MBB Preview: Last D1 game of 2022

The Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks represent the last D1 game for the Falcons this season.

In 31 seasons in D1,  UT-Martin has never made the NCAA tournament and has made the NIT once.   Heading into this year, they were 47-98 over the last five years.

They have won either 8 or 9 games each of the last three years, so having 6 already is a good start.  In fact, they were picked by Blue Ribbon to win the OVC.

Last year, incredibly enough, they turned over their entire roster.

They have faced BG only once, at the Stroh in 2018, and BG won by 14 points.

They are 6-5 this year, with 3 wins over non-d1 teams with their top win over Prairie View A&M (261). 

They are 0-5 on the road, with bad losses to Arkansas State (296) and UNC-Asheville (212). 

They play at 71 possessions a game, which matches and even slightly exceeds where BG has played.

They are a roughly average offensive team in D1, at 1.02 points per possession.  They are essentially at or near D1 averages in every factor....shooting, turnovers, offensive rebounding and FT rate. They also take a relatively typical number of 3FGs,   However, they are effective at making them--35.6% is #96 in the nation.

On defense, the story is different.  They allow 1.1 points per possession, with is #309 in the nation.  (BG allows 1.06). They are easy to shoot against and are especially poor at defensive rebounding.  They are average on turnovers but give up a lot of free throws.

Their leading scorer is Parker Stewart, at 17.5 PPG for all games. He shoots 47% and 40%.  That latter number is important, he takes most of his shots from 3FG. He's a good story....his father was Anthony Stewart, who was the Coach at UT-Martin and died tragically at the start of the 2020-21 season.  He did not play at all that season and then transferred last year to Indiana, where he made 31 starts.  This year he returned to TN-Martin.

KJ Simon is another big scorer, at 16.3 PPG and 44% and 35% shooting. He was first-team all-OVC last year as well as all-OVC newcomer.  He was picked by Blue Ribbon as the pre-season player of the year.

Chris Nix leads the team with 6.1 RPG.  He's a 6'9" JUCO transfer who played last year with UTM. 

Their leading assist man is Jordan Sears, who transferred from Garder-Webb.

BG is favored in this one.  Whether it ends up like that remains to be seen as BG continues to search for a formula that brings consistent success.