NIT 2025: Chattanooga Moves On To Final Four With 12th Road Win of the Season

Mocs Milestone: Chattanooga Reaches NIT Semis for the First Time in Program History

PEORIA, ILL--For the first time in its history, Chattanooga will take part in the final four of the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) semifinals after knocking off No. 3 Bradley on the road, 67-65, to move on to the tournament's penultimate stage.

The Mocs become just the second SoCon team to ever reach the semifinal round of college basketball's oldest NCAA sponsored tournament, joining North Carolina State, which made it to the NIT's Final Four way back in 1947!

With the win, the Mocs improve to a SoCon-best 27-9, while Bradley concludes its season with a 28-9 mark. UTC will await the winner of Kent State-Loyola-Chicago, which take place tonight in Chicago. The Mocs and the winner of that aforementioned matchup will meet next Tuesday, April 1, 2025, at Hinkle Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University at a time to be determined later.

The Mocs got the win, despite trailing by as many as 16 points in the opening half and 13 at the break, and did so before a rowdy crowd of 4,594 fans on-hand at Carver Arena Tuesday night to cheer on the Braves.

The Mocs' highly-efficient offense was fueled by the usual suspects, with Honor Huff (21 pts) and Trey Bonham (17 pts) combining to score 38 of the team's 67 points and connect on nine of the team's 11 three-pointers in the win.

Huff led the way with his 21-point effort coming on an 8-for-17 effort from the field, which included a 5-for-13 effort from long-range and added three assists, one steal and one rebound to his overall totals in 40 minutes of action.

Bonham finished his night by contributing a 5-for-12 shooting effort from the field, which included a 4-for-8 effort from long-range and was a perfect 3-for-3 from the free throw line. Bonham added six rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal in the win.

Bradley placed four players in double figures in the loss, as Demarion Burch paced the Braves with 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field and added four rebound and two assists. Burch would be joined in double figures by Duke Deen, who added 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field and a 2-for-6 effort performance from three-point range, while also connecting on 1-of-2 foul shots to equal his scoring total for the night. Christan Davis and Jaquan Johnson rounded out the Braves in double figures with 10 points apiece.

Chattanooga finished the night connecting on 40.6% (26-of-64) from the field, which included a 30.6% (11-of-36) effort from three-point land. Bradley, which connected on 60% (15-of-25) in the opening half of play, finished the night by being cooled off a little in the second half by UTC, but still ended up posting an impressive 54.2% (26-of-48) shooting effort from the field, including a 33.3% (6-of-18) shooting effort from three-point land.

The Braves finished the game connecting on a 63.6% (7-of-11) from the free throw line, while the Mocs were 66.7% (4-for-6) on the evening.

Chattanooga owned its biggest edge in second-chance points, as it outscored the Braves 13-2 in second-chance points, and that proved especially decisive in what was a close game in the second half. Chattanooga held an even bigger advantage on points off turnovers, as it posted a 20-5 edge in that category, forcing 12 Braves turnovers, while committing only five.

The Mocs posted 11 of its 32 total rebounds on the offensive end, while Bradley could only corral four offensive rebounds in the contest, but held a narrow 33-32 edge on the glass. Both teams tied, 28-28, in points in the paint, while Chattanooga claimed a slight advantage in total assists, at 17-12.

How It Happened:

Over the past two seasons in both Trey Bonham and Honor Huff have provided Mocs basketball fans with plenty of memorable moments to file within their collective memory banks, and as the duo sees their time playing together perhaps drawing to a close, the duo is making the most of their NIT journey together.

In Tuesday night's enticing NIT tilt between the Mocs and Braves, which decided the first of four semifinal spots in the 2025 edition of the tournament, it was Bonham that took and an extra kick-to-the-corner pass from teammate and best friend Huff to connect on a corner three with 14.1 seconds remaining, and Bonham was cool as a cucumber, hitting nothing but the bottom of the net on a corner three, giving the Mocs a 67-64 lead.

After Bradley took a timeout to set up a play, and the Mocs wisely committed a foul on Bradley's Duke Deen after letting some time run off the clock, as almost 10 seconds elapsed before giving its final foul to put the Braves in the bonus for a 1-and-1 with 4.8 seconds left.

Deen made the first, however, intentionally missed the second and UTC's Latif Diouf grabbed the rebound and was immediately fouled with 2.7 seconds left. He went to the line and missed the front end, leaving the Mocs up two (67-65) and the Braves with a sliver of hope if they could connect on a miracle three-pointer, however, Deen's 65-foot heave was no good and the Mocs celebrated their 12th road win of the season.

The game was one that saw the Braves jump out to an early lead in the opening half of play, and it looked as if they might put the Mocs out of it early in the contest, opening up a 16-point advantage, at 38-22, following a Duke Deen three-pointer with 2:15 remaining in the opening half of play. A switch to the 1-3-1 zone just prior to the half altered Bradley's offense just enough to help the Mocs ensure there would be no further harm done for the remainder of the opening 20 minutes.

The Mocs would get the final three points of the half when Honor Huff connected on one of his five three-pointers in the contest with 66 seconds remaining, and that would at least give Chattanooga a little momentum heading into the second half of the game, trailing 38-25 at the half.

In the second half, the Mocs went about trimming the lead in a meticulous fashion before eventually being able to overtake the Braves on a Garrison Keeslar three-pointer with just under nine minutes remaining. Demarion Burch would give the Braves an 11-point, 44-33, lead with on a jumper in the lane with 16:21 remaining.

After Huff answered with a three on the other end nine seconds later, which would trigger a quick 7-0 spurt by UTC, making it a 44-41 game, and suddenly we had a ballgame on our hands.

The Braves would eventually push the lead back to seven following after scoring on consecutive possessions, but Chattanooga continued to chip away and would eventually get two within two after Huff converted a layup on a beautifully executed sideline, out-of-bounds play, and three Bonham free throws, which would get the Mocs to within 48-46 within two, at 48-46, with 11:47 remaining.

For the next three minutes, the Braves managed to maintain its lead, however, couldn't continue to hold it, with Chattanooga doing its part on both ends of the floor to continue its imminent threat. The stage would eventually be set for Keeslar, who isn't noted for his outside shooting capabilities, to make one of the biggest threes of the season for the Mocs, as he took a pass from Huff and knocked down a wide-open left wing triple to give Chattanooga a 54-52 lead with 8:44 remaining, which was the first lead Chattanooga had held since it was 2-0 following its opening possession of the game.

Following a steal by Keeslar, the Mocs would increase their lead to four, at 56-52, when Bash Wieland knocked down a jumper in the lane with just over eight minutes left. Bradley used a quick 5-0 run to surge back in front, which was highlighted by a Connor Dillon three and a Deen jumper, making it a 57-56 Braves lead with 6:23 remaining.

After a pair of missed threes on each end, Chattanooga would regain the lead when Bonham connected on a top-of-the-key three with 5:10 remaining, putting the Mocs back in front, 59-57. It would set the stage for quite a final flurry of basketball over the final five minutes, with the contest between the two mid-major powers seeing a pair of ties and two lead changes over that final stretch of the game.

With the game tied, 61-61, following a Bash Wieland layup with 1:44 remaining, the Mocs forced a crucial Bradley turnover and then on the other end, Bonham came up with the first of his two absolutely monumental threes to help the Mocs assume what was a 64-61 lead at the exact same point of the second half (1:06 left) that Huff would connect on a three in the first half to help quell Bradley's momentum.

However, the Braves had an arrow left in their quiver in the form of Duke Deen, who launched his perfect high-arching arrow of a three from the left wing with a hand in his face to tie the game, bringing the crowd to a higher decibel level after Bonham had silenced them just moments earlier.

At 64-64 with 41 seconds remaining, Earl drew up one final "picket fence" play to take the Mocs into their own version of a Hoosiers-like story next week at Hinkle Fieldhouse, as Huff served as the decoy and Bonham played the role of Jimmy Chitwood, with his corner three with 14.2 seconds left giving the Mocs a three-point lead and put all the pressure on the Braves. The Mocs would make that hold up, winning a thrilling 67-65 decision to reach its first-ever NIT Final Four.

UTC/SoCon Notes

--With the win, the SoCon has now had a team win 27 or more games in a season in 10 of the past 11 campaigns, and that is with the COVID-19 Season (2020-21) included. That is the only season in which at least one SoCon team has failed to reach 27 or more wins. That's the longest such streak in the 105-year history of the league.

