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Tennessee Tech enters the SoCon with Tobin Anderson, 13 newcomers and major roster turnover, aiming for a middle-of-the-pack finish.
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Tennessee Tech is the new team in the league. The Golden Eagles went 13-18 last season and 8-12 in the Ohio Valley, and they did not qualify for the OVC tournament. It was the program's eighth straight losing season. John Pelphrey was fired on March 3 after going 79-138 in seven years. Ten days later, Tech hired Tobin Anderson on a five-year deal. Nobody in the Southern Conference has played the Golden Eagles in a league game.
The league's coaches are buying the hire. They picked Tech sixth with 57 points, ahead of Mercer, Western Carolina, VMI, The Citadel, and UNCG. No Golden Eagle made the preseason all-conference team. That makes sixth a vote for Anderson more than for any player on the roster, since only two of them have played a game in Cookeville.
Fourteen players from last year's roster are gone. They scored 1,861 of the team's 2,154 points in the season stats, about 86 percent. Every one of the top seven scorers left.
Mekhi Cameron led the team at 11.1 points a game. The redshirt senior started all 30 games he played, made 44 threes, and shot 79.7 percent at the line. He signed to play professionally in Portugal with Maia Basket.
JaJuan Nicholls was the most efficient big. The 6-foot-8 forward averaged 10.8 points and 5.1 rebounds, shot 61.2 percent from the field, and led the team with 25 blocks. He transferred to Southern Utah. Dani Pounds averaged 10.7 points and 4.9 rebounds and was an OVC Newcomer of the Week in December. He transferred to Louisiana.
Brandon Muntu started all 30 games, averaged 8.8 points, made 50 threes, and shot 93.1 percent at the line. Ja'Quavian Florence averaged 6.6 points off the bench. Both were graduate students, and neither is on the 2026-27 roster. Jacobe Whitted, a 6-foot-7 freshman, averaged 3.0 points and 3.6 rebounds. He transferred to North Alabama.
Malik Ferguson (5.3 points) transferred to Southern. Jah'Kim Payne (2.8 points) is headed to Division II Clark Atlanta. C.J. McPherson (4.6 points, 38.7 percent from three), Grant Slatten (3.4 points, 16 starts), Owen Varnado, Hagan Preston, Colin Ayers, and Maguire Evans are also off the roster.
Ty Owens is the closest thing Tech has to continuity. The 6-foot guard came from Polk State and started 27 of 30 games last season. He averaged 7.0 points and 27.7 minutes. His 108 assists were more than three times as many as anyone else on the team. He shot 83.6 percent at the line and played all 40 minutes in a win over SIUE. He was better in league play, at 7.7 points and 29.1 minutes. He is a senior now and the only player on the roster who has run a Tech offense.
Mekhi Turner is the other holdover. The 6-foot-8 junior forward from Atlanta averaged 3.5 points and 2.5 rebounds in 24 games. He made 58.2 percent of his shots and did not attempt a three. He started four games in league play. He will have to give Anderson real minutes in a frontcourt that lost Nicholls and Pounds.
Anderson brought in 13 players. Most of them have already played college basketball somewhere, and two of them followed him from his last stop.
De'Ante Green has the biggest name. The 6-foot-9 senior from Asheville started 20 games for Florida State in 2023-24. At South Florida in 2024-25, he averaged 6.4 points and 4.5 rebounds in 21 games before a season-ending injury. He did not play last season. Caleb Sanders, a 6-foot-6 sophomore forward, also comes from USF, where he averaged 2.8 points in 11 games. Anderson spent last season at USF as a special assistant to Bryan Hodgson.
The scoring has to come from the backcourt. Trent Mosquera, a 6-foot-5 redshirt senior, averaged 13.5 points and 5.8 rebounds at Le Moyne and started 30 of 32 games. He scored a career-high 28 at Central Connecticut. Cbo Newton, a 6-foot-3 junior, averaged 10.1 points at Abilene Christian, started 24 games, and was a WAC Newcomer of the Week. He started his career at Grambling. Davante Hackett, a 6-foot-3 senior from Brampton, Ontario, came from Brock University and Stonehill. Last season he scored 40 points with eight threes against Saint Francis, the first 40-point game in Stonehill's Division I history. He also scored 30 against Le Moyne.
