(St. Louis, MO) – Tennessee State, the surprise team in the Ohio Valley Conference is playing postseason basketball. The Tigers take on Ball State tonight in opening round action of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
Dana Ford (OVC Coach of the Year) orchestrated a 15 game turn around as the Tigers collected 20 victories compared to five last season. This is TSU’s third trip to the CIT and their first since 2013. Tennessee State has never won a postseason game. Last season both Eastern Illinois and UT Martin participated in the CIT and made history by winning their first-ever Division 1 postseason contests.
The Tigers accumulated a program tying 20 victories this year sparked by two all-OVC performers in Tahjere McCall and Keron DeShields. The two East Coast raised guards combined to average almost 31 points combined and both were named to the OVC’s all-newcomer team.
Ball State (19-13) play in the Mid-American Conference where they finished (10-8). The Cardinals are having a basketball revival of their own. While the Tigers manufactured the best improvement in the nation, the Cardinals were fifth, with an improvement of 12 wins. Ball State is playing postseason basketball for the first time since 2002.
Franko House is a 6-6 forward named to the MAC’s all defensive team and was a second team all-conference performer. The Elkhart, Indiana native leads the Cardinals in scoring at 12.5 ppg clip, but has averaged over 19 points over the last four contests.
CIT games are played on campuses and the Tigers have the luxury of hosting this opening round game at Gentry Center.
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As we near the closing of the portal window, we've reached 1900. Some of them never to play college basketball again, earn a college degree and some to play at a much lower level than they did last season.
I guess we'll be seeing this in a @RacersHoops uniform this year. Glad AJ is staying in the @ValleyHoops.
