BRIAN T. SMITH
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
Johnson City, Tenn. – ETSU sophomore guard Dequan Twilley has been dismissed from the Bucs men’s basketball team.
The 6-foot, 170 pound Twilley was averaging 4.0 points, 2.0 assists, 0.7 rebounds and 20.3 minutes per game.
Twilley (Shelbyville, Tenn.) finished sixth in the Atlantic Sun with 4.0 assists per game as a freshman in 2006-07 and scored a career-high 15 points in the Bucs’ 79-73 home win over Marshall on Dec. 4.
“I’m not … I don’t know that it’s permanent, but it probably is, yes,” said ETSU coach Murry Bartow. “We’ve been through a lot with Dequan in over a year and a half, and those of you who were around last year can remember the suspensions and different things last year. And he’s just got some family situations. The bottom line is that he’s probably not going to be part of our team. That could change, but I doubt it will. He’s got to clear some things up. As coaches we’ve all got rules and stipulations and standards, and you’ve got to meet those standards.”
The main reason for Twilley’s departure was that he reportedly wanted to spend more time with his family.
“I hope he does well and that things work out for him,” Bartow said. “No hard feelings on our end, but he wasn’t meeting the standards of ETSU basketball – it’s just that simple.”
Twilley’s departure now marks the second time in less than a week that a Buc player has left the team.
ETSU sophomore forward Blake Mishler (2.7 points, 2.0 rebounds, 10.5 minutes per game) transferred from the team on Thursday.
Asked if the sudden departures of Twilley and Mishler were hard for the Bucs, Bartow responded, “It is, it is. When you’ve got a nine-man rotation and two of ‘em are down, it cuts into your rotation. It cuts … again, two of your line, it cuts out of the mix. So that was difficult. And that’s really another part of the story. [Possibly losing to Appalachian State] would have been a devastating loss. I don’t want to overstate it. But if we would have lost at the end, it would have been a big loss.”
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