CohenJ Gonzales is the shooter. The 5-foot-9 senior averaged 10.6 points at Division II Colorado Mesa and shot 42.0 percent from three and 88.9 percent at the line. Caleb Hollenbeck, a 6-foot-4 senior, started 27 games at Marshall and shot 39.7 percent from three.
Shaun Arnold is the rebounder. The 6-foot-5 senior averaged 11.6 points and 9.5 rebounds at Division II UIndy, with 10 double-doubles and 67 steals in 22 games. Before that he played at St. Thomas Aquinas, the school Anderson coached for nine seasons before Fairleigh Dickinson. Kyler Fox, a 6-foot-8 sophomore, averaged 7.7 points and 7.7 rebounds at Itawamba Community College and blocked 69 shots. Dane Christensen, a 6-foot-8 junior, played 27 games at UTRGV after averaging 16.9 points at Gillette College.
The freshmen are guards. Kamai Samuels comes from Putnam Science Academy. Jake Pampolina averaged 25.6 points as a senior at Suffern High School in New York and broke the Rockland County career scoring record. Harrison Stewart comes from Spain Park High School in Alabama.
Anderson has won with rosters built fast before. His 2023 Fairleigh Dickinson team was a No. 16 seed that beat No. 1 seed Purdue, the second 16-over-1 upset ever. Iona fired him after two seasons. This roster has a lot of 6-foot-3 to 6-foot-5 guards who have handled the ball and a few long forwards who can block shots.
The point guard spot belongs to Owens until someone takes it. He and Turner are the only players who know the building. Newton, Hackett, and Mosquera all scored in double figures at their last stops, which gives Anderson more ways to score than Tech had last season.
The frontcourt is the question. Green is the most talented big, but he has played 21 games in the last two seasons. Fox and Arnold rebound. Turner is the only big who has played for Tech. If Green stays healthy, the Golden Eagles have a real starting group. If not, they will be small against the top of the league.
The nonconference schedule has three road games against power-conference teams. Tech opens at Mississippi State on Nov. 2, plays at Indiana on Nov. 12, and plays at Arizona on Dec. 12. WKU visits on Nov. 8. Tech also plays at UNC Asheville, Eastern Kentucky, and Middle Tennessee. Blue Mountain, Wright State-Lake, and Welch College are the home games outside Division I.
League play starts at home against Samford on Dec. 5. Tech plays at The Citadel on Dec. 19, hosts Mercer on Dec. 22, and plays at Wofford on Dec. 30. Furman hosts Tech on Jan. 2, and Tech hosts Furman on Jan. 23. VMI visits on Jan. 7 and hosts Tech on Jan. 30. UNCG comes in on Jan. 9, and Tech plays at UNCG on Jan. 28. Tech plays at ETSU on Jan. 13 and hosts the Bucs on Feb. 10.
The in-state games carry extra weight. Tech plays at Chattanooga on Jan. 18 and hosts the Mocs on Feb. 27 to close the regular season. Western Carolina comes to Cookeville on Jan. 21, and Tech plays in Cullowhee on Feb. 3. The last stretch is at Mercer on Feb. 18 and at Samford on Feb. 20, then home against Wofford on Feb. 24.
Tech is starting over in a new league with a new coach and 13 new players. The returners scored 293 points last season. Sixth is a high spot for a roster with that little history, and the coaches clearly believe in Anderson.
The math works if Mosquera, Newton, and Hackett score like they did at their last schools, and if Green stays on the floor. That is a lot of ifs. Middle of the league is a fair target. Contending would be a surprise. By February, Tech needs a set rotation and a home floor that SoCon teams do not want to visit.