--UTC has 47 road wins since 2020-21, which is the most in all of NCAA Division I college basketball. The Mocs improved to 12-5 away this season, including having won 10-straight on the road to tie Houston for the nation's longest active streak.

--Chattanooga has been one of the hottest teams in college basketball over the past two months, having won 15 of its past 16 games, with the lone loss in that span being an 80-77 overtime loss in the SoCon semifinals to Furman. Chattanooga also improved to 19-4 since the calendar flipped to 2025.

2025 NCAA Tournament: Wofford's Magic Carpet Ride Ends With Opening Round Loss to No. 2 Tennessee

 

Wofford senior wing Jackson Sivills (Photo courtesy of Wofford Athletics)

NCAA Tournament Recap: No. 2 Tennessee 77, No. 15 Wofford 62

LEXINGTON, KY---No. 2 Tennessee got a game-high 29 points from Chaz Lanier, while SEC Defensive Player of the Year Zakai Zeigler added a double-double, with 12 points and 12 assists, setting a new program record for career assists in the process, as the Vols held off SoCon six-time champion and No. 15 seed Wofford, 77-62, in a Midwest Regional opening round NCAA Tournament clash Thursday night at Rupp Arena.

With the win, the Vols improved to 28-7 overall and will move on to face No. 7 UCLA, who took down No. 10 Utah State, 72-47, in the nightcap at Rupp Arena. 

Wofford concludes its 2024-25 season with a 19-16 overall record, as the Terriers became the first-ever No. 6 seed to win the SoCon Tournament title, when Wofford knocked off No. 5 Furman, 92-85, in the SoCon Championship game last week. Wofford became the first non-No. 1 seed to win the Southern Conference Tournament in eight years, with ETSU the last non-No. 1 seed to do it, winning the 2017 SoCon Tourney title with a 79-74 verdict over No. 1 seed UNC Greensboro. The Bucs entered the '17 SoCon Tournament as the No. 3 seed.

For Wofford it was the program's first NCAA Tournament game since the 2019 tourney, when that historic 30-win Terrier team took down No. 10 seed Seton Hall, 84-68, for the first NCAA Tournament win in program history. The seventh-seeded Terriers would eventually bow out of the NCAA Tournament in the Round of 32, as the seventh-seeded Terriers lost to No.2 seeded Kentucky, 62-56, in the ensuing round.

For Tennessee, it improved its NCAA Tournament record to 29-27 overall and won its fourth-straight opening round tournament game under veteran head coach Rick Barnes, who is making his 29^th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, as Wofford picked up its second all-time NCAA Tournament win over a Southern Conference foe, knocking off Furman, 80-69, in a East Regional First Round game at the Greensboro Coliseum in the 1980 NCAA Tournament.

The Vols are now 9-0 all-time against Wofford, as the Terriers fell to 1-6 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. The SoCon is now 33-82 all-time in the Big Dance. 

Lanier’s 29 points came on 11-of-22 shooting from the field, while the former North Florida Osprey added a 6-for-13 effort from beyond the three-point arc. The native of Nashville, Tenn., also added five rebounds, two steals, one assist and one block in the win.

Zeigler added his 12 on 4-of-8 shooting from the field, including a 2-for-5 mark from three-point range and was 2-for-2 from the charity stripe. Perhaps the most impressive stat for Zeigler in the contest is that he played 37 minutes of basketball in an NCAA Tournament game without committing one turnover. According to Elias Sports Bureau, it was just the sixth time a player has posted 12 points, 12 assists and no turnovers in the past 50 seasons (1975-2025).

Wofford ended the night with four players in double figures, with two of those playing their final game in a Wofford uniform. Jackson Sivills was one of those, and he closed out his career by turning in an incredible final four games, including scoring a career-high 20 points in last week’s championship win over Furman, and he followed that up by contributing 15 points in his final game in the Old Gold and Black. Sivills added his 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field and was 2-for-6 shooting from beyond the arc, including a perfect 3-for-3 from the free throw line and added five rebounds,

Corey Tripp, Wofford’s leading scorer coming into the game, added 14 points on 6-of-17 shooting from the field and 2-for-8 from three-point range to post 14 points in 35 minutes of game action in what was his final game as a Wofford player. Tripp, a native of Medina, OH, also added three assists and two steals, but committed six of the team’s 11 total turnovers. He appeared to be the only player that could create his own shot off the dribble against Tennessee’s tenacious on-ball defense in the game. Rounding out the Terriers in double figures in the were Jeremy Lorenz and Justin Bailey, who added 12 and 10 points, respectively. SoCon Tournament Most Outstanding Player Kyler Filewich finished with two points on 1-of-7 shooting from the field, while contributing five rebounds and two assists in his final game for Wofford.

For the game, Tennessee connected on 48.1% (26-of-54) from the field and posted a 35.7% (10-of-28) from three-point range, as well as 68.2% (15-of-22) from the charity stripe.

Wofford would finish their final game of the 2024-25 season by connecting on 41.8% (23-of-55) from the field and connected on 42.3% (11-of-26) from three-point range. Wofford attempted only nine free throws, shooting 55.6% (5-of-9) from the stripe. The Terriers made 48 threes in their final four games of the season. Wofford shot the ball at a blistering 43.6% (48-of-110) from three-point range over the final four games of the season.

Wofford held a slight 22-20 advantage in points in the paint, however, the Vols used a 14-0 advantage in the “points from turnovers”, as the top defensive team in the SEC forced 11 Terrier miscues, while committing only six itself over the duration of 40 minutes of basketball, while recording nine steals.

The two teams were even on rebounds (31-31), while the Vols held a slight 15-13 edge in total assists. The Vols also held advantages in fast-break points (3-0) and second-chance points (9-7), while Wofford held a narrow advantage in bench scoring (15-5). Tennessee outscored Wofford 15-5 at the charity stripe on 13 more attempts.

Tennessee started the game strong, posting the first five points of the game, and though Wofford would fight throughout, the Vols never relinquished the lead for the remainder of the night, leading wire-to-wire. The Vols would take a 36-27 lead into the locker room. Despite getting blitzed on the boards in the opening half of play, the Terriers had managed to get to the half trailing by less than double digits, as Wofford’s defense and timely shot making when Tennessee had threatened to put the game out of reach being two key positive bullet points Wofford and head coach Dwight Perry could highlight as positives during the halftime intermission.

It looked like Wofford might get run out of Rupp Arena following a 12-0 run midway through the opening half, as Tennessee assumed a 14-point lead, at 22-8, following a Chaz Lanier three with 9:58 remaining in the frame. Triples on consecutive trips down the floor by Sivills and freshman guard Luke Flynn got Wofford back to within 22-14 to end the long scoring drought in the opening half. Wofford battled the rest of the half, and was rewarded for its efforts continuing to get timely answers for Tennessee’s shot-making down the stretch, settling for a nine-point deficit at the break

In the second half, Tennessee controlled the opening minutes of the frame, increasing the advantage back to 14, at 48-34, following a pair of Jahmai Mashack free throws just after the first media timeout of the second half at the 15:33 mark. Just as it had done in the first half, the Teriers closed the deficit inside double digits two minutes later, as a Jeremy Lorenz triple would get Wofford back to within eight, at 48-40, with 13:33 remaining.

It would be the closest Wofford would get for the remainder of the game, as a 13-5 spurt by the Vols pushed Tennessee’s lead to its largest of the night to that point, at 16 points, as a Zakai Zeigler three would give the Vols a 61-45 lead with 10:35 remaining. Tennessee would never see its leading margin dip below 11 and would take its biggest lead of the night when Cade Phillips knocked down a pair of free throws with 41 seconds left to give Tennessee a 77-59 lead.

Wofford’s final points of the season would come just as the first points of the season had come against Erskine College back on Nov. 4—via a three-pointer—had come on a three-pointer from Dillon Bailey, while its final points of what would turn out to be a SoCon title season four months later, would come from the Terriers’ lone addition from the transfer portal, as Justin Bailey’s three-pointer with 28 seconds left got the margin back to 15, setting the final score at 77-62.

Wofford ended the season with 19 wins for the third time in the past six seasons. Since Wofford won a historic 30 games and went unblemished in SoCon play with an 18-0 record in 2018-19, the Terriers have posted an overall mark of 106-85 with one tournament title over the past six seasons. Wofford has finished above .500 overall for eight-straight seasons, reaching 20 or more wins in a season twice.

