Eagle men make long-awaited debut

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (January 20, 2021) – Following an off-season like none other, Tallahassee Community College's men's basketball team will open a delayed and abbreviated 2020-21 season on Wednesday evening at South Georgia Technical College. 

The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip and can be seen live on Jock Jive. 

It's been more than ten months since Tallahassee played a regular season game. On March 7, 2020, the Eagles fell to Gulf Coast State College in the NJCAA District/FCSAA State Championship Game. Two days later, the team celebrated an at-large berth to the NJCAA Tournament, only to see the tournament first delayed on March 12, then cancelled on March 16 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Tonight, the Eagles, under the direction of second-year head coach Zach Settembre, return to the hardwood, with similar aspirations and a host of preseason accolades. 

Tallahassee was voted No. 1 in the NJCAA Region 8 Preseason Coaches' Poll, released on Monday – the first time since the 2009-10 season the Eagles have opened the season atop the region rankings. 

Nationally, the Eagles have garnered a No. 2 preseason ranking from Basketball Times, and, on Tuesday, landed at No. 3 in the NJCAA Division I Preseason Top 25, their highest preseason NJCAA ranking since opening the 1999-00 season at No. 2. 

Leading the way for Tallahassee is sophomore guard El Ellis, widely regarded as the top JUCO prospect in the country. Ellis, a native of Durham, N.C., signed with the Louisville Cardinals in November and is coming off a freshman season in which he was voted Panhandle Conference Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year, and earned second-team All-America honors from the NJCAA. 

Tallahassee will play its home opener at 2 p.m., Saturday, January 23 against Hillsborough Community College. 

GAME NOTES:

The Eagles have 22 games scheduled, including a 16-game Panhandle Conference slate. Of the six scheduled out-of-conference games, Wednesday's game at South Georgia Tech is the lone road trip on the docket…Tallahassee leads the all-time series with the Jets, 13-2, with both losses coming at The Hangar, the site of Wednesday's game. The Eagles are 3-2 all-time against South Georgia Tech in Americus…Tallahassee has a 16-6 record all-time when playing with a NJCAA No. 3 ranking.

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