JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – The Queens University of Charlotte men's basketball team will wrap up an early five-game road swing this weekend when they travel to Johnson City, Tennessee for a multi-team event hosted by East Tennessee State. The Royals will take on USC Upstate on Saturday, November 23^rd at 6:00 p.m. before rounding out the weekend against ETSU on Sunday night at 5:00 p.m. Fans can purchase their tickets in advance by visiting the ETSU Athletics website.
 
GAMEDAY GUIDE VS. USC UPSTATE
Date: Saturday, November 23, 2024
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: Freedom Hall (Johnson City, Tenn.)
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Stats (Statbroadcast)
Queens Game Notes
Tickets
 
GAMEDAY GUIDE VS. EAST TENNESSEE STATE
Date: Sunday, November 24, 2024
Time: 5:00 PM
Location: Freedom Hall (Johnson City, Tenn.)
Watch (ESPN Plus)
Stats (Statbroadcast)
Queens Game Notes
Tickets

THE MATCHUP
Queens will head to their third multi-team event since joining Division 1 in 2022. The Royals are 3-1 in those events which includes the Rose Hall Division title at the 2022 Jamaica Classic. The Royals are playing their second back-to-back of the season after heading west to play at Utah and BYU on consecutive nights. Queens holds a 2-0 record against the Spartans and Buccaneers with victories over each. Since 2022, Queens is 3-1 against Big South opponents and 2-1 against SoCon members.
 
SCOUTING THE ROYALS (2-3 overall, 0-0 ASUN)

• Queens will head into the weekend looking to snap a three-game losing skid after falling at Utah, BYU, and Appalachian State. The Royals are coming off a tough 65-53 loss against the Mountaineers where they shot 32 percent from the field and 16 percent from downtown.
• Since 2000, Queens is 52-19 in back-to-back regular season games. The Royals have played at least one regular season back-to-back in 10 of the last 11 seasons.
• The Royals have struggled from the perimeter through five games shooting 28.7 percent. The mark is the lowest clip through five games since 2012-13.
• Despite the struggle from downtown, Queens has nailed a three-pointer in 348 consecutive games. Senior Chris Ashby is looking to become the fourth player in program history to make 100+ threes in a single season, and the first since Van Turner in 2019-20. Ashby enters the weekend with a team-high 11 three-pointers.
• Queens is looking to get right away from Curry Arena as the Royals are 1-18 away from Charlotte over the last two seasons. The Royals suffered their longest road losing skid in program history last season dropping 14 straight away games.
• Center Malcolm Wilson leads the nation in blocked shots as the Columbia, South Carolina native is averaging 5.8 blocks per contest. The seven-footer is on pace to shatter the single-season program record (116) set by Moustapha Diouf back in 2002-03. On the glass, Wilson is bringing down 8.8 rebounds per game which leads the Atlantic Sun.
• Since joining the Division 1 ranks in 2022, the Royals have made an effort to schedule opponents from the Carolinas. In those games, Queens is 4-5 with victories over High Point (2), Gardner-Webb (1), and Western Carolina (1).
• Newcomer Asjon Anderson is coming off his first career start as a Royal. The Tacoma, Washington native is averaging 12.4 points per game and has reached double figures in three of five outings.
• Queens has shown a relentless defensive effort through the first five games ranking third in the league in scoring defense and first in field goal percentage defense.
• In his first season at the point, Bryce Cash is settling in and packing the stat sheet averaging 6.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game. Against Western Carolina, the Charlotte native dished out a career-high nine assists. His performance in the backcourt has landed the Royals fourth in assists. Cash is the league leader in assist to turnover ratio.

 
SCOUTING THE SPARTANS (2-4 overall, 0-0 Big South)

• USC Upstate enters the multi-team event 2-4 overall and will play ETSU on Friday night inside Freedom Hall. The Spartans will be searching for their first road victory of the season after going 0-3 in previous outings.
• Despite the road woes, USC Upstate has faced a challenging start to the season squaring off against NC State, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest away from the G.B. Hodge Center. The Spartans hold the 58th toughest schedule according to KenPom.
• Marty Richter is in his first season at the helm of the Spartans program. Richter spent the last six seasons as an assistant coach at Drake, helping the Bulldogs to 150 victories, five postseason appearances, including three NCAA Tournament appearances, and three Missouri Valley Conference Championships.
• USC Upstate is a high-octane offense averaging 83.8 points per game on 48 percent shooting from the field. The Spartans are the third-best scoring offense in the Big South behind Winthrop and Radford.
• On defense, the Spartans are second in the league in opponent 3-point field goal percentage holding opponents to a 28 percent clip from downtown. The mark is also top 100 in the country.
• Freshman Mister Dean has been the spark for the Spartans averaging 19.7 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. The Miami native has poured in 20+ points on four occasions, including a season-high 25 against Piedmont where he went a perfect 12-for-12 from the field.

 
SCOUTING THE BUCCANEERS (2-2 overall, 0-0 SoCon)

• East Tennessee State enters the MTE 2-2 overall and 2-1 inside Freedom Hall. ETSU will square off against USC Upstate on Friday night before hosting the Royals on Sunday evening.
• ETSU is still searching for their first victory against a Division 1 opponent this season. The Bucs have taken down former Royals foes in the South Atlantic Conference in Newberry (72-51) and Tusculum (82-54)
• Despite the slow start against Division 1 opponents, ETSU has only lost both games by an average of 5.0 points. The Bucs fell against Eastern Kentucky 82-78 before dropping a road outing at Davidson 76-70.
• Brooks Savage is in his second season at the helm of ETSU after serving as an assistant from 2015- 2020. In his first season in charge, Savage led the program to 19 wins, the most since the 2019-20 season as well as a trip to the SoCon Tournament Championship game.
• ETSU presents the 85th best scoring defense in the country holding opponents to a 65.8 percent clip from the field.
• Four Buccaneers are averaging double figures as Quimari Peterson and Jaden Seymour lead the way with just over 16.0 points per game each.
• Concord, North Carolina native Karon Boyd is a player to watch on the glass as the junior is nearly averaging a double-double with 10.5 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. The 6-5 forward turned in a double-double against EKU in the first week of the season.

SOCIAL MEDIA
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