucky (15-8),
Presbyterian (4-19) at Jacksonville State (10-11), Morehead State
(15-7) at Illinois State (15-7), Southeast Missouri State (6-15) at
Miami (Ohio) (8-13), SIU Edwardsville (3-18) at Cal State Fullerton
(10-10), Tennessee State (4-19) at Central Michigan (10-9),
Tennessee Tech (12-10) at Appalachian State (12-9), UT Martin
(3-17) at Ball State (11-9) and Morgan State (15-7) at Murray State
(20-3).