 

 

 

 

Furman's Season Ends With NIT Loss at North Texas

Eddrin Bronson's 15 points on a perfect 6-for-6 night leads Furman in scoring in the final game of 2024-25 season

DENTON, TX—The last time a Furman team went to the State of Texas for a playoff game, its football team was trying to stop a prolific Incarnate Word offense that averaged over 50 PPG back in the FCS Second Round back in December of 2022. 

However, while the Paladins dropped a 41-38 heartbreaker in South Texas in San Antonio back in 2022, Furman’s basketball team headed to North Texas with its sights set on on an upset of the No. 2 seed in the Dallas Region, and the Mean Green came in sporting one of the top defenses in college basketball, allowing just 59 PPG, and cracking the code against the 2023 NIT Champions was always going to be a tall order for Bob Richey’s team.

Unfortunately for Furman and the Southern Conference, the Paladins basketball team joined their Paladin student-athlete brethren in football from a little over two of years earlier in suffering a season-ending defeat in the Lone Star State, as the Mean Green  would outscore Furman 43-30 in the second half, and were able to get a combined 37 points from veterans Jasper Floyd and Atin Wright and overcame a 34-32 halftime deficit to get a 75-64 NIT opening round win over the Paladins Wednesday night at the Super Pit.

With the win, North Texas improves to 25-9, which includes a 16-1 mark inside the friendly confines of the Super Pit, and will move on to host No. 3 Arkansas State this weekend. The 25^th win for UNT is tied for second-most in school history.

The game against the Mean Green marked Furman's second-straight foe in the NIT from the American Athletic Conference (AAC), as the Paladins, who dropped a home game thriller to Wichita State in the 2019 NIT back, as the No. 3 seed. 

On that former occasion, the Shockers were able to pull out what was a 76-70 win in a game that would prove to be the final one in the memorable careers of both Matt Rafferty (2015-19) and Andrew Brown (2015-19), which were major reasons the Paladins achieved the school's first-ever AP Top 25 ranking as well as helping see the Paladins garner their second invite to the prestigious NIT in program history six years ago. 

UNT finished the 2024-25 season second overall in the AAC behind only NCAA Tournament-bound and Top 25-ranked Memphis. The Mean Green posted an impressive 14-4 mark in the AAC this season, which was good enough for second-place and just behind the perennial league juggernaut Tiger

Floyd finished the game with a game-high 19 points for UNT, as he connected on 7-of-13 from the field and 3-of-5 from three-point range, while knocking down both of his shots from the charity stripe. Additionally, Jasper added seven assists, six rebounds and one steal. 

The senior guard's fellow backcourt mate and classmate, Atin Wright, finished the contest with 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field, which included a 4-for-10 effort from three-point land. Wright added three steals, two rebounds and an assist. 

Big man and native of Bamako, Mali, Moulaye Sissoko, rounded out the Mean Green in double figures, as he posted 11 points and six rebounds. Forward Grant Newell finished just one point shy of double figures, completing the contest nine points and two rebounds, which included a perfect 6-for-6 effort from the charity stripe.

Furman concludes its 2024-25 season with a 25-10 record, falling to 0-3 all-time in the National Invitational Tournament. The Paladins will take the floor in the new Timmons Arena in 2025-26, as it was given a 40-million-dollar upgrade during the season, as the Paladins played their home games in three different home venues, with a majority of those having been played downtown at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena. 

"The Well", as it is affectionately known, will host the opening two rounds of the 2026 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, marking the fourth time the facility has hosted the men's tournament opening two rounds previously in 2002, '17 and '22. 

The Paladins the 2024-25 season with a 10-3 record at "The Well" and are now 19-12 all-time in the facility. The Paladins also posted a 10-6 on the road this season, including posting a 9-6 mark in true road games. 

The good news for Furman was that its two leading scorers in what turned out to be the 2024-25 season finale are both slated to return next season, with redshirt freshman guard Eddrin Bronson leading the way for the Paladins, as he added 15 points off the bench on a perfect 6-for-6 effort from the field, which included going 3-for-3 from long-range. 

Bronson added one rebound and had just one turnover in 20 minutes of action off the Furman bench. The Tampa, FL, native, who scored 14 points in Furman’s loss at Kansas earlier this season and provided a career-high 16 points in a late January, 79-74, road win at Mercer, found his way into double figures for the eighth and final time to conclude his first season on the floor in a Furman uniform.

Bronson redshirted the 2023-24 season, and finished his first season for Furman developing his game on both ends of the floor in preparation for a 2025-26 season that should see him become one of the key cogs on both ends of the floor, as his offensive game took steps in a positive direction after having hit the "freshman wall" before find his shooting touch and scoring confidence in recent outings down the stretch for Furman, which began with the Paladins 80-72 road win at Samford last month. Bronson has already acquitted himself as one of the team’s best on-ball defenders this season.

The redshirt freshman was joined in double figures by junior guard Tom House, as the Florida State transfer continued his strong play down the stretch of the season adding 13 points on 5-for-9 shooting from the field, including 3-of-7 shooting from long range.  The junior guard added two boards and an assist in 25 minutes, as he made his fourth start in his first season after transferring in from Florida State prior to the season

Like Bronson, House is slated to be a key piece to the puzzle for the Paladins in 2025-26 and will be one of Furman’s top offensive threats and its best returning perimeter shooter heading into the upcoming campaign. 

Furman played without 6-7 starting wing forward Ben VanderWal, who missed the game with an illness. VanderWal is widely regarded as Furman’s “glue guy” and his presence on the defensive end, as well as on the offensive glass, were particularly missed in the game for the Paladins.

Rounding out the double figure scorers for the Paladins was Nick Anderson, who finished out an outstanding season with Furman, as the Barry University graduate transfer added 12 points, one rebound and one assist in 33 minutes of action. He was hounded all night by the Mean Green’s tough man-to-man, physical defense, as he finished 4-for-14 shooting from the field and 3-of-9 from three-point land. In his one season with the Paladins, Anderson was outstanding, as he finished the campaign with 512 points and shot an impressive 39.5% (96-of-243) from three-point land.

Furman’s leading scorer—senior point guard PJay Smith Jr. (17.6 PPG)—also found his final game for the Paladins a tough one and was credit to the Mean Green’s stingy defense, which turned out to be as good or better than advertised. 

Smith, a native of LaVergne, Tenn would begin his final season in a Furman uniform in memorable fashion, with a thrilling buzzer-beating three to help Furman to a 76-74 road win at Belmont, finished out his second and final campaign with seven points on 3-of-7 shooting from the field and 1-for-4 from three-point land. His final shot of his Furman career was the final Paladin points of the season was fittingly a three-pointer, as he knocked down his lone triple of the night five seconds remaining. 

For much of the night, Smith Jr. was clutching both his elbow and shoulder, which could have meant he was less than 100% in addition to the excellent defense played by North Texas. Whatever the case, Smith's two seasons will be remembered around Greenville for years to come, as his two years of contributions were vital to helping the program sustain success. 

Along with Anderson, the 2024-25 season will be remembered as one that both transfers helped bridge an important gap for the Furman program, which just a couple of months before the season, lost its top portal addition Jalen Sullinger, who returned to Kent State. Despite that, behind the blistering perimeter shooting and scoring ability of Smith and Anderson, the Paladins posted 25 wins, despite the loss of Sullinger. 

It was a testament to not only how good both players were, but how hard each worked and led Furman during the 2024-25 season. It was a season that, according to the media after the loss of a scoring talent of Sullinger's ilk, shouldn't have yielded such an impressive win total, but yet like so many times during the season, Furman defied the odds and found a way to overcome them no matter what any analytic said they wouldn't or couldn't do. 

Like Anderson, Smith transferred into Furman from an NCAA Division II program, in Lee University, just prior to the 2023-24 season. After finishing last season averaging 10.0 PPG, Smith returned as the Paladins’ leading go-to scoring threat following the graduation of 72% of Furman’s scoring production from a year ago. Smith didn’t disappoint, finishing out his final season in a Furman uniform in style, posting a team-best 582 points and posted 111 three-point field goals, which was just two shy of matching Alex Hunter’s (2018-2022) single-season program record of 113 made threes.

Smith completed his campaign with a 41.3% success rate (111-of-269) in his long-range attempts and accumulated 911 points over two seasons for the Paladins. Like Anderson, Smith is one of the reasons why this 2024-25 season will be unforgettable for Paladin hoops fans, with two game-winners that provided Paladin road wins against both Belmont and at Wofford to end the regular-season.

