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ETSU reloads after losing 11 players, leaning on veteran transfers and coach Brooks Savage, but frontcourt depth may limit its SoCon title hopes.
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Written By
ETSU was the best team in the Southern Conference for 18 games and the wrong team for one night in Asheville. The Buccaneers went 23-11, won the league at 13-5, and beat The Citadel and Western Carolina to reach the title game. Furman beat them 76-61. ETSU shot 18.8 percent from three that night. Then 11 players left, and Brooks Savage started over.
The league's coaches still see the Bucs near the top. They picked ETSU second with 86 points and the only first-place vote Furman did not get. BJ Ward, a senior guard who averaged 10.9 points at Southeast Missouri, made the preseason all-conference team. Savage is the reigning SoCon coach of the year, and in April ETSU extended his contract through the 2028-29 season. Savage added Dwight Perry, who won the 2025 SoCon tournament as Wofford's head coach, as associate head coach. He has four returning players, and none of them averaged double figures.
Eleven players from last year's roster are gone. They scored 2,094 of ETSU's 2,638 points, about 79 percent. They also had 416 of the team's 481 assists.
Brian Taylor II and Cam Morris III were done. Both used up their eligibility. Taylor averaged 14.6 points, started all 34 games, and made second-team All-SoCon. Morris averaged 13.2 points and 5.2 rebounds, shot 57.3 percent, and led the team with 37 blocks. He made the second team and the all-defensive team.
Blake Barkley also averaged 14.6 points. The 6-foot-8 forward added 5.8 rebounds, shot 58.9 percent, made third-team All-SoCon, and was on the all-tournament team. He transferred to Grand Canyon.
Jaylen Smith was the SoCon Sixth Man of the Year. He averaged 9.1 points off the bench and had 100 assists, tied for the team lead. He scored 28 against Central Arkansas. He first committed to Kent State, reopened his recruitment, and signed with Kansas City.
Allen Strothers started all 34 games at guard and made the all-defensive team. He averaged 4.1 points and also had 100 assists. He was a redshirt senior and is out of eligibility.
The rest were depth. Isaiah Sutherland averaged 3.5 points in 24 games and transferred to Green Bay. Gabe Sisk averaged 3.4 points in 18 games and went to Division II Malone. Henry Sisemore, a 6-foot-8 freshman, played seven games and transferred to Division II UT Tyler. Milton Matthews III, who averaged 4.0 points, came from Florida A&M with one season left and is out of eligibility. Frederico Whitaker Jr. entered the portal and landed at Barton Community College. Joseph Carter, who played six games, is also gone.
That is three all-conference players, the sixth man of the year, and two all-defensive picks.
Maki Johnson is the veteran. The 6-foot-5 senior played all 34 games last season and averaged 5.7 points and 3.2 rebounds. He made 52 threes at 38.5 percent. He scored a career-high 29 with nine threes against South Alabama, and he went 5-for-6 from deep at VMI. He has played in 98 games for ETSU, and he expects to shoot more this year.
Jordan McCullum is the returning starter. The 6-foot-8 junior started 32 games and averaged 8.3 points and 3.7 rebounds while shooting 53.3 percent. He had 31 blocks, second on the team. He scored in double figures in seven of the last 12 games, including a career-high 24 against Chattanooga. He will not play this season. McCullum tore his ACL and meniscus in practice and will miss 2026-27, WJHL's Colin Rafferty reported.
Brayden Crump is the third. The 6-foot-9 forward came from Elon and averaged 6.4 points and 3.1 rebounds in 11 games before a shoulder injury ended his season.
Maddox Huff, a 6-foot-2 guard, redshirted. He scored 2,721 points at Harlan County High School in Kentucky and led the state with 151 threes as a senior.
Savage added seven transfers and three freshmen. The transfers are mostly guards who started somewhere else.
