ETSU men’s basketball prepares to travel to VMI

After an exciting home win against rival Chattanooga Mocs, the Bucs are ready to continue advancing in the SoCon race.

Since the game against Chattanooga, the Bucs are now tied for first place with University of North Carolina-Greensboro, so the game against the Virginia Military Institute Keydets on Thursday is important to secure good standing.

The Bucs are currently 17-5 overall and 7-2 in conference, with losses coming from UNCG at home and at Furman.

“I’m really proud of where we are at, and it’s going to be hard going down the stretch when every team is playing really well in our league right now,” said Head Coach Steve Forbes. “There is a lot of balance.”

The win against Chattanooga at home last Saturday has forced a sense of excitement into the men’s team. The big crowd colored in solid gold and outstanding student presence solidified the tight 76-71 victory.

“The guys really had a great mindset going into that game,” Forbes said. “We executed really well, and we played really hard, taking care of the ball.”

There were a lot of factors that had to fall into place in order to beat a good team like the Chattanooga Mocs, and the win was a great reward.

Looking at the upcoming game against VMI, the Bucs beat the Keydets in Freedom Hall the first SoCon game of the season 100-75, but since then that VMI team has found a rhythm.

Last week, VMI beat Chattanooga at home 80-64, knocking the Mocs down to 6-3 in the conference.

Going into the game, the Bucs are prepared to look out for one VMI player in particular, QJ Peterson.

Peterson put up 40 of the Keydets 80 points at Chattanooga, so it is going to be very important to guard him and protect the ball.

The Bucs have had an issue with turnovers this season, so Forbes is preparing the team to be aware of that and take care of the ball, especially when looking at Peterson. The Bucs also need to be ready for a switch-up of defense coming from the Keydets.

“We just have to be who we are,” Forbes said. “We have a style of play that we like and we play fast, and we play hard.”

These elements of play are factors that the team will continue to build on throughout the season and hope to execute well in the game against VMI, tipping off at 7 p.m.