Forwards Garrett Hien and Tyrese Hughey, who were part of the best Furman team in school history, with both ending their respective careers among the program’s winningest players, also suited up for the final time for the Paladins in the loss to the Mean Green. 

Both Hien and Hughey added emphatic dunks to account for their final points as Paladins, with both players adding one bucket in the game. Hien, who scored his 1,000^th-point in his final home game in dramatic fashion in a win over The Citadel, finished out his Furman career with 108 career wins, finishing fourth in program history in total wins, while Hughey was a part of 92 victories in his Paladin career, which was good enough to finish sixth in program history.

North Texas finished the contest shooting an impressive 53.8% (28-of-52) from the field, which included an impressive 44.4% (8-of-18) from three-point range, and were 84.6% (11-of-13) from the charity stripe, out-scoring Furman by nine points (11-4) from the free throw line on nine more attempts (13-4).

Furman finished the game connecting on 48.1% (26-of-54) from the field and 33.3% (10-of-33) from beyond the arc, while connecting on 50% (2-of-4) from the charity stripe. The Paladins were able to take a 34-32 lead into the halftime break courtesy of an impressive 56% (14-of-25) effort from the field and 40% (6-of-15) effort from three-point range in the opening 20 minutes.

The Paladins ended the game by posting advantages in points in the paint (26-24), total assists (13-10) and bench scoring (25-16). North Texas finished the game holding advantages in points from turnovers (17-10), fast-break scoring (6-5), and second-chance points (12-9). The two teams ended even on the backboards, 28-28.

How It Happened:

The Paladins and Mean Green would be meeting for the first time in series history, and the Mean Green came in sporting one of the top defenses in the nation and bore a lot of similarities to the SoCon’s own UNC Greensboro Spartans. 

 However, in contrast to what was supposed to be a defensive stalwart on paper due in large part to UNT’s style of play, the game wouldn't start out that way, as both teams shoot north of 50% in the opening half of play, Furman connecting on 56% (14-of-25) of its shots from the field, while the Mean Green connected on 52.1% (12-of-23) as Furman took a narrow 34-32 lead on the strength of strong shooting from long-range, as the Paladins connected on six first-half threes and shot 44.4% (6-of-15) from long range in the opening 20 minutes.

However, the Mean Green came out a bit “meaner” on the defensive end in the second half, while finding the spark it needed on the offensive end in the opening minutes of the second half, gaining the cushion it needed to take control of the basketball game for good. UNT opened the second half with a 13-2 run, which was powered by three made threes from Jasper Floyd (2) and Attin Wright (1), as the Mean Green would eventually assume a 45-36 advantage following a pair of Grant Newell free throws less than four minutes into the second half. The Mean Green came out fire hot, as they would connect on four of their first five shots from the field, including all three efforts from beyond the arc

Despite UNT taking advantage early in the second half, the Mean Green struggled to pull away by double digits, taking a brief 10-point lead (58-48) on a Wright short jumper in the lane to give the Mean Green a brief 10-point lead before the Paladins quickly trimmed the lead back inside double digits, however, Furman couldn’t get closer than three at any point in the second half.

 With just over three minutes left, the Mean Green would push the lead to double digits for good on a pair of Jonathan Massie free throws (70-59), and would lead by as much as 14 just inside a minute remaining on a free throw by Moulaye Sissoko, which gave the Mean Green a 73-59 lead with just 56 seconds left.

2024-25 Season-Ending Notes

--Furman’s 25 wins are tied for the second-most in program history. The Paladins posted their 14^th 20-win season, including their seventh since 2016-17 and sixth under the direction of eighth-year head coach Bob Richey. Though having never won SoCon Coach of the Year, Richey has more wins than any SoCon Coach in the past eight seasons (181-81) and is averaging 22.6 wins-per-season over that span, which ranks sixth (two-season minimum) in average wins per season in the tradition-rich history of the SoCon. The 22.6 wins-per-season by Richey in eight seasons at Furman ranks just behind some legends of ancient and recent past in the league, including Everett Case (26.7/7 seasons at NC State), Steve Forbes (26.0/5 seasons at ETSU), and John Kresse (23.8/4 seasons at CofC as a coach in the SoCon), while ranking just ahead of legendary Mocs head coach Murray Arnold (22.5/6 seasons at UTC).

--Since the 2015-16, the Paladins now have a league-best 223 wins and have posted a record of 223-108 over that span.

--PJay Smith Jr. and Nick Anderson combined to score 1,094 points and connect on a combined 207-of-512 three-point field goals for the season, which converts to a blistering 40.4% shooting clip from long-range.

--Furman reached the SoCon Championship game of the tournament for the third time in four seasons and the Paladins closed the season strong, winning six of their final eight games.

--Furman, which finished fifth in the SoCon standings, was predicted to finish in that exact position in the preseason. However, the Paladins are currently tied for the most wins in the league, with 25 victories, with the final one over regular-season SoCon Chattanooga in Asheville, which has currently also won 25 games and will go for its league-best 26^th win in the NIT Saturday afternoon, when the Mocs host Dayton at the Roundhouse. The Mocs were picked to finish second in the SoCon, returning its top two scorers from a year ago, while Furman had to replace72% of its scoring.

--While Furman loses four players to graduation, including its two top scorers, a key nucleus of players returns, including Tom House and Eddrin Bronson in the backcourt, as well as Cooper Bowser in the front court, as the Paladins should once again be among the favorites to win both the regular-season and tournament titles in the 2025-26 season.

--Through eight seasons under Bob Richey, the Paladins have connected on 2,690-of-7,285 from three-point range, which converts to 36.9%...The Paladins connected on 380 three-point field goals during the 2024-25 season, connecting at a 36.6% clip from long-range, which was good enough for second overall in the SoCon this season.

Head Coach Bob Richey Following Season-Ending Loss to UNT

NCAA Tournament Preview: No. 15 Wofford (19-15) vs. No. 2 Tennessee (27-7)

2025 NCAA Tournament Preview

Region and Round: Midwest Region/First Round

The Day, Date and Time: Thursday, March 20, 2025/6:50 pm EST

The Game: No. 2 Tennessee (27-7) vs. No. 15 Wofford (19-15)

The Location and Venue: Lexington, KY/Rupp Arena

Series: 9th meeting/Tennessee leads 8-0

Where to Watch: TNT

The Game: When Tennessee and Wofford take on each other in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night, it will mark just the ninth all-time meeting between the two and just the second meeting in the past two decades. The most recent clash between the two came during the 2023-24 season, as the Vols picked up what was an 82-61 win over the Terriers.

The Southern Conference enjoys a proud tradition as one of the mid-major conferences that has not only one that has thrived through the years, but also one that that is on the rise in strength in recent seasons, and the league ranks 13^th out of 31 NCAA Division I Basketball Conferences according to KenPom. The SoCon has posted a 33-81 record all-time in the NCAA Tournament.

The only other Southern Conference team the Vols have faced in their history in the NCAA Tournament is Furman, taking on the Paladins back during the 1980 NCAA Tournament, as the Vols were able to pick up an 80-69 win over Furman in an East Regional First Round matchup at the Greensboro Coliseum.

The Terriers have written themselves quite their own narrative story over the past 2.5 seasons under the direction of third-year head coach Dwight Perry, who has led the Terriers to this game, despite a dark cloud hanging over the program following former head coach Jay McCauley’s 3.5 years as the head coach. Perry took over the Wofford program in December of 2022, and it didn’t take long for Perry to influence his core group, as he helped lead the Terriers to a thrilling 67-62 win over SEC member Texas A&M in just his third game in charge as the interim head coach.

The Terriers have shown glimpses of what they could be in Perry’s short time as the head coach over the past three seasons. In addition to that win over the Aggies in Perry’s first season as the head coach, Wofford would pick up a thrilling buzzer-beating win over No. 3 UNC Greensboro courtesy of a BJ Mack layup at the buzzer that propelled the Terriers to an unlikely semifinal appearance in Perry’s first season as the head coach, although at that time, it was as an interim head coach.

It could be argued that the 2023 SoCon Tournament quarterfinal win over No. 3 UNCG was a significant turning point for Perry personally, who was hired as the head coach shortly after that thrilling win over the Spartans in Asheville, as it was evident the effect that Perry had on his team. The fact that despite all that could have gone wrong during that 2022-23 season, the then 35-year old head coach was able to piece together what was a 17-16 campaign when the team had threatened what amounted to a team mutiny if McAuley remained installed as the head coach of the Terrier program in early December of 2022, almost seems like a minor miracle in hindsight.

