2019–20 East Tennessee State Buccaneers men's basketball team

The 2019–20 East Tennessee State Buccaneers men's basketball team represented East Tennessee State University in the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Buccaneers, led by fifth-year head coach Steve Forbes, played their home games at the Freedom Hall Civic Center in Johnson City, Tennessee, as members of the Southern Conference. They finished the season 30–4, 16–2 in SoCon play to finish as the SoCon regular season champions. They defeated VMI, Western Carolina and Wofford to become champions of the SoCon tournament. They earned the SoCon's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. However, the NCAA Tournament was cancelled amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

2019–20 East Tennessee State Buccaneers men's basketball
Southern Conference regular season and tournament champions
Conference	Southern Conference
Record	30–4 (16–2 SoCon)
Head coach	Steve Forbes (5th season)
Assistant coaches	Jason Shay Brooks Savage BJ McKie
Home arena	Freedom Hall Civic Center
Seasons ← 2018–19 2020–21 →

2019–20 Southern Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
East Tennessee State †	16	–	2		.889			30	–	4		.882
Furman	15	–	3		.833			25	–	7		.781
UNC Greensboro	13	–	5		.722			23	–	9		.719
Mercer	11	–	7		.611			17	–	15		.531
Western Carolina	10	–	8		.556			19	–	12		.613
Chattanooga	10	–	8		.556			20	–	13		.606
Wofford	8	–	10		.444			19	–	16		.543
Samford	4	–	14		.222			10	–	23		.303
VMI	3	–	15		.167			9	–	24		.273
The Citadel	0	–	18		.000			6	–	24		.200
† 2020 SoCon Tournament winner

On April 30, 2020, head coach Steve Forbes resigned to become the head coach at Wake Forest.^[1] He finished at ETSU with a five-year record of 130–43.

Previous season

The Buccaneers finished the 2018–19 season 24–10 overall, 13–5 in SoCon play to finish in a tie for third place. In the SoCon tournament, they defeated Chattanooga in the quarterfinals,^[2] before losing to Wofford in the semifinals.^[3] They received an invitation to the CIT, where they lost to Green Bay in the first round.^[4]

Roster

2019–20 East Tennessee State Buccaneers men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown G 1 Tray Boyd III 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Sr Memphis, Tennessee G 3 Bo Hodges 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Jr Nashville, Tennessee G 5 Daivien Williamson 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 165 lb (75 kg) So Winston-Salem, North Carolina G 10 Patrick Good 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) RS Jr Johnson City, Tennessee F 11 Jeromy Rodriguez 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 230 lb (104 kg) RS Sr Santiago, Dominican Republic F 12 Damari Monsanto 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Fr Pembroke Pines, Florida C 13 Octavion Corley 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 210 lb (95 kg) RS Jr Reno, Nevada G 15 Isaiah Tisdale 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Sr Lexington, Kentucky F 21 Joe Hugley 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Sr Gaithersburg, Maryland F 23 Vonnie Patterson 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Jr Louisville, Kentucky G 24 Jordan Coffin 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Jr Knoxville, Tennessee C 25 Lucas N'Guessan 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Sr De Lier, Netherlands F 33 Charlie Weber 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Fr Owings, Maryland G Ledarrius Brewer 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Jr Meridian, Mississippi	Head coach Steve Forbes (Southern Arkansas) Assistant coach(es) Jason Shay (Western Illinois) Brooks Savage (Tennessee) BJ McKie (South Carolina) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on   Injured   Current redshirt Roster Last update: November 28, 2019

