2025–26 Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles men's basketball team

2025–26 Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles men's basketball
2025–26 Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles men's basketball
Conference	Ohio Valley Conference
Record	5–6 (0–0 OVC)
Head coach	John Pelphrey (7th season);
Associate head coach	Blake Gray (7th season)
Assistant coaches	Stefan King (4th season); Ezra Pinzur (1st season); Ronrico White (1st season); Miloš Babić (2nd season);
Home arena	Eblen Center

2025–26 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Lindenwood	2	–	0	1.000	7	–	4	.636
Tennessee State	1	–	0	1.000	7	–	4	.636
Tennessee Tech	1	–	0	1.000	6	–	6	.500
Morehead State	1	–	0	1.000	4	–	7	.364
Eastern Illinois	1	–	1	.500	3	–	8	.273
Little Rock	1	–	1	.500	3	–	9	.250
UT Martin	0	–	1	.000	8	–	4	.667
SIU Edwardsville	0	–	1	.000	7	–	5	.583
Southeast Missouri State	0	–	1	.000	5	–	7	.417
Western Illinois	0	–	1	.000	4	–	8	.333
Southern Indiana	0	–	1	.000	3	–	8	.273

† 2026 OVC tournament winner As of December 18, 2025

The 2025–26 Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles men's basketball team represents Tennessee Technological University during the 2025–26 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Golden Eagles are led by seventh-year head coach John Pelphrey and play their home games at the Eblen Center located in Cookeville, Tennessee as members of the Ohio Valley Conference.

On August 13, 2025, Tennessee Tech announced that the 2025–26 season would be the last season for the team in the Ohio Valley, as they will join the Southern Conference on July 1, 2026.^[1]^[2]

Previous season

The Golden Eagles finished the 2024–25 season 15–17, 10–10 in OVC play to finish tied for fifth place.^[3] They were defeated by UT Martin in the first round of the OVC tournament.^[4]

Preseason

On October 14, 2025, the OVC released their preseason polls. Tennessee Tech was picked to finish seventh in the conference.^[5]

Preseason rankings

ASUN Preseason Coaches Poll
Place	Team	Votes
1	Little Rock	188 (12)
2	Southeast Missouri State	177 (6)
3	SIU Edwardsville	163 (1)
4	Tennessee State	135 (1)
T-5	Lindenwood	100
T-5	Morehead State	100
7	Tennessee Tech	80
8	UT Martin	79
9	Southern Indiana	67 (2)
10	Eastern Illinois	63
11	Western Illinois	57
(#) first-place votes

Source:^[5]

Players to Watch

Each OVC team selected two "Players to Watch" for their team.

Players to Watch
Player	Position	Year
JaJuan Nicholls	Forward	Junior
Mekhi Cameron	Guard	Graduate Senior

Source:^[5]

Roster

2025–26 Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
G	0	Malik Ferguson	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Jr	Grovetown, Georgia
G	1	Mekhi Cameron	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	RS Sr	Atlanta, Georgia
G/F	2	Jacobe Whitted	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	Fr	Birmingham, Alabama
G	3	Jah'Kim Payne	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	181 lb (82 kg)	Jr	Atlanta, Georgia
F	4	Mekhi Turner	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	So	Atlanta, Georgia
G	5	Ja'Quavian Florence	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	GS	Atlanta, Georgia
G	6	Brandon Muntu	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	208 lb (94 kg)	GS	Calgary, Alberta
F	7	JuJuan Nicholls	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Jr	Scranton, Pennsylvania
G	8	Ty Owens	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Jr	Port St. Lucie, Florida
G	10	Grant Slatten	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	RS Sr	Sparta, Tennessee
F	11	Dani Pounds	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	Jr	Atlanta, Georgia
G	12	Hagan Preston	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	187 lb (85 kg)	Fr	Lexington, Kentucky
G	13	C.J. McPherson	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	211 lb (96 kg)	Jr	Virginia Beach, Virginia
G	23	Colin Ayers	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	RS Fr	Hilham, Tennessee
F	24	Owen Varnado	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Sr	Muskegon, Michigan
G	32	Maguire Evans	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Fr	Cleveland, Tennessee

Head coach

John Pelphrey (Kentucky)

Assistant coach(es)

Blake Gray (Alabama)
Stefan King (Troy)
Ezra Pinzur (Tennessee Tech)
Ronrico White (Chattanooga)
Miloš Babić (Tennessee Tech)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster
Last update: November 25, 2025

