Tech men look to dethrone Monarchs

[IE]

Viva Las Vegas! The Tennessee Tech men?s basketball team is ready to kick off postseason play, heading west for the inaugural Vegas 16 Tournament and a 2 p.m. CT matchup with Old Dominion on Monday, March 28.

The Golden Eagles will compete in postseason play for the seventh time in program history and the first since the 2011-12 campaign, the team?s first season under the direction of Coach Payne. Tennessee Tech appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 1958 and 1963, the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in 1985 and 2002, and the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) in 2011 and 2012.

The Vegas 16 is a single-elimination, eight-team postseason basketball tournament, beginning with the quarterfinals on Monday. The semifinals are slated for Tuesday with the title game scheduled for Wednesday. Every game of the tournament will be televised live on CBS Sports Network. Fans can also listen to Tech?s OVC Tournament action all week live on 106.1 The Eagle with Dylan Vazzano on the call.

Included in the Vegas 16 field are six 20-plus win programs as well as the nation?s top-scoring offense. The winner of the TTU-Old Dominion match-up would play the victor of the Northern Illinois-UC Santa Barbara tilt. The remaining four teams in the tournament field are Oakland, Towson, Louisiana Tech and East Tennessee State.

Tickets for the Vegas 16 are available now via Vegas16.com and the Mandalay Bay Events Center box office. Tickets are priced at $100, $50, $30, $22.50 and $15 per session, all-session ticket books are also available via Vegas16.com. Hotel packages for the tournament are also available via Vegas16.com.

About Old Dominion

The Golden Eagles will face off against their long-time, in-state rival Austin Peay in the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. in Municipal Auditorium in Nashville.

Old Dominion is in its third season under the direction of head coach Jeff Jones.

The Monarchs are currently 22-13 overall and finished 12-6 in Conference USA play. ODU finished tied for third in the regular season and lost to eventual CUSA tournament champion and NCAA tournament Cinderella Middle Tennessee in the semifinals of the conference tournament, 55-53.

In 2015-16, Old Dominion is 12-4 at home, 7-6 on the road and 3-3 in neutral sites.

Last season, the Monarchs compiled a 27-8 overall record and 13-5 mark in Conference USA, finishing tied for second in the regular season standings. They also made it to the semifinals of the NIT before falling to Stanford, 67-60.

This marks the first-ever meeting between the two programs.



ODU has a plethora of postseason success, playing well into March in 10 of the past 11 seasons. Over that span, the Monarchs are 16-9 in postseason play, including a 2008-09 CIT title, semifinal appearances in the NIT in 2006-07 and 20014-15, a semfinal appearance in the CBI in 2013-14 and four NCAA tournament appearances, including a spot in the second round in 2009-10 after defeating No. 6 seeded Notre Dame in the first round.

Trey Freeman makes the Monarchs go offensively, averaging a Conference USA-best 22.2 points per game this season. He also averages 4.1 rebounds and over three assists per game while shooting over 80 percent from the charity stripe.

Brandan Stith leads Old Dominion on the glass, averaging 9.7 rebounds per game while adding 10.6 points on the scoreboard. Aaron Bacote also throws in double figure points, averaging 12.7 points per game.

Last time out

The Golden Eagles were a first-round out in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, falling to Cinderella and eventual champion Austin Peay by a final score of 92-72.

Tech struggled to contain eventual Tournament MVP Chris Horton in the contest, as the senior big man finished with 37 points and 21 rebounds while attempting 18 free throws in 37 minutes of action.

The Golden Eagles also endured their worst shooting performance of the season from beyond the arc, making just five of their 29 attempts from downtown.

Austin Peay shot 54.2 percent to the field while holding Tech to just 38.7 percent from the floor. The Govs also out-rebounded the Golden Eagles 45-32.

After dropping a career-high 30 points with seven 3-pointers in the team?s regular-season finale, sophomore Aleksa Jugovic couldn?t keep the rhythm rolling, going 0-for-10 from the field and 0-for-7 from beyond the arc against APSU. He finished with three points, but did manage to tie his career-high with three steals and also dished out three dimes with no turnovers.

Senior Torrance Rowe led Tech in scoring, pouring in 18 points despite hitting just 1-of-10 attempts from deep. He also doled out six assists.

Ryan Martin scored 17 points and hauled in seven boards while Anthony Morse led Tech with eight rebounds on top of his eight points.

 

[IE]

ODU ready to roll the dice in the new Vegas 16 tournament



Can such an event be taken seriously? ODU thinks so, which is why the school anted up $45,000 to play.

The tournament?s unique format is what attracted the Monarchs. Unlike other tertiary events such as the CIT and CBI, the Vegas 16 is played at a single site, with the intention of offering basketball teams an experience similar to that of a college football bowl game.

The two-week gap between the announcement of the field and the start of the tournament also is bowl-like. ODU (22-13) has not played in 16 days, since falling to Middle Tennessee in the Conference USA tournament final.

After taking a few days off, the Monarchs returned to the gym. The extra practices have already made the investment worthwhile, they say.

?I feel like it?s beneficial for everyone,? senior guard Trey Freeman said. ?The young guys get an opportunity to continue to grow as players. For older guys, like me, it?s an opportunity to wear the ODU jersey and represent the school at a high level.?


Not as high a level as originally planned. The tournament?s organizers hoped to attract Power Five teams, and maybe even poach a few from the NIT, but bigger schools took a pass. The field is made up of mid-majors who finished in the upper halves of C-USA, the Big West, the Mid-American, the Ohio Valley, the Horizon League and the Southern Conference.

Still, the field?s average power rating is higher than the CBI or the CIT. And the games will be carried on CBS Sports Network.

ODU won seven straight and 12 of 14 to reach the C-USA final, where it came tantalizingly close to clinching its first NCAA bid since 2011. Given how well the Monarchs played over the season?s final six weeks, they weren?t ready to call it a year.

?It was apparent,? coach Jeff Jones said. ?The guys I think take their lead from the leaders, Trey and Aaron (Bacote). There?s no question about the fact that those two wanted to play.

?The other guys understand the benefit of playing. And what young guy doesn?t want to go to Vegas??


Even if it meant 10 more practices. Jones has mixed them up, going hard some days and lighter on others. Thursday?s session included a game of dodge ball. The Monarchs have focused more on themselves than on Tennessee Tech (19-11).

?You can only prepare for one opponent so much,? Jones said.

The Monarchs would face either Cal-Santa Barbara or Northern Illinois in the second round. C-USA foe Louisiana Tech is in the other half of the bracket, along with Oakland, East Tennessee State and Towson.

With the NCAA and NIT fields winnowed to four and the CIT and CBI also winding down, not many teams are still playing. The Monarchs are glad to be among them.

?It?s a good chance for our team,? forward Denzell Taylor said. ?We?re definitely excited, and we?re just going to go out there and make the most of the opportunity.?

 

[freelancc]

thanks..! enjoy reading your informative posts.:0074

 

[IE]

glad to help.

hope your doing well.