The biggest thing that Perry has been able to do is helping Wofford take notable steps back towards the championship success and the ultimate high bar of success reached by the Terrier program in terms of success back in the 2018-19 season, as Wofford became one of only four teams to ever win 30 games in a season in league history, as well as being one of just two current members and three members overall to win a tournament game this century.

Wofford took down Seton Hall, 84-68, in an opening round win during the 2019 NCAA Tournament before eventually bowing out to No. 2 Kentucky (L, 56-62) in the Round of 32. It was a remarkable run under former head coach Mike Young, who helped the Terriers earn a No. 7 seed in the Midwest Region in the tournament after achieving its first-ever AP Top 25 ranking during the regular season.

Perry has had to deal with some key departures ever since his first season as head coach, with much of that having to do with the fallout of the McCauley era as the head coach, in which must have seemed more like a dictatorship rather than a coaching tenure under McCauley. Among the main issues was practice time, or too much practice time put in a different way.

Because of such a tumultuous situation, Perry lost two top performers, in forward All-SoCon forward BJ Mack and guard and SoCon Freshman of the Year Eric Paveletzke heading into the 2023-24 season, and despite the tough situation, Perry was able to lead Wofford to a sixth-place finish.

For the first time in his short time as the head coach at Wofford, Perry was able to retain nearly all of his talent that he had from a previous season, and though the regular-season might have only shown a near-identical finish to last year’s finish, the patience paid off for guys like guards Corey Tripp (14.3 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 3.2 APG), Jackson Sivills (9.3 PPG, 3.8 RPG), guard Dillon Bailey (11.3 PPG, 2.5 RPG), forward Jeremy Lorenz (7.9 PPG, 3.8 RPG) and center Kyler Filewich (11.9 PPG, 9.4 RPG), who have stayed loyal to Perry and the Terrier program, despite opportunities to leave and go explore other options.

In an era when it would have been easy to just hop into the transfer portal to make a change, Wofford would return all but eight points from a year ago heading into the 2024-25 season. The eight returnees marked the most to return for Wofford from one season to the next since the 2021-22 campaign. The Terriers

As big as it was to retain nearly all that talent from last season, Wofford and Perry even had some adversity to deal with entering the 2024-25 season, with Wofford’s top sixth man—guard Chase Cormier (7.1 PPG, 1.8 RPG in 2023-24)—deciding to step away from the program and redshirt just prior to the season to enter the transfer portal, as well as a season-ending injury to Egyptian big man Belal El-Shakery (3.3 PPG, 4.1 RPG), who was lost just eight games into the season and was a player set to be one of the most improved big men in the league this season and was set to make a jump similar to that of Samford’s Achor Achor had he not has season end prematurely due to an injury.

So even though Wofford has turned its retention into ultimate success in Asheville, it’s been a team affected depth-wise in both the backcourt and frontcourt this season without those two key pieces, which could have really helped Wofford reach an even higher level this season should one or both been with the team this season.

The trio of Filewich, Tripp and Sivills have been with Perry every step of the way during his short time as the Wofford head coach, while he added Dillon Bailey prior to the start of last season after he transferred in from Division II Northeastern State in Arkansas. Bailey was added prior to the start of the 2023-24 season, while the Terriers and staff added one significant player from the transfer portal prior to this season, with Justin Bailey (9.6 PPG, 3.5 RPG) making the short transition from nearby USC Upstate to Wofford prior to this season. Justin Bailey, along with freshmen guard additions Kahmare Holmes (4.1 PPG, 2.0 RPG) and Luke Flynn (4.2 PPG, 2.9 RPG), have proven to be key cogs in the wheel for Wofford and a big reason they were able to break through and win the 2025 SoCon Tournament title.

By and large, though, it’s been loyalty and patience that offered their notable payoff over the course of three days in March, as Wofford was able to knock No. 3 off East Tennessee State (W, 72-60), No. 7 VMI (85-65), and No. 5 Furman (W, 92-85) en route to helping Wofford get back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six years. The Terriers became just the first No. 6 seed in the 105-year history of the SoCon Tournament to make the tournament title game as well as win it.

Wofford took on an extremely tough non-conference slate, which featured trips to NCAA Tournament teams Duke and Lipscomb, as well as games at CAA members Elon and College of Charleston and Atlantic 10 member Saint Louis, as well as a tricky home game against vastly improved North Alabama. Elon (CBI), Saint Louis (NIT), and North Alabama (NIT) will also be a part of the March festivities, with that trio set to take part in March Madness as a part of either the NIT or the CBI.

It could be argued that there was a significant shift to Wofford’s season after it went on the road and captured a 68-63 win at Saint Louis, and though Wofford seemed to get lost in the mix in the regular-season in what was a tough Southern Conference, they were never an opponent that could be counted out in Asheville, proving what many prognosticators of the league had said prior to the 2025 tournament, and that is any of six teams could win the title. Wofford entered the 105^th SoCon Tournament as the No. 6 seed. The Terriers ended a streak of eight-straight SoCon regular-season champions to cut down the nets at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center.

While Filewich’s consistency, rebounding and toughness were main factors in Asheville, which ultimately landed him 2025 SoCon Tournament Most Outstanding Player accolades, it was the timely perimeter shooting of Wofford over three days that likely proved just as important. Wofford’s trend upward on the defensive end has also been notable, and though the Terriers are one of just four teams to win the SoCon Tournament in Asheville without ranking in the top three in defensive efficiency entering the tournament since 1996-97, the Old Gold and Black ranked just outside the top three at No. 4 entering the tournament in Asheville.

Maybe even more important was how Wofford was able to shoot the basketball from three-point range that enabled it to finish off the season in style, connecting on 37 threes at a 44.0% (37-of-84) over a three-game stretch to ultimately cut down the nets in Asheville. It was the most combined threes the Terriers have hit over any three-game stretch this season. Wofford ended up connecting on a total of 329 three-pointers for the season following their prolific performance last weekend in Asheville, finishing third in the SoCon behind only Furman (370) and Samford (344).

The thing that the Terriers do better than anything, however, is rebound the basketball, as the Terriers enter the 2025 NCAA Tournament leading the SoCon in rebound margin (+7.6) and that also ranks 12^th overall in the NCAA.

Wofford’s Filewich, who transferred in from Southern Illinois prior to the 2021-22 season, and he’s become the heart and soul of Perry’s team. Much will be made about his unorthodox free throw style, and the fact that Rick Barry was brought in to try and help improve his technique, but I am pretty sure the big fella would rather the analysts focus on other parts of his game that he does amazingly well rather than an area that he has struggled with for a large portion of his career at both SIU and Wofford.

For his career with the Terriers, Filewich has posted 21 double-doubles and has 22 in his career going back to his time spent at SIU. The 6-9, 260-lb native of Manitoba is currently tied for 29^th nationally in total double-doubles, while his 9.4 rebounds per game were good enough to lead the Southern Conference this past season. He ended up garnering Third-Team All-SoCon honors according to the league’s head coaches, however, he was named the SoCon Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

In addition to his ability to rebound the basketball and position his body inside to get easy points on the interior, with a 57.6% (182-of-316) field goal percentage, the senior from the Great White North averages 3.1 assists-per-game, which makes him arguably the best passing man in the Southern Conference. His primary kryptonite is his free throw shooting, as Filewich is shooting just 31.8% (42-of-132) from the charity stripe this season. Despite that, however, teams have not resorted to intentionally fouling Filewich this season.

While Filewich will start in the paint, Perry surrounds him with four guards that can all shoot the basketball. The most versatile of those four is without question Corey Tripp, who is without question one of the best overall basketball players in the Southern Conference. Tripp is an outstanding athlete, a good defender, as well as being a three-level scorer. He’s the only player that could really challenge Tennessee from an ability standpoint, but he is prone to careless turnovers at times. He will have to be especially cognizant of that facing the SEC’s top on-ball defender, in Zakai Zeigler, as he is Tennessee’s all-time steals leader.

Tripp owned the month of February, as he averaged 18.3 PPG over the final month of the regular-season, and he finished off the regular season and tournament playing some of his best basketball of the season, finishing a late-season home loss with a career-high 31 points in the 73-68 loss. Tripp is one of three players to cross the 1,000-point plateau this season, as he was joined by forward Kyler Filewich and guard Justin Bailey in that category during the 2024-25 season.

