By LARRY VAUGHT

East Tennessee State was not expected to be back in the NCAA Tournament field this year, but the Buccaneers won the Atlantic Sun Tournament and will face No. 2 Kentucky Thursday in New Orleans.

The Buccaneers gave Pittsburgh a scare in last year’s NCAA first round, but they had to overcome major adversity to make it back to the tournament.

First, sophomore center Seth Coy was killed last summer in an automobile accident on his way to see family in Indiana. Then senior Mike Smith hurt his knee early in the season and was forced to redshirt.

If that wasn’t enough, East Tennessee State had early-season games at Louisville, Tennessee and Alabama-Birmingham but did win at Arkansas. The Buccaneers also lost 61-57 to Ohio Valley Conference champion Murray State and 60-58 at Morehead State during their 5-7 start. However, they have won their last six games for coach Murray Bartow.

Bartow’s team relied on defense and limited opponents to 66.5 points per game and 41.5 percent shooting from the field.

Guards Micah Williams, a 6-4 junior, and Justin Tubbs, a 6-3 junior, both average about 12 points per game. Williams scored 32 points against Campbell in the first round of the A-Sun Tournament, had 20 to help his team beat Kennesaw State in the semifinals and contributed 13 points and nine boards in the championship game victory over host Mercer.

Tubbs, a transfer from Alabama, had a team-high 18 points against Mercer and has a team-high 73 3-pointers this year.

Backup guard Jacolby Davis leads the Bucs with 73 assists and is the team’s best perimeter defender.

Tommy Hubbard, a 6-4 junior, leads the Bucs in scoring at 14.1 points per game and is also tops in rebounding with 8.3 per outing. He has a team-high 54 steals.

Sophomore Isiah Brown averages 7.7 points and 5.6 rebounds per game and usually has to play against bigger centers since he weighs only 210 pounds.

East Tennessee’s strength has been transition offense, but the Bucs have not faced a team with the speed of Kentucky or a playmaker like John Wall. East Tennessee likes to force turnovers with a variety of defensive looks from a full-court press to an aggressive man-to-man defense.

East Tennessee has never faced UK in tournament play, but the Bucs will be making their eighth NCAA trip since 1989 when they just missed beating No. 1 seed Oklahoma by one point. They beat Arizona in 1992 and lost only 76-73 to Iowa in 1991 and Wake Forest in 2003. They also lost 80-77 to Cincinnati in 2004 and last year fell 72-62 to top-seeded Pittsburgh.

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