Furman set to host UNC Greensboro Sunday afternoon at Timmons Arena
Fresh off Wednesday night's overtime road win at The Citadel, Furman returns to Timmons Arena for a key battle against UNC Greensboro before a national television audience on ESPNU, with tip-off set for 2 p.m. EST.
The Paladins and Spartans have formed a nice rivalry against one another over the past decade, as UNCG and Furman will be meeting for the 46th time, with the Spartans holding a 24-21 series lead by virtue of their 11-point win earlier this season in Greensboro in what was the Southern Conference opener for both teams.
Furman is 106-17 overall and 60-8 against Southern Conference competition inside the friendly confines of Timmons Arena since the start of the 2015-16.
However, UNC Greensboro has claimed three of those eight wins by SoCon teams inside Timmons Arena during that span, including what was an 88-80 overtime win against the Paladins last season. After that loss, the Paladins commenced winning 15 of their next 16 games in the regular-season and Southern Conference Tournament before snapping its NCAA Tournament drought.
The matchup features to the two most successful Southern Conference basketball programs over the past nine seasons, with both the Paladins and Spartans having posted 193 overall wins since the start of the 2015-16 season, while the Spartans are 110-43 against Southern Conference competition over that same span, while Furman is 109-41 against league foes over that same span.
When the two met in early February, Furman was without 52.3 PPG of its scoring production, and that game would see UNCG return its Player of the Year candidate Mikeal Brown Jones, who had missed the previous four games with a lower body injury in a stretch that the Spartans went 1-3, including an 0-3 mark to close non-conference play without Brown-Jones in the lineup.
The Paladins dropped a 79-68 contest at the Greensboro Coliseum earlier this season, fighting to stay in the game by mixing in some 1-3-1 and 2-1-2 zone press. Though the Paladins struggled to find reliable scoring options much of the night, Furman would end up being led by both pointy guard Carter Whitt and PJay Smith Jr., who would account for most of the scoring on the night, as Whitt added a career-high 23 points, added four rebounds and dished out six assists in the setback.
Smith posted 19 points and six rebounds, as the two combined to go 11-of-40 from the field, including a combined 6-for-24 from three-point land.
The Paladins managed to stay in the game, despite a horrible shooting night, as the Paladins finished just 32.3% (21-of-65) shooting from the field and were 22.6% (7-of-31). One of the things that kept the Paladins in the first meeting against UNCG was the fact that the Paladins connected on 19-of-23 from the charity stripe.
UNCG finished the first meeting between the two with four players in double figures, led by guards Keyshaun Langley and Donovan Atwell, who posted 17points apiece, while Brown-Jones, who in his first game back this season, posted his third double-double of the season, including his second in a row, posting 16 points and 11 rebounds in the win.
Joryam Saizonou was key off the bench for the Spartans, adding 13 points, while Kobe Langley finished with a team-leading seven assists, and also recorded four of the team’s 10 steals.
Atwell and Langley powered UNCG’s strong effort from the perimeter, as both were on fire the entire night, finishing a combined 7-of-13 from three-point range (53.8%) and were on fire the entire night from long-range the entire night for the Spartans.
Atwell finished the night 6-of-12 from the field, including making 5-of-9 shots from three-point land. Langley sizzled the entire night from the field, connecting on7-of-10 from the field, including 5-of-6 inside the arc and 2-for-4 from beyond to equal Atwell’s team-high scoring total of 17 points.
As a team, the Spartans connected on 48.4% (31-of-64) from the field, including that 50% (11-of-22) effort from three-point land.
Furman comes into Sunday's showdown with the Spartans having won six of its last seven games, with the winning streak coinciding with the Paladins having started to regain its overall health, with Marcus Foster, JP Pegues, and Alex Williams all having managed to get healthy during that span.
A Look at the Paladins:
Furman continues to be led by its elite three scoring threats, in redshirt senior guard Marcus Foster (), junior guard JP Pegues (16.6 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 4.9 APG), and junior forward Alex Williams (). The trio, which is now fully healthy, has helped the Paladins to wins in six of its last seven games, with the only setback during the span coming last Saturday evening against Wofford (L, 67-77).
Furman enters off a thrilling, 82-79, overtime win over The Citadel, completing the season sweep of The Citadel. With Sunday's game against the Spartans, the Paladins officially make the turn towards the second half of the season. Furman has a chance to move into a tie for second place along with UNCG in what will be the 10th SoCon game of the season for the Paladins.