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
October 21, 2025* 2:15 p.m.	SC Central Christian College	W 99–38	–	Eblen Center (581) Cookeville, TN
October 27, 2025* 6:30 p.m.	at Belmont	L 70–74	–	Curb Event Center Nashville, TN
Non-conference regular season
November 3, 2025* 6:30 p.m., ESPN+	at Western Kentucky	L 70–82	0–1	E. A. Diddle Arena (3,247) Bowling Green, KY
November 7, 2025* 6:00 p.m., ESPN+	at Charlotte	L 65–70	0–2	Dale F. Halton Arena (2,699) Charlotte, NC
November 10, 2025* 6:00 p.m., ESPN+	Virginia–Lynchburg	W 118–58	1–2	Eblen Center (540) Cookeville, TN
November 13, 2025* 6:00 p.m., ESPN+	Berea	W 86–64	2–2	Eblen Center (667) Cookeville, TN
November 17, 2025* 6:00 p.m., ESPN+	West Georgia	L 59–61	2–3	Eblen Center (648) Cookeville, TN
November 19, 2025* 6:00 p.m., ESPN+	at USC Upstate	W 88–84	3–3	G. B. Hodge Center (471) Spartanburg, SC
November 26, 2025* 6:00 p.m., SECN	at No. 19 Kentucky	L 54–104	3–4	Rupp Arena (19,602) Lexington, KY
November 29, 2025* 1:00 p.m., SECN+	at Georgia	L 81–123	3–5	Stegeman Coliseum (7,125) Athens, GA
December 3, 2025* 11:00 a.m., ESPN+	at Lipscomb	L 80–83	3–6	Allen Arena (1,905) Nashville, TN
December 6, 2025* 1:00 p.m., ESPN+	at West Georgia	W 87–59	4–6	The Coliseum (567) Carrollton, GA
December 13, 2025* 3:00 p.m., ESPN+	Bethel (TN)	W 101–69	5–6	Eblen Center (855) Cookeville, TN
OVC regular season
December 18, 2025 7:30 p.m., ESPN+	Southeast Missouri State			Eblen Center Cookeville, TN
December 20, 2025 3:00 p.m., ESPN+	UT Martin			Eblen Center Cookeville, TN
December 30, 2025 7:30 p.m., ESPN+	Tennessee State			Eblen Center Cookeville, TN
January 1, 2026 5:00 p.m., ESPN+	at Little Rock			Jack Stephens Center Little Rock, AR
January 8, 2026 7:30 p.m., ESPN+	at Eastern Illinois			Lantz Arena Charleston, IL
January 10, 2026 3:30 p.m., ESPN+	at Western Illinois			Western Hall Macomb, IL
January 15, 2026 7:30 p.m., ESPN+	Southern Indiana			Eblen Center Cookeville, TN
January 17, 2026 3:00 p.m., ESPN+	Morehead State			Eblen Center Cookeville, TN
January 22, 2026 7:30 p.m., ESPN+	at Lindenwood			Hyland Performance Arena St. Charles, MO
January 24, 2026 4:00 p.m., ESPN+	at SIU Edwardsville			First Community Arena Edwardsville, IL
January 27, 2026 7:30 p.m., ESPN+	at Tennessee State			Gentry Center Nashville, TN
January 31, 2026 3:00 p.m., ESPN+	Little Rock			Eblen Center Cookeville, TN
February 5, 2026 7:30 p.m., ESPN+	Western Illinois			Eblen Center Cookeville, TN
February 7, 2026 3:00 p.m., ESPN+	Eastern Illinois			Eblen Center Cookeville, TN
February 12, 2026 4:00 p.m., ESPN+	at Morehead State			Ellis Johnson Arena Morehead, KY
February 14, 2026 3:30 p.m., ESPN+	at Southern Indiana			Liberty Arena Evansville, IN
February 19, 2026 7:30 p.m., ESPN+	SIU Edwardsville			Eblen Center Cookeville, TN
February 21, 2026 3:00 p.m., ESPN+	Lindenwood			Eblen Center Cookeville, TN
February 26, 2026 7:30 p.m., ESPN+	at UT Martin			Skyhawk Arena Martin, TN
February 28, 2026 3:45 p.m., ESPN+	at Southeast Missouri State			Show Me Center Cape Girardeau, MO
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central.

Sources:^[6]^[7]

References

^ "Tennessee Tech Athletics to join Southern Conference in 2026". 2025-08-13. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^ "Tennessee Tech makes historic move to Southern Conference, leaving Ohio Valley after 77 years". WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather. 2025-08-13. Archived from the original on 2025-08-13. Retrieved 2025-11-25.
^ "2024-25 Men's Basketball Standings". ovcsports.com. Retrieved 2025-11-25.
^ "Guinyard's 18 lead UT Martin over Tennessee Tech 70-67 in Ohio Valley Conference Tournament". CBS Sports. 2025-03-06. Retrieved 2025-11-25.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Little Rock Picked as 2025-26 OVC Men's Basketball Favorites". Ohio Valley Conference. Retrieved December 16, 2025.
^ "2025-26 Tennessee Tech Men's Basketball Schedule". Tennessee Tech. Retrieved 2025-11-25.
^ "Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles 2025-26 Regular Season NCAAM Schedule". ESPN. Retrieved 2025-11-25.

[1] "Tennessee Tech Athletics to join Southern Conference in 2026". 2025-08-13. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

[2] "Tennessee Tech makes historic move to Southern Conference, leaving Ohio Valley after 77 years". WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather. 2025-08-13. Archived from the original on 2025-08-13. Retrieved 2025-11-25.

[3] "2024-25 Men's Basketball Standings". ovcsports.com. Retrieved 2025-11-25.

[4] "Guinyard's 18 lead UT Martin over Tennessee Tech 70-67 in Ohio Valley Conference Tournament". CBS Sports. 2025-03-06. Retrieved 2025-11-25.

[poll-5] "Little Rock Picked as 2025-26 OVC Men's Basketball Favorites". Ohio Valley Conference. Retrieved December 16, 2025.

[6] "2025-26 Tennessee Tech Men's Basketball Schedule". Tennessee Tech. Retrieved 2025-11-25.

[7] "Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles 2025-26 Regular Season NCAAM Schedule". ESPN. Retrieved 2025-11-25.

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Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles men's basketball
Venues	Memorial Health & Physical Education Center (19??–1977) Hooper Eblen Center (1977–present)
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26