# 2019–20 East Tennessee State Buccaneers men's basketball team

The 2019–20 East Tennessee State Buccaneers men's basketball team represented East Tennessee State University in the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Buccaneers, led by fifth-year head coach Steve Forbes, played their home games at the Freedom Hall Civic Center in Johnson City, Tennessee, as members of the Southern Conference. They finished the season 30–4, 16–2 in SoCon play to finish as the SoCon regular season champions. They defeated VMI, Western Carolina and Wofford to become champions of the SoCon tournament. They earned the SoCon's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. However, the NCAA Tournament was cancelled amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
On April 30, 2020, head coach Steve Forbes resigned to become the head coach at Wake Forest. He finished at ETSU with a five-year record of 130–43.

## Previous season

The Buccaneers finished the 2018–19 season 24–10 overall, 13–5 in SoCon play to finish in a tie for third place. In the SoCon tournament, they defeated Chattanooga in the quarterfinals, before losing to Wofford in the semifinals. They received an invitation to the CIT, where they lost to Green Bay in the first round.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| November 1, 2019* 7:00 pm | | Limestone | W 80–62 | | Freedom Hall Civic Center (3,205) Johnson City, TN |
| Regular season ||||||
| November 6, 2019* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Newberry | W 79–50 | 1–0 | Freedom Hall Civic Center (3,323) Johnson City, TN |
| November 9, 2019* 8:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at UT Martin | W 92–75 | 2–0 | Skyhawk Arena (1,386) Martin, TN |
| November 14, 2019* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Winthrop | W 61–58 | 3–0 | Freedom Hall Civic Center (4,118) Johnson City, TN |
| November 19, 2019* 8:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at No. 4 Kansas Maui Invitational Mainland | L 63–75 | 3–1 | Allen Fieldhouse (16,300) Lawrence, KS |
| November 23, 2019* 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Delaware State Maui Invitational Mainland | W 98–66 | 4–1 | Freedom Hall Civic Center (4,004) Johnson City, TN |
| November 24, 2019* 2:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Southern Utah Maui Invitational Mainland | W 70–58 | 5–1 | Freedom Hall Civic Center (4,053) Johnson City, TN |
| November 26, 2019* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Appalachian State | W 78–69 | 6–1 | Freedom Hall Civic Center (5,126) Johnson City, TN |
| November 30, 2019* 3:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Little Rock | W 67–63 | 7–1 | Jack Stephens Center (921) Little Rock, AR |
| December 4, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at The Citadel | W 96–84 | 8–1 (1–0) | McAlister Field House (629) Charleston, SC |
| December 7, 2019* 8:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at North Dakota State | L 68–78 | 8–2 | Scheels Center (2,658) Fargo, ND |
| December 15, 2019* 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Milligan | W 97–41 | 9–2 | Freedom Hall Civic Center (3,927) Johnson City, TN |
| December 18, 2019* 7:00 pm, SECN | | at LSU | W 74–63 | 10–2 | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (8,556) Baton Rouge, LA |
| December 21, 2019* 4:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Cleveland State | W 80–55 | 11–2 | Freedom Hall Civic Center (3,852) Johnson City, TN |
| December 29, 2019* 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Mars Hill | W 117–48 | 12–2 | Freedom Hall Civic Center (3,934) Johnson City, TN |
| January 1, 2020 4:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Wofford | W 49–48 | 13–2 (2–0) | Freedom Hall Civic Center (5,274) Johnson City, TN |
| January 4, 2020 4:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Furman | L 56–65 | 13–3 (2–1) | Timmons Arena (2,314) Greenville, SC |
| January 8, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at UNC Greensboro | W 64–57 | 14–3 (3–1) | Greensboro Coliseum (3,032) Greensboro, NC |
| January 11, 2020 4:00 pm, ESPN3 | | VMI | W 61–55 | 15–3 (4–1) | Freedom Hall Civic Center (4,730) Johnson City, TN |
| January 15, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Samford | W 88–63 | 16–3 (5–1) | Freedom Hall Civic Center (4,204) Johnson City, TN |
| January 18, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Western Carolina | W 85–66 | 17–3 (6–1) | Ramsey Center (3,756) Cullowhee, NC |
| January 25, 2020 4:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Chattanooga | W 75–64 | 18–3 (7–1) | Freedom Hall Civic Center (6,086) Johnson City, TN |
| January 29, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Mercer | L 55–71 | 18–4 (7–2) | Freedom Hall Civic Center (4,608) Johnson City, TN |
| February 1, 2020 4:00 pm, ESPN+ | | UNC Greensboro | W 82–65 | 19–4 (8–2) | Freedom Hall Civic Center (5,838) Johnson City, TN |
| February 5, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Chattanooga | W 80–64 | 20–4 (9–2) | McKenzie Arena (2,823) Chattanooga, TN |
| February 8, 2020 4:30 pm, ESPN+ | | at Mercer | W 73–60 | 21–4 (10–2) | Hawkins Arena (3,472) Macon, GA |
| February 12, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | The Citadel | W 91–67 | 22–4 (11–2) | Freedom Hall Civic Center (4,573) Johnson City, TN |
| February 15, 2020 1:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at VMI | W 72–67 | 23–4 (12–2) | Cameron Hall (2,100) Lexington, VA |
| February 19, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Furman | W 75–66 | 24–4 (13–2) | Freedom Hall Civic Center (6,177) Johnson City, TN |
| February 22, 2020 3:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Samford | W 80–74 | 25–4 (14–2) | Pete Hanna Center (511) Homewood, AL |
| February 26, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Wofford | W 60–54 | 26–4 (15–2) | Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium (2,345) Spartanburg, SC |
| February 29, 2020 4:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Western Carolina | W 68–67 | 27–4 (16–2) | Freedom Hall Civic Center (6,177) Johnson City, TN |
| SoCon tournament ||||||
| March 7, 2020 12:00 pm, ESPN+ | (1) | vs. (9) VMI Quarterfinals | W 70–57 | 28–4 | Harrah's Cherokee Center (5,573) Asheville, NC |
| March 8, 2020 4:00 pm, ESPN+ | (1) | vs. (5) Western Carolina Semifinals | W 97–75 | 29–4 | Harrah's Cherokee Center (6,132) Asheville, NC |
| March 9, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN | (1) | vs. (7) Wofford Championship | W 72–58 | 30–4 | Harrah's Cherokee Center (6,400) Asheville, NC |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| | | | Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern. ||||||
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