Ward is the point guard. He started all 33 games at Southeast Missouri last season and averaged 10.9 points and 3.7 assists. His 122 assists were fifth in the Ohio Valley Conference. He shot 35 percent from three and 81 percent from the line. He has started 65 games over the last two seasons.
Jayden Cooper is the scorer. He started 31 of 33 games at South Alabama and averaged 11.3 points. He made 55 threes and scored 34 against Southern Miss, with seven threes. Before South Alabama he was a 20-point scorer at NAIA Faulkner.
Trevor Hennig averaged 10.0 points at Weber State in 26 games and shot 48 percent. He scored 19 against Utah State. As a freshman he was the third-leading scorer among Big Sky freshmen.
Tyran Mason is a 6-foot-6 wing from UT Arlington. He averaged 6.5 points and 3.6 rebounds in all 32 games off the bench and shot 47.7 percent. He scored a career-high 20 against Utah Valley.
Kendall Campbell is the most productive big. The 6-foot-7 forward started all 29 games at Division II Wingate and averaged 12.0 points and 4.7 rebounds. He shot 55.8 percent and 36.7 percent from three. He began his career at Elon.
Marqus Marion is a 6-foot-9 forward from Denmark by way of Wake Forest. He averaged 1.5 points and 2.3 rebounds in 20 games for the Deacons. He has played for Denmark's senior national team. DeCarl Payne, a guard from John A. Logan College, made 46 threes at 39 percent last season. His brother Devontavius played at ETSU.
The freshmen are Colt Busse, a shooter from Baltimore, Ben Maller from Prolific Prep, and Elton Smith, a 6-foot-8 forward from Columbia, S.C., who played for the Overtime Elite champions.
Savage replaced guards with guards. Ward is the passer. Cooper and Hennig are the shooters. Johnson is the one who knows the system. That is a sound plan on paper. All four were starters or rotation players somewhere.
The frontcourt is the question. Morris and Barkley were the two most efficient scorers on the league's best team. Both shot better than 57 percent. The only returning big who played real minutes, McCullum, is out for the season. Campbell put up numbers in Division II. Marion and Crump have played sparingly at the Division I level. ETSU outrebounded opponents by 1.6 a game last season. Keeping that number positive now falls on Campbell, Marion, and Crump.
The defense has to be rebuilt too. ETSU held opponents to 42.5 percent last year and forced 12.8 turnovers a game. The top four players in steals are all gone.
ETSU hosts High Point in a charity exhibition at Freedom Hall on Oct. 25. The regular season opens on the road at Arizona State on Nov. 2 and at NC State on Nov. 6. The home opener is Campbell on Nov. 11. The Bucs play at Marshall on Nov. 17, then host Longwood, Kentucky State, Charleston Southern, Morehead State, and Virginia-Lynchburg.
League play starts at VMI on Dec. 5. Presbyterian, which beat ETSU last November, visits on Dec. 8. The Bucs play at Jacksonville State on Dec. 12 after losing to the Gamecocks at home last year.
The 20-game league schedule has two stretches that will decide the season. The first runs from Dec. 19 to Jan. 2: UNCG and Furman at home, then at Mercer and at Samford. The second runs from Jan. 21 to Feb. 3: Chattanooga at home, at Wofford, Mercer at home, at Furman on Jan. 30, and at Chattanooga. Wofford visits Freedom Hall on Feb. 13, and ETSU plays at Western Carolina on Feb. 18. The regular season ends at home against Samford on Feb. 27. Samford won at Freedom Hall in overtime last February.
ETSU won 23 games and the regular-season title with a roster that has almost entirely left. The coaches still picked the Bucs second because of Savage and the guards he brought in.
That is a fair bet. Ward, Cooper, and Hennig have all produced at the Division I level. What ETSU does not have is a proven big man who can score like Morris or Barkley did. That was supposed to be McCullum's job, and his knee injury leaves it to Campbell and Crump. The guards should keep ETSU in the top three, but there may not be enough inside to beat Furman in March.