Tripp has found his way into double figures in 28 of 33 games during the 2024-25 season, which included 20 or more points in five games this season. The senior from Medina, OH, is shooting 35.5% (60-for-169) from three-point range this season to go along with his team-leading average of 14.3 PPG. Tripp finished last season’s loss to Tennessee with 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field and was 1-for-5 from three-point land. He also averages 4.0 rebounds-per-contest and is dishing out 3.2 assists-per-game.

Tripp will be joined by Wofford’s three other primary starting guards, which are Jackson Sivills, USC Upstate transfer Justin Bailey and sharp-shooting perimeter threat Dillon Bailey. Sivills is a player to keep an eye on for Wofford, as seemingly he was a player in the Southern Conference Tournament that would end up being key to Wofford’s success, knocking down vital threes in every game, with two big ones down the stretch in Wofford’s wins over both East Tennessee State and in the championship game against Furman. He was the only other Terriers player in double figures against Tennessee last season with the two played each other, finishing that contest with 10 points.

Sivihas connected on a career-best 60 three-pointers in 2024-25 and is shooting 34.7% (60-of-173) from downtown, which included going 11-of-17 from downtown, or 64.7% from downtown in the Southern Conference Tournament. In my estimation, without his elite shooting in Asheville, Wofford wouldn’t have won the SoCon Tournament, and he likely should have been the tournament’s “Most Outstanding Player.” Sivills scored a career-high 20 points for the Terriers in Wofford’s SoCon title win over Furman.

Both Baileys—Justin and Dillon—also add an element of a threat from three-point range this season, with the two having combined to connect on 120 of the team’s 329 triples this season, with Dillon Bailey’s 65 treys leading the team, while Justin Bailey’s 45.1% (55-of-122) shooting clip from downtown leads the team. Justin Bailey is right on the cusp of double figures averaging 9.6 PPG to go with a team-leading 1,2 steals-per-game (41 steals), as he is widely regarded as the team’s best on-ball defender.

The native of Taylors, S.C., is the missing piece that the Terriers added this season and his perimeter defending, especially during the Southern Conference Tournament in Asheville, was key to leading the Terriers back to the Big Dance for the first time in six years. On an interesting side note, Justin Bailey was a teammate of Tennessee guard Jordan Gainey during the 2022-23 season in what was Bailey’s freshman season, while Gainey was a sophomore. Bailey averaged 10.6 PPG and Gainey posted 15.2 PPG as a sophomore, highlighting was a talented Spartans backcourt.

Off the bench, Wofford will look to a pair of freshmen guards Kahmare Holmes and Luke Flynn, while Jeremy Lorenz has been a key piece as any, offering key support in the post when Filewich has to get a breather or gets in foul trouble. Another key piece that wasn’t available during the SoCon Tournament is guard Anthony Arrington (4.0 PPG, 2.3 RPG), who was notably missed during the SoCon Tournament, as he became ill a night before the Terriers’ first game against ETSU.

Tennessee Tidbits: Tennessee hangs its hat on the defensive end of the floor, and the Vols aren’t the biggest team in the world, but their length and athleticism on both ends of the floor could be cause for concern for Wofford. Tennessee has been able to leverage much of its success on the backs of mid-major talents each of the past couple of seasons, with Northern Colorado’s Dalton Knecht being one of the main reasons the Vols advanced all the way to the Elite Eight a year ago, while this season, it’s been more of a committee, with Jordan Gainey (11.4 PPG, 3.4 RPG) from USC Upstate and former North Florida Osprey Chaz Lanier (leads team at 17.7 PPG) having proven to be a major part of the Vols’ 27 wins this season. In fact, the third ingredient to that mid-major turned major matrix has been forward Igor Milicic Jr (10.0 PPG, 6.9 RPG), who came on board prior to this season from Charlotte. The lone major conference transfer the Vols have been reliant is 6-11 junior forward Felix Okpara (7.3 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 54 BLKs), who came on board for Barnes and the Vols just prior to the season from Ohio State. He gives the Vols a true rim protector, and has made opponents adjust their shots time and time again in his first season with the Vols. He has three games this season in which he has blocked four shots and has swatted away a total 54 blocks this season, which is among the top 10 best in program history for single-season blocks. Okpara’s 6.2 RPG is second to only teammate and frontcourt partner Igor Milicic’s 6.9 RPG. Tennessee’s top all-around player, however, is point guard Zakai Zeigler (13.8 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 242 assists, 64 steals) and he will finish out his career on the top five in SEC history in career assists (714 helpers). Zeigler was the 2024-25 SEC Defensive Player of the Year and one of the matchups to keep an eye on Thursday evening will be the one between Wofford’s Corey Tripp and Tennessee’s Zeigler. The final piece to the a potential national title puzzle this season has been senior guard Jahmai Mashack (6.0 PPG, 4.3 RPG), who connected on a 35-foot three at the buzzer to help the Vols defeat Alabama in one of many SEC thrillers this season. He’s been Tennessee’s “glue guy” this season and is one of the top “glue guys” in all of college basketball this season.

How Can Wofford Defeat Tennessee:  It’s going to be an incredibly tall order for Wofford to win this game, however, the path to an upset for this No. 15 seed is pretty simply, and that is they have to probably connect on 12 or more threes, while winning the battle of the boards. The Vols are 0-1 when giving up 12 threes this season, with the only team to accomplish that feat being the Vanderbilt Commodores, which connected on 12-of-27 (44.4%) in what was an 81-76 at Memorial Gym in Nashville. In fact, the Vols lead the nation in three-point field goal percentage defense (27.8%), which is going to be a tall order.

Second-chance threes could be the elixir that keeps Wofford in the game and gives them a chance at an upset. The biggest issue Wofford likely faces, however, is that they aren’t a great free throw shooting team, ranking 334^th out of 355 teams nationally in free throw shooting (66.1%), and one of the main reasons that you see upsets in the tournaments is underdogs not only being able to get to the line, but knock down shots from the charity shots.

I think for Wofford to pull off a miracle against Tennessee, it will not only require at least 12 made threes, it will also require the Terriers to get at least 15 points from the free throw line. It then will need the Terriers to shoot well above its seasonal clip entering the game, and that will mean that Filewich needs to likely hit at least 70% of his shots from the line, which is something he hasn’t done in any one game all season.

However, I think back to when Furman’s Garrett Hien hit two free throws to get Furman to within two of UVA two years ago in Furman’s upset of the No. 4 Cavaliers, as he is a career 46% shooter at the line, however, was 100% when Furman needed him to be. Filewich needs that kind of clutch shooting at the line for the game if Wofford is going to have a chance to do the unthinkable.

Then, on the defensive end of the floor, Wofford needs to hold Tennessee to 42% or less shooting for the game while limiting second-chance points and offensive rebounds to single digits. I haven’t felt less confident about a SoCon team’s chances to pull an upset in the tournament since No. 16 Chattanooga had to face Hashim Thabeet and No. 1 seed UConn during the 2009 NCAA Tournament, which saw the Mocs get handed a 56-point loss (L, 47-103) by Thabeet and the Huskies. That UConn team was dominant, losing one step short of the title game to Michigan State in the Final Four.

I feel the same about Wofford in this game, and though it won’t be close to being a 56-point defeat, I just don’t feel a SoCon team vs. an SEC team in a year like this for the SEC is going to be one conducive to success for the Terriers. By comparison, Wofford, which lost 86-35 to Duke earlier this season, faced a Blue Devils team that ranks fourth according to KenPom in adjusted defensive efficiency (89.7), will be facing a Tennessee team that is even better, ranking third by KenPom in adjusted defensive efficiency (89.1). In my estimation, it’s the toughest opening round foe and biggest challenge for a SoCon team since that 2009 tournament.

Being a fan of SoCon hoops like I have been since my childhood, I hope the Terriers can find a way to continue to shoot at a high level from three, and I am hoping for the Vols to miss at an unorthodox rate, leaving the game in the balance in the final 5-7 minutes of the game. As we have seen in recent seasons and even during Wofford’s first decade as a SoCon member (1997-2007), which saw the Terriers knock off the likes of Auburn (2004-05), Virginia Tech (2002-03) and Cincinnati (2006-07), Wofford has made a name for themselves, much like Davidson during its time as a league member, of being able to pull these types of upsets.

