UT Martin – Ahead of Schedule

One-on-One with Jeremy Shulman

(St. Louis, MO) – Tennessee Martin’s men’s basketball team is ahead of schedule. The Skyhawks (7-3) have racked up some impressive non conference wins and second year coach Jeremy Shulman is excited about his team. UT Martin opened the season with a win over UNLV and followed that up with a victory at Bradley.

Suddenly the Skyhawks were in the mid-major spotlight.

Shulman’s ‘Team FIBA’ has ten international players and is one of the youngest rosters in college basketball. Nine players are freshmen. Three are in the starting lineup.

While UT Martin isn’t offensively gifted, Shulman’s squad depends on solid defense and rebounding. They lead the Ohio Valley Conference in scoring defense, three-point percentage defense (twenty-third nationally) and rebounding margin (forty-seventh).

After Shulman’s wildly successful junior college coaching career (346-107), he took over the Skyhawk program. Last season’s record was 14-19. He says this season’s start is a little ahead of schedule.

Wednesday, the Skyhawks dropped a 29-point decision to Southern Illinois. Shulman says the very things that made them previously successful. While admitting SIU is an outstanding team he says his team wasn’t sufficiently ‘connected’ and ha made some coaching mistakes.

Young Players Are Also Ahead of Schedule

Matas Deniusas is the five-time OVC ‘Freshman of the Week’ and is the Skyhawks’ second leading scorer (14.1 ppg) and a 6’9 forward from Lithuania. Shulman says Deniusas is one of the youngest players in Division 1 basketball and fits the UT Martin system ‘to a T’.

As a young player he still has many lessons to learn.

UT Martin’s leading scorer has been with Shulman for three years. Andrija Bukumirovic played one season for Shulman at Eastern Florida State College and is in his second campaign in Martin, Tennessee. Calling Bukumirovic one of his all-time favorite players, the junior is the Skyhawks’ oldest starter.

The possibility of being 8-3 heading into OVC play, is surprising even to the head coach. His youthful team has played and succeeded against a very demanding schedule.

UT Martin opens the Ohio Valley Conference with road games at Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech. While saying his team will be underdogs in those two games, Shulman says the OVC is a much improved league.

Dragos Lungu îs arguably the Skyhawks’ top player. He was averaging 13.8 points-per-game and over five rebounds and nearly three assist per contest. He may be out for the season with an injury. Lungu is a 6’4 guard from Romania. In his absence sophomore Filip Radakovic and freshman Damien King are seeing increased playing time.

OVC On the Rise

Seven of the OVC’s eleven teams are in the top 300 in the NET and four in the top 200.  UT Martin’s 167 is tops in the conference. Lindenwood (177), Tennessee Tech (191) and Tennessee State (195) are the other three. Last season saw six OVC teams in the top 200 and only Southeast Missouri below that number at 183.

Head to YouTube to watch our entire conversation or head to Valley Hoops Insider Podcasts for an audio only version.

The Skyhawks are ahead of schedule in the improving Ohio Valley Conference, but they travel to two of the top OVC teams to begin the conference season. Shulman and ‘Team FIBA’ will have to stay connected to be successful and to stay ahead of schedule.

Do Good

 

Editor: Cover photo of ;lkjl;kj;lkj, courtesy of utmsports.com.