JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – In its lone exhibition game of the 2023-24 season, UVA Wise men's basketball suffered a 105-55 loss at the hands of East Tennessee State. 

Exhibition games are a good opportunity for teams to get live action and perhaps kick off the rust from the off season. 

UVA Wise's difficult night shooting from the floor may indicate the Cavs did just that, kick off the rust, Monday night. 

The Cavs did not get a good start out of the gate and never recovered. UVA Wise went ust 4-for-33 from the floor in the first half. 

After redshirt sophomore Joe'l Pettiford sank a free throw to put UVA Wise up 1-0, the Cavs surrendered 33 straight points before making their field goal of the game. 

Sophomore guard Patrick Shelley was one of the bright spots in the score sheet for the Cavs. He led UVA Wise with 16 points, scoring 12 points in the second half on 4-for-7 shooting from the floor. Shelley also went 4-for-4 at the free throw line and added five rebounds. 

UVA Wise was stellar at the charity stripe against the Bucs, going 25-for-29 at the line. Seven of the eight Cavaliers that saw action in the game had at least two free throw attempts. 

An off-night shooting for the Cavs, paired with a hot ETSU team, was not a recipe for success for UVA Wise. 

The Bucs were scorching from all areas of the floor, shooting 53.4 percent (39-for-73) from the floor and 48.6 percent (18-for-37) from deep. 

ETSU had four players reach double figures in scoring, led by junior forward Jaden Seymour who had 17 points. 

On the other side, UVA Wise had trouble catching fire all game. The Cavs went 14-for-64 from the floor and 2-for-21 from deep including 0-for-8 in the second half. The only two Cavaliers to make a triple were Shelley and sophomore guard Calen Lightford.

UVA Wise has some time to reassess before its first regular season matchup on Saturday, Nov. 11 at 7:30 p.m. against King University. That game will be the first of two for the Cavs in the 2023 SAC/CC Challenge, as UVA Wise will face Lees-McRae College the following day at 4 p.m. The other participating SAC member in the challenge this year is Carson-Newman.