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
November 1, 2019* 7:00 pm		Limestone	W 80–62		Freedom Hall Civic Center (3,205) Johnson City, TN
Regular season
November 6, 2019* 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Newberry	W 79–50	1–0	Freedom Hall Civic Center (3,323) Johnson City, TN
November 9, 2019* 8:00 pm, ESPN+		at UT Martin	W 92–75	2–0	Skyhawk Arena (1,386) Martin, TN
November 14, 2019* 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Winthrop	W 61–58	3–0	Freedom Hall Civic Center (4,118) Johnson City, TN
November 19, 2019* 8:00 pm, ESPN+		at No. 4 Kansas Maui Invitational Mainland	L 63–75	3–1	Allen Fieldhouse (16,300) Lawrence, KS
November 23, 2019* 2:00 pm, ESPN3		Delaware State Maui Invitational Mainland	W 98–66	4–1	Freedom Hall Civic Center (4,004) Johnson City, TN
November 24, 2019* 2:00 pm, ESPN+		Southern Utah Maui Invitational Mainland	W 70–58	5–1	Freedom Hall Civic Center (4,053) Johnson City, TN
November 26, 2019* 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Appalachian State	W 78–69	6–1	Freedom Hall Civic Center (5,126) Johnson City, TN
November 30, 2019* 3:00 pm, ESPN+		at Little Rock	W 67–63	7–1	Jack Stephens Center (921) Little Rock, AR
December 4, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at The Citadel	W 96–84	8–1 (1–0)	McAlister Field House (629) Charleston, SC
December 7, 2019* 8:00 pm, ESPN+		at North Dakota State	L 68–78	8–2	Scheels Center (2,658) Fargo, ND
December 15, 2019* 2:00 pm, ESPN3		Milligan	W 97–41	9–2	Freedom Hall Civic Center (3,927) Johnson City, TN
December 18, 2019* 7:00 pm, SECN		at LSU	W 74–63	10–2	Pete Maravich Assembly Center (8,556) Baton Rouge, LA
December 21, 2019* 4:00 pm, ESPN3		Cleveland State	W 80–55	11–2	Freedom Hall Civic Center (3,852) Johnson City, TN
December 29, 2019* 2:00 pm, ESPN3		Mars Hill	W 117–48	12–2	Freedom Hall Civic Center (3,934) Johnson City, TN
January 1, 2020 4:00 pm, ESPN+		Wofford	W 49–48	13–2 (2–0)	Freedom Hall Civic Center (5,274) Johnson City, TN
January 4, 2020 4:00 pm, ESPN3		at Furman	L 56–65	13–3 (2–1)	Timmons Arena (2,314) Greenville, SC
January 8, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at UNC Greensboro	W 64–57	14–3 (3–1)	Greensboro Coliseum (3,032) Greensboro, NC
January 11, 2020 4:00 pm, ESPN3		VMI	W 61–55	15–3 (4–1)	Freedom Hall Civic Center (4,730) Johnson City, TN
January 15, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Samford	W 88–63	16–3 (5–1)	Freedom Hall Civic Center (4,204) Johnson City, TN
January 18, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at Western Carolina	W 85–66	17–3 (6–1)	Ramsey Center (3,756) Cullowhee, NC
January 25, 2020 4:00 pm, ESPN+		Chattanooga	W 75–64	18–3 (7–1)	Freedom Hall Civic Center (6,086) Johnson City, TN
January 29, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Mercer	L 55–71	18–4 (7–2)	Freedom Hall Civic Center (4,608) Johnson City, TN
February 1, 2020 4:00 pm, ESPN+		UNC Greensboro	W 82–65	19–4 (8–2)	Freedom Hall Civic Center (5,838) Johnson City, TN
February 5, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at Chattanooga	W 80–64	20–4 (9–2)	McKenzie Arena (2,823) Chattanooga, TN
February 8, 2020 4:30 pm, ESPN+		at Mercer	W 73–60	21–4 (10–2)	Hawkins Arena (3,472) Macon, GA
February 12, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+		The Citadel	W 91–67	22–4 (11–2)	Freedom Hall Civic Center (4,573) Johnson City, TN
February 15, 2020 1:00 pm, ESPN3		at VMI	W 72–67	23–4 (12–2)	Cameron Hall (2,100) Lexington, VA
February 19, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Furman	W 75–66	24–4 (13–2)	Freedom Hall Civic Center (6,177) Johnson City, TN
February 22, 2020 3:00 pm, ESPN3		at Samford	W 80–74	25–4 (14–2)	Pete Hanna Center (511) Homewood, AL
February 26, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at Wofford	W 60–54	26–4 (15–2)	Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium (2,345) Spartanburg, SC
February 29, 2020 4:00 pm, ESPN3		Western Carolina	W 68–67	27–4 (16–2)	Freedom Hall Civic Center (6,177) Johnson City, TN
SoCon tournament
March 7, 2020 12:00 pm, ESPN+	(1)	vs. (9) VMI Quarterfinals	W 70–57	28–4	Harrah's Cherokee Center (5,573) Asheville, NC
March 8, 2020 4:00 pm, ESPN+	(1)	vs. (5) Western Carolina Semifinals	W 97–75	29–4	Harrah's Cherokee Center (6,132) Asheville, NC
March 9, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN	(1)	vs. (7) Wofford Championship	W 72–58	30–4	Harrah's Cherokee Center (6,400) Asheville, NC
NCAA tournament
			Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic^[5]
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern.

Source^[6]

References

1. "Wake Forest agrees to deal, will hire Steve Forbes from East Tennessee State". April 30, 2020.
2. "ETSU gets historic win over Chattanooga in SoCon quarterfinal". East Tennessee State Athletics. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
3. "Bucs fall to #22 Wofford in SoCon semifinal, 81-72". East Tennessee State Athletics. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
4. "Short-handed Bucs rally but fall to Green Bay in opening round of CIT". East Tennessee State Athletics. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
5. "NCAA cancels men's and women's basketball championships due to coronavirus concerns | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
6. "Men's Basketball - Schedule". East Tennessee State Athletics. Retrieved November 28, 2019.