University of North Carolina Asheville (UNCA) to take on East Tennessee State University (ETSU) at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center – Asheville on Tuesday, December 8

Full game to be streamed on ESPN+.

Asheville, NC – The Harrah’s Cherokee Center – Asheville is proud to announce a college men’s basketball regular season game between the University of North Carolina Asheville Bulldogs (0-2, Big South Conference) and the East Tennessee State University Buccaneers (1-2, Southern Conference) on Tuesday, December 8 at 7:02pm at the ExploreAsheville.com Arena. Due to current county and state COVID-19 regulations, fans will not be allowed to attend the event. The game will be the first sporting event to be held at the venue following the 2020 Camping World Maui Invitational on November 30 – December 2. For more information, please visit here.

Tipoff time is at 7:02pm ET and will be available to stream via the ESPN+ app or online at https://plus.espn.com/ for subscribers.

“Over the past year, our venue has been able to serve the community through temporary housing solutions in partnership with Homeward Bound WNC, food drives to feed local musicians in conjunction with Asheville Music Professionals, direct staffing COVID-19 support to Buncombe County DHHS and served as an official Buncombe County early voting location. We are always happy to serve our city, but we are also very excited to host sporting events again in our arena,” said Chris Corl, general manager of the Harrah’s Cherokee Center – Asheville. “In anticipation of high-impact, no fan sporting events, our staff has worked tirelessly to completely transform our venue into a safe and secure venue for the participating teams, coaches, and staff. And we hope to include music lovers and fans into that crowd in the near future.”

UNC Asheville enters the 2020-21 campaign after improving their win total by 11 games last season, posting a record of 15-16 overall, winning eight conference games and advancing to the Big South Quarterfinals. The 11-win improvement, which was third in all of NCAA Division I, did not go unnoticed, as the Bulldogs were selected to finish second behind Winthrop in the Big South Preseason Poll. Learn more at UNCAbulldogs.com/sports/mens-basketball.

Last season, the Bucs went 30-4 overall (16-2 in conference play) en route to sweeping both the regular season and tournament championships. The 30 wins set a program record, while ETSU became just the fourth team in the 100-year history of the SoCon to reach the 30-win mark. The Bucs finished the season ranked No. 26 in the Coaches Poll and No. 27 in the AP Poll, while being just one of four programs to register 30 wins last year – joining No. 2 Gonzaga (31), No. 6 San Diego State (30) and Liberty. Learn more at ETSUbucs.com/mbasketball.

A limited number of media journalists will be allowed to socially distance this event in person. For more information, please contact Matthieu Rodriguez at mrodriguez2@ashevillenc.gov or 828.777.5864.

ABOUT HARRAH’S CHEROKEE CENTER – ASHEVILLE

Harrah’s Cherokee Center – Asheville (HCCA), the ExploreAsheville.com Arena, and the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, have hosted a diverse variety of events that reflect the creativity, uniqueness, and artistry that Asheville, N.C., and Western North Carolina is known for primarily. In recent years, the facility has hosted world-class sporting events such as NBA Preseason Games, two Fed Cup by BNP Paribas ties, 2020 Camping World Maui Invitational, and the annual Men’s and Women’s Ingles Southern Conference Basketball Championships Presented by General Shale. For more information, please visit HarrahsCherokeeCenterAsheville.com.