Four SoCon Teams Selected For Two Most Prestigious March Madness Tournaments

Wofford Takes Part in NCAA Tournament for Sixth Time; Chattanooga and Furman Return to NIT While "Bucky Ball" Makes Debut in College Basketball's Oldest National Tournament


Wofford set to make sixth NCAA Tournament Appearance in the past 15 years (picture courtesy of Wofford Athletics)


Four teams from the Southern Conference will take part in the college basketball's two NCAA sponsored postseason tournaments, with the most notable being the Wofford Terriers, who punched their sixth ticket to the NCAA Tournament in their NCAA Division I history after claiming what was a thrilling 92-85 win over No. 5 seed Furman in the SoCon title tilt.

On Sunday, the Terriers learned what seed they would be as well as who their opposition for the upcoming NCAA Tournament. The Terriers will be the No. 15 seed in the NCAA Tournament’s Midwest Region where they will face off against No. 2 Tennessee (27-7) in a game slated for 6:50 p.m. EST Thursday evening at Kentucky’s Rupp Arena in Lexington.

Wofford’s No. 15 seed marks the first time a SoCon team headed into the NCAA Tournament seeded that low since the 2014 season, when the Terriers headed into the tournament as the No. 15 seed before dropping a 57-40 decision to No. 2 Michigan in the Midwest Regional First Round clash.

The Terriers and Volunteers faced one another just last season in Knoxville, as Tennessee posted an 82-61 win over the Terriers at Thompson-Boling Arena in a mid-November matchup. That marked the first time the two teams faced off against each other since the 2004-05 season, when the Vols squeaked out a 73-67 win on November 29, 2004.

The Terriers come into the NCAA Tournament with a 19-15 overall record, finishing the SoCon season with a 10-8 mark, which was good enough for a sixth-place finish in the regular-season league race, which was a league that spent much of the season as one of the most competitive in the country according to KenPom, and finished the season ranking 13 out of 31 NCAA Division I conferences, according to that same metric service.

Tennessee was part of one of the strongest conferences in college basketball history, as the SEC ranked as the toughest conference in all of college basketball season, and the Volunteers were part of an NCAA Tournament record 14 teams selected to take part in the NCAA Tournament. The Volunteers enter the NCAA Tournament with a 27-7 overall mark after dropping an 86-77 contest to Florida in the SEC Tournament Championship game this past Sunday in Nashville. For the Volunteers, the 2025 NCAA Tournament will mark the 27th in program history, including the second in a row as the No. 2 seed.

The Volunteers will be making their seventh-straight NCAA Tournament appearance under legendary head coach Rick Barnes, as Tennessee finished the regular-season with an impressive 12-6 mark in the nation’s toughest hoops conference. This will mark the ninth all-time clash between the Terriers and Vols, with Tennessee having won all eight of the previous meetings between the two.

Wofford is 1-5 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, as the Terriers are one of two current SoCon members to claim a win in the NCAA Tournament this century, having knocked off Seton Hall, 84-68, which was a part of a 30-win season under then head coach Mike Young back during the 2019 NCAA Tournament, which is also Wofford’s last appearance in the Big Dance.

The Terriers would eventually get knocked out of the Big Dance by a member from the SEC, as Kentucky claimed a 62-56 win over Wofford in the Round of 32. The only other current member to claim an NCAA Tournament win this century occurred two years ago when Furman knocked off Virginia, 68-67, in an opening round clash between the No. 13 Paladins and No. 4 Cavaliers in Orlando.

Interestingly, the Volunteers were a part of the teams grouped to play in Orlando during the 2023 NCAA Tournament, knocking off both Sun Belt Champion Louisiana (W, 58-55) and ACC Tournament Champion Duke (W, 65-52) in Orlando.

The Terriers are currently under the direction of Dwight Perry, who is in his third season leading the Wofford Basketball program. Perry helped raise more than a few eyebrows, when in his first season and the interim head coach at the time, he helped the Terriers garner a signature road win at Texas A&M, as the Terriers knocked off the Aggies, 67-62, in College Station on Dec. 20, 2022.

The Terriers are 1-3 against SEC foes under Perry’s lead, and Wofford has faced only two foes taking part in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, dropping games to both, with setbacks at both Lipscomb (L, 69-78) and at No. 6 Duke (L, 35-86). Including that win over Texas A&M a couple of years ago, the Terriers have won six games over Power 5 Conference foes since 2017, including a pair of wins over North Carolina, and wins over Texas A&M, South Carolina, Georgia, and Georgia Tech.

Perry will at least be familiar with the surroundings upon his arrival in Lexington, as he was a three-year member of the Kentucky Wildcats basketball team from 2007-10, playing in 19 games. He also faced the Vols during his time as an assistant under Bob Richey in the 2017-18 season at Furman, with the Paladins dropping a narrow 66-61 contest at Thompson-Boling Arena.

All time in the NCAA Tournament, the Volunteers hold a 28-27 overall record and are taking part in their 10th NCAA Tournament under the direction Barnes, while Barnes, who has served as the head coach at Providence, Clemson, Texas and Tennessee in his legendary career, will be taking part in his 29th NCAA Tournament overall. The Vols advanced all the way to the Elite Eight last season before losing to Zach Edey and eventual national runner-up Purdue, 72-66, in an Elite Eight clash last season in Detroit.

The winner between the Terriers and Vols will take on the winner of No. 7 UCLA (22-10) out of the Big Ten and No. 10 seed Utah State (26-7) out of the Mountain West Conference, who is back for a third-straight season under a third different head coach. Thursday night’s game between the Terriers and Vols is slated to be televised by TNT.

Wofford vs. Tennessee Series History

Dec. 2, 1952 Tennessee 76, Wofford 65 (Knoxville)

Feb. 7, 1953 Tennessee 91, Wofford 88 (Spartanburg)

Dec. 7, 1953 Tennessee 107, Wofford 63 (Knoxville)

Feb. 1, 1997 Tennessee 60, Wofford 41 (Knoxville)

Dec. 7, 1997 Tennessee 92, Wofford 63 (Knoxville)

Nov. 21, 2003 Tennessee 81, Wofford 70 (Knoxville)

Nov. 29, 2004 Tennessee 73, Wofford 67 (Knoxville)

Nov. 14, 2023 Tennessee 82, Wofford 61 (Knoxville)


SoCon Teams as the No. 15 seed in the NCAA Tournament (0-5)

2014—No. 2 Michigan 57, No. 15 Wofford 40 (Midwest Regional)

2006—No. 2 Ohio State 70, Davidson 62 (Dayton Regional)

2005—No. 2 Wake Forest 70, No. 15 Chattanooga 54 (Albuquerque Regional)

1995—No. 2 UConn 100, No. 15 Chattanooga 71 (West Regional)

1985—No. 2 VCU 81, No. 15 Marshall 65 (West Regional)


Wofford in the NCAA Tournament (1-5)

2010—No. 4 Wisconsin 53, No. 13 Wofford 49 (East Regional)

2011—No. 3 BYU 74, No. 14 Wofford 66 (Southeast Regional)

2014—No. 2 Michigan 57, No. 15 Wofford 40 (Midwest Regional)

2015—No. 5 Arkansas 63, No. 12 Wofford 56 (West Regional)

2019—No. 7 Wofford 84, No. 10 Seton Hall 68 (Midwest Regional)

2019—No. 2 Kentucky 62, No. 7 Wofford 56 (Midwest Regional 2nd Rd)



While Wofford will kick off its NCAA postseason on Thursday, the first SoCon team to take part in March Madness will be Chattanooga, when it takes part in the National Invitational Tournament on Tuesday night when the Mocs face Middle Tennessee State with tip-off set for 8 p.m. EST Tuesday night at the Murphy Center.

The Mocs will be making their fifth all-time NIT appearance and first since 1987, as the Mocs earned four-straight tournament bids from 1984-87, which was a golden era for UTC basketball. The Mocs made a memorable run to the quarterfinals of the tournament in 1985, where UTC would lose to Louisville, who would win the 1986 national title under the direction of Denny Crum. That ’84-85 Mocs team would defeat both Clemson and Lamar in the lead up to their quarterfinal matchup with the Cardinals at Freedom Hall.

The Mocs, who finished the 2024-25 season with a 24-9 overall record, which included a 15-3 mark in SoCon play to claim the SoCon regular-season title, headed into the SoCon Tournament in Asheville as the No. 1 seed.