Furman's JP Pegues continues to be sensational in late-game situations, with Wednesday evening's three-pointer to tie the contest being the latest of three shots that the junior guard from Nashville, Tenn., has connected on from long range so far in the 2023-24 season.
He finished the contest against the Bulldogs by scoring 16 points on what was a 6-for-15 shooting performance, and was just 2-for-10 from three-point land. He also dished out four assists in the win. Pegues has scored 20 or more points in eight out of the 19 games he's seen action in this season for the Paladins, and he's also scored in double figures in 17 out of 19 games for the Paladins.
Marcus Foster (19.3 PPG, 7.6 RPG) continues to lead the Paladins in scoring average and has been on a tear since his return five games ago in a 40-point road win at VMI. After having totaled just three double-doubles in his previous three seasons as a Paladin guard, Foster now has four in his last five games, including a career-high 15 rebounds in Furman's win at The Citadel last Wednesday night. All told, he now has seven and counting in his Paladin career.
Foster posted a pair of back-to-back 30-point performances earlier this season in Furman's games against Liberty and Coastal Carolina at the Myrtle Beach Invitational and ended up setting a tournament record with a total of 78 points in three games. The only game in which Foster failed to reach double figures in this season was in the 70-69 loss against Princeton, which was also the game in which his lower body injury occurred. He missed a total of nine games as a result, with the Paladins going 4-5 during that span.
Since his return five games ago, Foster is averaging 18.6 PPG, 11.0 RPG and 3.0 APG. He dished out a career-high seven assists in the win over The Citadel last time out, as he flirted with a triple-double, finishing in combination with his 17 points and career-best 15 boards.
Alex Williams (15.9 PPG, 5.1 RPG) has the top scoring performance of the season for the Paladins, recording a career-high 31-point effort in Furman's home win over Bob Jones in mid-December. Williams has also added a dribble drive to his game, making him a much more versatile scorer than he was in his previous two seasons in his Paladin career.
While Williams has shot the ball well from long range (47-of-116/41%), strangely Furman's offensive efficiency is among the worst in the head coach Bob Richey era, especially in terms of shooting the ball from deep, where Furman has launched a league-high 660 long range efforts through the first 22 games this season, including 267 in league play. The offense has seen a steady uptick and improvement with each game in conference play, however.
While ranking ninth in the conference in overall three-point percentage over the duration of the entire season (32.4%), the Paladins have made a league-high tying 90 in nine conference games this season, as the Paladins are tied with Chattanooga in threes made since league play commenced last month.
The Paladins rank just behind the Mocs in terms of three-point field goal percentage since the start of conference play and are shooting 33.7% from long range in league games this season, which is good enough for sixth in the 10-team conference.
Tyrese Hughey (5.1 PPG, 4.5 RPG) and Carter Whitt (9.2 PPG, 3.7 RPG) round out the projected starting five for Sunday afternoon's nationally-televised contest, as both played well the first time the Paladins played the Spartans in Greensboro a month ago. It's been a wild 31 days since that 79-68 loss for the Paladins, and in particular, for Whitt and Hughey.
Hughey only saw seven minutes of playing time after starting the game against The Citadel.
That wasn't necessarily due to poor play, as much as it was both Garrett Hien (7.5 PPG, 3.9 RPG) and Cooper Bowser (3.5 PPG, 1.9 RPG) both stepped in and played well off the bench, and head coach Bob Richey decided to rotate those two off the bench at the five for the remainder of the game.
Whitt's improvement as a player his playing to his identity and skill-set has been noted multiple times since the start of conference play. He continues to improve with each outing.
For Furman to have any thoughts of repeating the feat either in the regular-season, or in Asheville at the SoCon Tournament, or both, it must get consistently strong performances out of both Hien and Hughey on both ends, but that isn't necessarily in terms of points on the offensive end.
Offensive rebounds by Hughey is a crucial component, as well as his presence on the defensive boards. For Hien, his knowledge of the offense and ability as a passer out of the high post is elite, and that is as important as anything he does in terms of scoring average. The Paladins at least need to try and get a combined 7-10 PPG from those two the rest of the way to have a chance to enjoy the type of success it enjoyed last season.
While offensive struggles have been notable, there is cause for optimism, as Furman currently ranks tops in the SoCon in defensive efficiency (100.5), according to KenPom since the start of Southern Conference play.
The other positive trend is rebounding, with the Paladins featuring one of its best rebounding teams in years. The Paladins are averaging 39.2 RPG and 11.9 offensive boards per game, which has allowed the Paladins to enjoy their highest ranking in the SoCon in those two categories over the past 10 seasons.
