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JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State men's basketball team will open its 2010-11 Ohio Valley Conference schedule on Saturday, when the Gamecocks host Tennessee Tech at 7:45 p.m. at Pete Mathews Coliseum. Fans can get free admission with their ticket stub from Saturday's football game.

The matchup will be the earliest conference opener for the Gamecocks since 2001-02, when they faced Troy State on Nov. 29 as part of the Atlantic Sun Conference schedule. It will also mark the return home for the Gamecocks after a grueling four-game road stretch.

JSU is coming off a tough six-point loss at UAB on Wednesday that ended up being an historical night from an individual perspective. Senior Nick Murphy's nine points in the loss pushed him past Walker Russell as the school's all-time leading scorer at the Division I level with 1,188 career points. The mark ties the Bronx, N.Y., native with Jerry James for 17th on the school's all-time scoring list. Murphy became the school's career rebounding leader in Division I last week.

Also against the Blazers, junior Jeremy Bynum became the fifth player in the school's Division I history to score 900 points in a career. The Oxford, Ala., native's 18 came in large part because of four 3-pointers that moved him past Pat Madden into second place on JSU's career 3-pointers made list.

JSU opens its OVC slate against the Golden Eagles for the third-straight season and at home for the second year in a row. JSU has won its league opener over TTU in each of the last two seasons, including an 83-72 win in Pete Mathews Coliseum on Dec. 5 of last season. In that game, Murphy was a perfect 6-for-6 from the floor and a school-record 10-for-10 from the charity stripe to score 23 points. He added 10 boards for a double-double in the JSU win.