Tennessee-Martin Preview

BG rounds out the non-conference schedule with the Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks at the Stroh.

This is our first matchup with TN-Martin, so let's get to know them a little bit.

Martin is a town of about 10,000 people in northwest Tennessee, not too far from the Kentucky border.  The nearest notable town is Paducah (60 miles or so) and Nashville and Memphis are a couple of hours away.  It is the home of the Tennessee Soybean Festival.

The town's most notable native--by far--is Pat Summit, perhaps the best basketball coach to ever live.  She also attended TN-Martin.

The university has about 6,000 undergrads.  Their nickname used to be the Pacers.  They switched it to Skyhawks---way back they were the Sky Pilots, either due to a frontier term for a preacher or a testament to the pilot training during WWII.  They have varsity rodeo and equestrian and actually won a national championship in rodeo.

They have not played in the NCAA tournament.  They won the OVC in 2009 and played in the NIT.  They have played in the CIT tournament in 2015, 16 and 17, making the semi-final in 2015.  Their coach is Anthony Stewart, who inherited the last of those CIT appearances and is 15-26 since then.  Stewart went to Mount Union and was an assistant at OU just before taking an assistant job at TN-Martin.

They are picked to finish 11th in the OVC this year.  Their kenpom right now is #308 out of 353.  They are 5-5 with 2 non D1 wins, with the best being over #284 UNC-Asheville.  They have lost only one top 100 game (Fresno State) the rest have been pretty soft losses.  They have yet to win on the road. 

The Skyhawks play at a fast pace, with the 66th highest tempo in the nation, which should match up well with BG.

So, here's the basic match-up.  They are below average on offense and very poor on defense.  That's the #235 offense and the #334 defense in D1, out of 351.  The D1 average this year is 1.026, so BG is about average on defense and sub-average on offense.  BG starts out the game with reasonable advantages on both ends of the court.

When the Skyhawks have the ball, we can see the biggest weakness is that they shoot poorly.  They shoot 49% from 2FG (slightly below average) but 29% from 3FG, which is #317 in the country.  They take just below the normal proportion of 3s, so that kind of shot mix with that kind of percentage is going to make it rough.  They take good care of the ball, are good on the offensive boards and very rarely get to the line.  When they do get their, they make 69%.

BG's 3 defense has been improving over the last games, so you'd hope to see the Skyhawks clamped down pretty well.  Plus, because they are more one-dimensional, you can adjust a little.  The battle on the boards should be good, too.

On defense, here's what you have.  UTM is terrible defending the shot.  That's among the top 20 worst in the country.  They allow 63% on 2FGs, which is third-worst in D1.  Their 3FG defense is 36%, which is below average, but not by as much.  Also, they do not allow people to the line...they are #22 in the country in that.

Just to say this....as well as BG has been playing and shooting at home, this would appear to be a good match-up for us.

The Skyhawks have five double-figure scorers, but remember that fast pace.  Their leading scorer is Derek Hawtorne, a 6'3" JUCO transfer.  He's scoring a rough 13 a game, shooting 43% and 33%.  He also leads the team with 5.7 rebounds per game.

Preston Parks, their second-leading scorer, joined them mid-year after transferring last year from The Citadel, where he was the FR of the year in the Southern Conference.  He's shooting 33% and 38%, so also rough.  He has 33 assists in only 7 games.

Quinton Dove is scoring 11 PPG on 60% shooting in 20 minutes a game.  He's 6'8".  He was a highly ranked player at Cuyahoga CC.

Fatodd Lewis is also 6'8" and actually played with them last year.  He's scoring 10.7 on 45% and 26% shooting with 4.5 rebounds.'

Kevin Little is scoring 10.6 PPG on 33% and 29% shooting.  He leads the team in 3FG attempts.  He's a transfer from Colorado State who sat out last year. 

Delfinko Bogan leads the team with 4.2 assists per game and over 3 A/T.  He also has 19 steals.

So, this is a game BG should win.  These games after Christmas can be dodgy...it's a long layoff and some time away from the game.  Kent certainly struggled last night.  Having said that, BG should make this a 7th straight home win.