ETSU men’s basketball to play Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville IN 2024-25

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (July 18, 2024) – The ETSU men’s basketball team will play a pair of ASUN teams this upcoming 2024-25 season, as the Southern Conference and ASUN announced a two-year scheduling alliance on Thursday. Each SoCon team will play two games against ASUN opponents through this alliance with games taking place in early November and December.

The Bucs will host Eastern Kentucky on Friday, Nov. 8, while ETSU travels to Jacksonville on Saturday, Dec. 14.

Eastern Kentucky won the ASUN regular season championship a year ago after going 12-4 in league play. This will mark the 52nd all-time meeting between the two programs and first since Dec. 18, 2015, when ETSU won 87-81 inside Freedom Hall. The Bucs have won three straight in the series, while the Colonels lead the series, 28-23. The two schools were members of the Ohio Valley Conference with ETSU playing from 1958-77 and EKU from 1948-2021.

ETSU and Jacksonville have history from the Bucs’ time in the ASUN as the two teams have met 20 times with the Blue & Gold leading the all-time series, 20-13. The last meeting between the programs was on Feb. 20, 2014, when the Dolphins won 91-86 in Jacksonville. ETSU defended its home floor earlier that season with a 76-75 win. The Bucs defeated Jacksonville in the 2009 ASUN Championship game to punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament. The series dates back to the 1969-70 season.

This agreement comes in response to the emphasis placed on NET rankings for postseason prospects and an ever-changing landscape in college athletics which, for many, has made it difficult to fill a 30-game schedule with quality opponents.

The start of the 2024-25 season is just over 100 days away. Season tickets are currently on sale and can be purchased by calling the ETSU Ticket Office at 423-439-3878 or visiting ETSUTickets.com .

Below are the full SoCon-ASUN matchups for 2024-25.

Round 1

Nov. 4 – FGCU @ UNCG

Nov. 8 – Eastern Kentucky @ ETSU

Nov. 8 – Western Carolina @ Queens

Nov. 9 – VMI @ Bellarmine

Nov. 9 – Wofford @ Lipscomb

Nov. 11 – Stetson @ The Citadel

Nov. 11 – Jacksonville @ Furman

Nov. 11 – Chattanooga @ Austin Peay

Nov. 15 – Samford @ North Alabama

Dec. 4 – West Georgia @ Mercer

Round 2

Dec. 1 – North Alabama @ Wofford

Dec. 3 – Lipscomb @ UTC

Dec. 4 – Bellarmine @ Western Carolina

Dec. 4 – Furman @ FGCU

Dec. 7 – Queens @ VMI

Dec. 8 – Austin Peay @ Samford

Dec. 8 – Mercer @ Stetson

Dec. 14 – ETSU @ Jacksonville

Dec. 14 – UNCG @ North Florida

Dec. 16 – The Citadel @ Central Arkansas

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