Basketball Marathon by ESPN MediaZone

Photograph courtesy of ESPN MediaZone

The ETSU men’s basketball team will play its second game of the season bright and early at 6 a.m. on national television as part of ESPN’s 24 hours of college basketball.

The Buccaneers will take on Green Bay University at Freedom Hall on Nov. 17.

Last season, the Green Bay men’s basketball team finished with a record of 24-9 and a conference record of 12-4. They lost in the first round of the NIT Tournament to Illinois State.

The Phoenix had signature wins against the University of Miami and Valparaiso, who went on to win the Horizon League Conference.

Like the Bucs, Green Bay has a first year head coach in Linc Darner. His last head-coaching job was at Florida Southern College, where he had a 218-73 record.

In his last season with the Mocs, he had a 36-1 record and led them to a Division II national championship.

Before the Green Bay Pheonix comes to Freedom Hall to take on the Buccaneers, they will travel to Stanford to take on the Cardinal on Nov. 13.

Two days after facing ETSU, they will play Georgia Tech to finish off a three-game road stand. They will play their first regular home game on Nov. 22.

The Bucs will play one exhibition game against Tusculum College on Thursday night. They will open the season against Averett College on Nov. 14 at Freedom Hall before the big showdown on ESPN2.

After the Green Bay game, the Bucs will go on the road for three straight games against Villanova, Georgia Tech and Charleston Southern.

“We have a difficult schedule to start off the season but are looking forward to playing on ESPN2 before a national crowd,” said coach Steve Forbes.

The ESPN networks will televise 16 different games on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU as part of the marathon. It will start at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 16 and go until the end of the Kansas vs. Michigan State game the next day.

The ETSU game will be the eighth game of the hoops marathon, according to ESPN.

“The Green Bay game will be a chance to showcase our team and let people from all over have a chance to watch our team,” said Forbes.

The last time ETSU played on one of the ESPN television networks was last season when they played the University of Tennessee on SEC Network.

Traditionally, the Southern Conference Tournament games are featured on ESPN3, which is streamed online, and the championship game is usually featured on ESPN or ESPN2.

As usual, students of ETSU can get into all of the home games with a student ID.

According to ETSU Athletics, there are still tickets available for non-students. Single game tickets include upper baseline tickets, which are $7.50, and bronze level tickets, which are $12.50.

Fans can also buy a family pack, which includes four tickets, four food items and four drinks. Family packs will cost $40.

After Steve Forbes was named coach of the ETSU men’s basketball team, many of the season tickets sold out. However, some season tickets are still available in the silver level, bronze level and upper baseline.