After an 11-day bye to concentrate on final exams, the College of Charleston men’s basketball team (7-1, 2-0) embarks on one of its toughest non-conference stretches of the season starting off with a rematch with 2011 NCAA Tournament participant Tennessee (3-5, 0-0) on Wednesday, Dec. 14 at TD Arena. Tipoff between the Cougars and Volunteers is set for 9 p.m. (ET) and the game will be televised live nationally on ESPN2. The game is sold out, the third sell-out of the season.
For the fourth consecutive year, College of Charleston opened up Southern Conference play 2-0 with a pair of victories against crosstown rival The Citadel (83-64) on Dec. 1 and preseason North Division favorite Chattanooga in double overtime (87-85) on Dec. 3. The Cougars are one of only 40 NCAA Division I schools with one loss or less on the year marking the second-best start in the first eight games of the season in the Bobby Cremins Era next to the 2008-09 campaign.
Two of the nation’s top three-point ballclubs will be on hand as College of Charleston currently ranks No. 30 nationally in three-pointers made (8.4 avg) and UT ranks No. 30 in three-point field-goal percentage (40.2).
This will mark only the second time the Cougars have welcomed ESPN’s sister network to the friendly confines of TD Arena which opened its doors in November of 2008 next to last year’s NIT first-round victory over Dayton (94-84) on March 15, 2011. Play-by-play announcer Jon Sciambi and color analyst Adrian Branch will handle the call live on ESPN2. The game can also be viewed online via a live video stream on www.ESPN3.com.
