| Games 6 & 7: Charleston Southern (1-4) vs. Southern Utah (2-2) and Delaware State (0-5) or ETSU (3-1) |
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Charleston Southern men's basketball concludes their Maui on the Mainland games over the weekend as they take on Southern Utah from the Big Sky Conference and either Delaware State or the host ETSU Sunday.
Charleston Southern takes on Southern Utah for the first time since 1988 in a Saturday morning clash – their first matchup with a Big Sky member since the 1989-90 season when the Bucs faced off with Northern Arizona.
The Bucs can play either Delaware State from the MEAC or ETSU from the SoCon depending on Saturday's results. CSU owns the series lead over Delaware State and has won each of the last two meetings.
For Openers
- Charleston Southern closes their Maui on the Mainland games Saturday and Sunday at East Tennessee State with a neutral site affair with Southern Utah and either Delaware State or the host ETSU in the finale.
- The Bucs saw career nights in their first two Maui on the Mainland games as sophomore point guard Dontrell Shuler scored 24 points in a loss at Dayton while freshman shooting guard Malik Battle poured-in 11 points at No. 3 Michigan State Monday night.
- CSU plays their first neutral site game of the season after finishing 1-1 last year, both coming in the Big South Tournament. It's also their second all-time meeting with Southern Utah after a trip to Cedar City, Utah on New Year's Eve 1988 falling to the Thunderbirds.
- Sunday's contest depends on the results from Saturday - a matchup with Delaware State on Sunday would be the fourth all-time in program history and a matchup with ETSU would be the seventh in a battle of Buccaneers.
- CSU's weekend in Johnson City, Tenn. is the middle stretch of a five-game road swing after the Bucs played two of their first three games inside the Buc Dome.
Scouting The Thunderbirds
- Southern Utah made a splash in the college basketball world earlier this season knocking off Nebraska in Lincoln for a 2-0 start to the season. Since then, the Thunderbirds have fallen on the road at BYU by only 5 points and at UCLA.
- The Thunderbirds are led by five players averaging double figures. John Knight III leads all with 13.0, Dwayne Morgan posts 12.8, Cameron Oluyitan has 10.3 and the tandem of Dre Marin and Jakolby Long add 10.0 each.
- Southern Utah has a +6.3 scoring margin through four games scoring 60-plus in all contests this season while shooting .456 from the floor.
- The Thunderbirds were selected 4th in the Coaches' Poll for the Big Sky and 5th in the Media Poll, their highest preseason rank since joining the league.
Challenging November Slate
- Four of Charleston Southern's nonconference opponents sit inside the KenPom top-100 rankings headlined by No. 1 Michigan State.
- Of the four top-100 teams CSU plays, three come in a three-game stretch between Nov. 12 and Nov. 18.
- CSU begins that daunting stretch with Furman (98) at home followed by a trip to Dayton (56) Nov. 16 and a visit to East Lansing for the preseason No.1 team in America, Michigan State (1) just 48 hours later on Nov. 18.
- Missouri (38) also looms on the Buccaneer schedule to open the December slate while Southern Utah (207), James Madison (223) and Eastern Kentucky (260) all sit within 40 spots of the Bucs in the KenPom rankings.