Finally, the performance of PJay Smith Jr. (10.5 PPG, 3.5 RPG) this season cannot be overlooked. His shooting from long range is like that Alex Williams--it's elite. Despite being one of the team's best shooters, and arguably one of the best in the SoCon, he's had to build confidence in his shot along the way at a new school and different level of competition. He seems to have done that over the last five or six games and had 15 points off the bench for the Paladins, which included a 4-for-8 effort from long range in Furman's win at The Citadel last Wednesday night.
A Look at the Spartans:
Many were on the UNCG bandwagon from the outset of the 2023-24 season, and rightfully so, as the Spartans at one point in non-conference were one of the hottest teams in college basketball, which included a win over SEC member Arkansas, which was the best non-conference win, as the Razorbacks were the No. 14 ranked team in the nation.
It was part of a start to the season that saw the Spartans, who were picked to finish second by the league's head coaches and fourth by the league's media, and as long as Mikeal Brown-Jones is cooking, so are the Spartans.
He's been one of the league's most unstoppable performers this season, and if it weren't for Western Carolina's Vonterius Woolbright this season, Brown-Jones would be the easy pick for league Most Valuable Player. When he was out of the lineup for four-straight games to close out non-conference play, the Spartans went 1-3, with a win over VU-Lynchburg (W, 135-57), while losses would come at Marshall (L, 65-72), at High Point (L, 63-74), and at Texas (L, 37-72) during a tough stretch.
Fortunately, however, Brown-Jones would be back just in time for UNCG's Southern Conference opener against league defending champion Furman, and the Spartans would take advantage of a less-than-healthy Furman Paladin team to pick up what was a 79-68 win at the Greensboro Coliseum.
It was part of a strong start to league play for head coach Mike Jones' club, which has includes ranking in the top half of the league in scoring offense (77.2 PPG/5th in SoCon) and scoring defense (69.2 PPG/2nd in SoCon).
The Spartans also rank in the top five in field goal percentage offense and field goal percentage defense. It's not a surprise that UNCG has maintained its high standard of defensive excellence, which has seen UNCG finish as one of the top defensive teams in the SoCon either in field goal percentage defense or in scoring defense a majority of the time over the past nine seasons.
Through the first nine conference games and in the "conference only" stats, the Spartans lead the league in both scoring defense (68.0 PPG) and field goal percentage defense (39.5%). The Spartans also rank fifth in conference only games in scoring offense (75.3 PPG), while ranking fourth in the league in conference only field goal percentage (45.4%).
Oftentimes those are two stats that are a good predictor for good fortunes come March in Asheville, although UNCG has been snakebitten by a pair of tough quarterfinal losses in each of Mike Jones' first two seasons as the head coach for UNCG, which includes a buzzer-beating loss to Wofford on a BJ Mack layup at the buzzer last season in Asheville.
The Spartans look to go about changing that this season, and the good news is, Mikeal Brown-Jones has some scoring support on the offensive end of the floor.
Keyshaun (13.7 PPG, 3.4 APG, 2.8 RPG and Kobe Langley (8.9 PPG, 5.9 APG, 49 steals) provide the support of one of the most experienced backcourts in the nation, with Keyshaun being a force on the offensive end of the floor, while Kobe Langley--the league's reigning Defensive Player of the Year--continues to be an excellent compliment on the defensive end of the floor.
The x-factor, however, might be Donovan Atwell (11.2 PPG, 3.09 RPG, 37% from 3pt range), who like Samford's Achor Achor, has become one of the most improved players in the league, as well as being one of its very best perimeter threats.
The Spartans lone league losses to this point have come on the road at Samford (L, 70-79), while suffering one of the bigger in-league upsets during the first half of the conference play, as UNCG dropped what was a 70-64 decision this past Saturday to Mercer.
Mikeal Brown-Jones provided 39-point scoring performances less than a week apart, recording a 39-point outburst in a hard-fought, 73-67, win over The Citadel, and followed that up with a 39-point effort in what was a thrilling 85-82 overtime win at Western Carolina in what was a matchup of the league's two top players in 2023-24.
In the six-point loss to Mercer, Brown-Jones continued his strong month to open league play, posting 19 points and 16 boards. In UNCG's final game of the month, Brown-Jones was one of five UNCG players in double figures, tying for team-high honors with 18 points, as the Spartans held off VMI for a 85-79 road win.
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