JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman takes its longest road trip of the year fresh out of the gate when it opens the 2020-21 season with a jaunt to Coker.
All parties within both Carosn-Newman and Coker's respective "travel" parties have tested negative for CoVID-19 in accordance with SAC policies in order for the game to take place.
The DeLoach Center will not be allowing general admission seating for the contest.
Carson-Newman will be trying to extend an 11-game winning streak in the series with the Cobras. Coker won five of the first six meetings all-time, but the Eagles haven't dropped a contest to the Cobras since the 2014-15 season.
Carson-Newman's 11-game win streak is its longest active win streak against a SAC foe. Carson-Newman has put up 100 points in four of the last seven games with the Cobras.
Coker did snap a string of four-straight double digit losses in a 75-73 defeat to the Eagles in the February 2019 meeting in Holt Fieldhouse, however, six of the last seven meetings have been double-digit wins for the Eagles.
Carson-Newman men's basketball is 42-21 all-time in season opening games. The Eagles are 6-2 over the last eight seasons in lidlifters. Carson-Newman opened last season with a 103-101 loss at Lees-McRae.
"It's sort of weird because by this time of the year we've typically gotten three scrimmages under our belts and a couple of non-conference games," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "To open up on the road in conference play is different. The reality is that we're just glad we get a chance to do this. I'm proud of our players and staff for following protocols to give us a chance to play, and I'm thankful for our administration here at Carson-Newman for giving us the guidance we need to allow us to have this chance."
Carson-Newman was picked ninth in the preseason SAC poll while Coker was tabbed 11th. Neither team had any preseason All-SAC selections.
The Eagles return 73 percent of their scoring and 81 percent of its rebounding from last years team. Carson-Newman brings back four of its top five leading scorers from a year ago in EJ Bush (Oak Ridge, Tenn.), Tripp Davis (Nashville, Tenn.), Luke Brenegan (Greenville, S.C.) and Kaleb Wallace (Atlanta, Ga.). Reece Anderson is the lone departure from that group.
Coker returns its top three scorers from a season ago in Chandler Lindsey (13.4 PPG), Malcolm Kennedy (11.2 PPG) and Dakota Jennings (8.4 PPG), while Jennings also returns as the team's leading rebounder from a season ago at 5.4 RPG. In total, the Cobras return six players from 2019-20.
"You prepare for what you do know and keep the focus primarily on yourself," Benson said. "We'll go into the game and make choices and decisions as the 40 minutes unwind. We won't do a lot of guess work here. Our primary concern is us."
Bryant Thomas was a star turned against the Cobras last season. In his sophomore campaign, the UNC Charlotte transfer tallied three double-digit scoring efforts, two of which came against the Cobras. Thomas had a career game against the Cobras in the meeting in Holt Fieldhouse with best for points and rebounds with 17 and nine.
Coker had its struggles last year offensively, especially from long range. The Cobras ranked 297 out of 303 Division II teams last year in three-point field goal percentage. Coker knocked down 29.7 of its threes.
The Cobras went 14-for-54 (25.9 percent) from long range last season against Carson-Newman.
Malcolm Kennedy produced nearly half of the Cobras scoring output when he poured in 25 in the meeting in the DeLoach Center last season, a 77-56 Carson-Newman win.
Kennedy's 25-point outburst was one of four 20-point efforts he had in 2019-20 and his second highest scoring output on the year. It was one of eight games of 25 points or more produced by C-N opponents last year.
Tipoff between the Eagles and Cobras is set for 2 p.m. Saturday. Coverage of the contest starts 15 minutes prior to gametime on the Eagle Sports Network with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on The Mountain 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
