East Tennessee State hosts VMI following Yildizoglu’s 22-point showing

By Canadian Press on January 7, 2026.

VMI Keydets (6-9, 1-1 SoCon) at East Tennessee State Buccaneers (10-5, 2-0 SoCon)

Johnson City, Tennessee; Wednesday, 7 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: VMI visits East Tennessee State after Tan Yildizoglu scored 22 points in VMI’s 79-71 victory over the Chattanooga Mocs.

The Buccaneers have gone 8-1 in home games. East Tennessee State is fourth in the SoCon scoring 78.1 points while shooting 48.4% from the field.

The Keydets are 1-1 in conference matchups. VMI is eighth in the SoCon with 13.3 assists per game led by Yildizoglu averaging 4.1.

East Tennessee State makes 48.4% of its shots from the field this season, which is 4.9 percentage points higher than VMI has allowed to its opponents (43.5%). VMI scores 10.3 more points per game (76.8) than East Tennessee State gives up (66.5).

The Buccaneers and Keydets face off Wednesday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Brian Taylor II is scoring 14.6 points per game and averaging 4.8 rebounds for the Buccaneers. Blake Barkley is averaging 12.3 points and 4.2 rebounds over the last 10 games.

Yildizoglu is averaging 8.9 points, 4.1 assists and 1.8 steals for the Keydets. TJ Johnson is averaging 16.0 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Buccaneers: 6-4, averaging 77.6 points, 32.2 rebounds, 15.1 assists, 8.5 steals and 4.2 blocks per game while shooting 48.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 68.1 points per game.

Keydets: 3-7, averaging 71.1 points, 31.7 rebounds, 11.7 assists, 6.3 steals and 2.2 blocks per game while shooting 39.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 77.9 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

The Associated Press

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