North Carolina A&T vs. East Tennessee State
When: Tuesday, Dec. 14, 7:00 p.m.
Where: Freedom Hall (Johnson City, Tenn.)
TV/Radio: Spencer Turkin (tobaccoroadsports.com)
A&T Team Leaders
Points: Marcus Watson (12.1 PPG)
Rebounds: Marcus Watson (5.4 RPG)
Assists: Kameron Langley (5.7 APG)
Blocks: Harry Morrice (15)
Steals: Kameron Langley (21)
Field Goal Percentage: Webster Filmore (.639)
3-pt Field Goal Percentage: Demetric Horton (.422)
Free Throw Percentage: Tyler Maye (.750)
A&T Big South Leaders (Top-10)
Assists: Kameron Langley (63) – 1st
Blocks: Harry Morrice (15) – 5th
Steals: Kameron Langley (21) – 3rd
3-pt Field Goal Percentage: Demetric Horton (.422) – 2nd
A&T National Leaders (Top-100)
Assists: Kameron Langley (63) –5th
Steals: Kameron Langley (21) – t-33rd
NORTH CAROLINA A&T AGGIES (3-8): After winning two-straight games for the first time this season, the Aggies have now dropped two straight and are 2-3 in their last five.
A slew of newcomers has made an immediate impact on the program. Watson, along with Horton and David Beatty (Philadelphia, Pa.), lead the team in scoring this year. Horton has averaged 16.6 points per game over the last five contests and has knocked down a team-best 27 3-pointers.
The Aggies have found some struggles rebounding the ball and knocking down freebies at the charity stripe. They have a minus-3.8 rebounding margin on the season, 10th in the league, and cash in just 62.4 percent of their free throws, last in the Big South.
Despite their struggles, A&T does some things well, such as creating turnovers and taking care of the ball. As a team, they swipe 9.2 steals per game on average and boast a plus-3.0 turnover margin, with both of those marks leading the Big South.
Coach Jones is now in his third season overall and second full season after initially taking over on an interim basis on December 24, 2019. Since then, Jones has compiled a 19-5 conference record and the program's first regular-season conference title since 1990. He even earned Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) coach of the year honor in 2019-20 and has a 27-23 (.540) overall record at the program's helm.
EAST TENNESSEE STATE (ETSU) (7-3): The Buccaneers are coming off an 82-75 win over Morehead State last Saturday and are now winners of two straight.
Tuesday's game will conclude a three-game homestand for ETSU, where they are 4-0 this year. In their previous two games at Freedom Hall, the Bucs are scoring 86.0 points per game while allowing just 70.5.
Redshirt junior guard Ledarrius Brewer leads the scoring efforts for ETSU at 12.7 points per game. He is averaging 19.5 points during the Bucs current homestand. ETSU is the best free-throw shooting team in the Southern Conference (SoCon), knocking down 81.1 percent of their shots at the line.
ETSU announced Desmond Oliver as its 18th head coach in program history in a press conference earlier this year. He spent 27 years as an assistant before landing his first head coaching job. He served previously as an assistant coach at Tennessee for six seasons and also held positions at Charlotte (2010-15), Canisius (2009-10) and Georgia (2004-09).
THE SERIES: This will be the first meeting all-time between the Aggies and the Buccaneers.
NOTES:
- Graduate Kameron Langley has dished out 63 assists this season, the sixth-highest in the country.
- He has 820 dimes for his career, ranking him 26th all-time in NCAA history. He needs four assists to move into the top-25.
- A&T is still searching for its first road win of the year. They are 9-17 (.346) in true road games under head coach Will Jones.
- The Aggies are averaging 76.8 points per game in their last five after averaging just 61.0 points through their first six games.
- A&T is 9-13 (.409) against current SoCon schools.
- The Aggies lead the Big South in steals per game (9.2) and turnover margin (+3.0).
- A&T is allowing 70.5 points per game to their opponents this season, and ETSU is scoring 70.5 points a night on average.
- Sophomore Marcus Watson leads the Aggies in scoring (12.1 PPG) and rebounding (5.4 RPG) through 11 games this season.
- Junior Demetric Horton, however, has averaged 16.6 points per night over the last five games, including a career-high 24 against SoCon member Samford on Nov. 26.