However, the Mocs had to play in the tournament without the services of one of their key performers, post Frank Champion (11.4 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 87 assists), who was injured in a practice the week before the tournament and could not participate in either of UTC’s two games. The injury to Champion would ultimately prove costly, as the Mocs fell, 80-77, in overtime to No. 5 seed Furman at the penultimate stage.

The Mocs were the first No. 1 seed not to claim the SoCon’s regular-season and tournament title since No. 1 UNCG failed to win the tournament after winning the regular-season title back in 2017. The Mocs’ Volunteer State showdown with the Blue Raiders will be as a part of the Dayton Regional in the NIT

The Blue Raiders, led by head coach Nick McDevitt, concluded the season with a 22-11 record and a 12-6 record in Conference USA, securing second place in the league standings. It will mark MTSU’s first appearance in the college basketball postseason since the 2021-22 campaign, and the Blue Raiders hold a 5-4 record in the NIT.

Like Chattanooga, MTSU was knocked off its conference tournament one game shy of the championship game, dropping what was a 70-68 contest to Jacksonville State. The Mocs and Blue Raiders will be meeting for the 69th time in series history, with Chattanooga holding the narrow 36-32 all-time series edge.

The Mocs and Blue Raiders will be meeting on the college basketball hardwood for the first time since Dec. 15, 2022, as the Mocs were able to get what was an 82-73 win at the Murphy Center in Murfreesboro. In fact, the Mocs have won the past three games against MTSU, with two of those coming at the Murphy Center. The winner of the Mocs and Blue Raiders will be playing as a part of the Dayton Bracket, as the Flyers garnered the top seed in the region. The winner of the all-Volunteer State battle will face off against the winner of the Florida Atlantic (18-15)-Dayton (22-10) winner, which is slated to tip off at 7 p.m. EST Wednesday night in Boca Raton.

Chattanooga was one of three teams from the Southern Conference to garner bids to the NIT, with Furman (25-9) and Samford (22-9) joining the Mocs as a part of the tournament.

This year’s NIT Final Four in the NIT will take place in one of the most historic arenas in all of college basketball, which is at Hinkle Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis. The 2025 NIT will mark the 87th edition of college basketball’s oldest national postseason tournament.

The Paladins will take on 2023 NIT Champion and No. 2 seed North Texas (24-9) in the Dallas Regional on Wednesday evening in an 8 p.m. EST contest slated for the Super Pit in Denton. The Mean Green, who play in the American Athletic Conference, finished off the 2024-25 season

The Mean Green are the 2023 NIT Champions and are under the direction of head coach Ross Hodge, who is in his second season as the head coach of the Mean Green after taking over for Grant McCasland, who leveraged his career upward after leading the Mean Green to that 2023 NIT Title. The Mean Green took down Andy Kennedy’s UAB Blazers in a 68-61 championship tilt back in 2023, which was played at Orleans Arena in Paradise, NV.

It was a bit ironic then, that the Blazers would be the team that would cancel the Mean Green’s NCAA Tournament plans this season, as the Blazers posted what was a 66-56 win over the Mean Green in the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference Tournament. The Paladins and Mean Green will be facing each other for the first time in series history. The Paladins have faced teams from the American before, downing Tulane. 75-67, early in the season at Bon Secours Wellness Arena, avenging what was a 117-110 double-overtime to the Green Wave at Devlin Fieldhouse last season. The Paladins also dropped a 92-86 contest at Bartow Arena to the UAB Blazers in 2023-24.

It will mark Furman’s third trip to the NIT and first since 2019, as the Paladins hosted American Athletic Conference member Wichita State. The Paladins were the No. 3 seed when they hosted the Shockers at Timmons Arena, however, unfortunately the Paladins came up on the wrong end of what was a 76-70 home loss to the Shockers. The Paladins have been a team displaced from the friendly surroundings of Timmons Arena this season, which is undergoing a 40-million dollar upgrade, and it’s been somewhat of a transitional season for head coach Bob Richey’s Paladins. The win for the Shockers was also the 500th for former Shockers head coach Gregg Marshall.

Should Furman find its way past North Texas in the opening round, it would also be a milestone win for Richey, who would collect his 180th (179-80) win in eight seasons as the Furman head coach. It will be an especially tall order, as UNT has made the Super Pit one of the premier venues in all of mid-major basketball, which includes posting a 15-1 record on its home floor this season. The Paladins are making their third appearance in the NIT, having gone 0-2 all-time in the prestigious postseason tournament. The Paladins also participated in the 1991 NIT, dropping what was an 86-67 contest at West Virginia.

The Paladins fell 92-85 in the championship game of the 2025 Southern Conference Tournament to I-85 rival Wofford. It was Furman’s third trip to the SoCon Title tilt in the past four years and was the fifth trip to the championship game this century. The Paladins are 1-4 in those games, with their only win coming in 2023, when the top-seeded Paladins knocked off No. 7 seed Chattanooga to punch their first ticket to the Big Dance in 43 years. The winner of the Furman-North Texas contest will face off against the winner of the Saint Louis (19-14) and No. 3 Arkansas State (24-10) clash, which is slated for Tuesday night at 9 p.m. EST in Jonesboro. That game will be televised to a national viewing audience on ESPNU.

Samford rounds out the Southern Conference participants in the 2025 NIT, and the Bulldogs, like Furman, will be in action on Wednesday evening. The Bulldogs saw their hopes of defending their 2024 SoCon Title come to an end earlier than anticipated, as the Bulldogs dropped a 95-78 contest to Furman in the quarterfinals of the tournament, as in the No. 4-5 matchup in what was the final quarterfinal clash of four in Asheville. The Bulldogs will head to Fairfax VA to face off against Atlantic 10-member No. 2 seed George Mason (26-8) in the opening round of the NIT. The Bulldogs and Patriots will tip things off at 7 p.m. EST at EagleBank Arena. The Patriots finished the season with an impressive No. 68 ranking in the NET.

The Patriots were involved in a thriller as a part of the A-10 Championship Game this past Sunday, as the Patriots dropped what was a hard-fought 68-63 contest to No. 1 seed VCU in the championship game. The Patriots, who made that famed run all the way to the Final Four as an 11 seed back in 2006 under the direction of then head coach Jim Larranaga, are currently being led by one of the stars of that ’06 Final Four team, in former point guard Tony Skinn.

That Patriots squad was one that paved the way for modern day Cinderellas in the NCAA Tournament, and just a couple of years later, the SoCon’s own Davidson Wildcats, which were then led by led by legendary three-point shooter Stephen Curry, went all the way to the Elite Eight before falling to eventual national champion Kansas.

A win for Samford over the Patriots would give current Samford head coach Bucky McMillan his 100th win in his fifth season as the head coach of Samford. The Bulldogs have won 20 or more games under McMillan, and he has been named the SoCon’s Coach of the Year in three seasons as the head coach of the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs will be making their second-straight NCAA postseason appearance, having competed in the Big Dance last season where the Bulldogs came up just short in a narrow 93-89 loss to Kansas.

Samford, which has its second-most win in its NCAA Division I history (22 wins), has a chance to garner the program’s second all-time postseason win as a program, with the Bulldogs taking down Canisius at the Pete Hanna Center back in 2017, which was an opening round game in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT), as the Bulldogs posted a hard-fought 78-74 win over the Griffins.

George Mason will be making its first appearance in NIT since the 2009 season and will be hosting its first home game since 2004. The Patriots have been one of the most consistent teams in college basketball this season and have won 24 of their last 29 games entering the NIT. Like Samford, George Mason has posted the second-most wins in program history with 26 victories, while the 15 wins inside the Atlantic 10 this season are a school record. George Mason was picked to finish sixth in the preseason by the league’s head coaches and have now strung together three-straight 20-win seasons.

The winner of the game between the Bulldogs and Patriots will play the winner of the No.3 Bradley (26-8) and North Alabama (24-10) matchup in Peoria, which will also take place Wednesday night at 8 p.m. EST. The Bulldogs won a thrilling 97-96 win earlier this season at North Alabama.

How To Watch the SoCon in the 2025 Postseason:

NIT

March 18, 2025 Chattanooga at Middle Tennessee State, 8 p.m. EST (ESPN+)

March 19, 2025 Furman at No. 2 North Texas, 8 p.m. EST (ESPN+)

March 19, 2025 Samford at No. 2 George Washington, 8 p.m. EST (ESPN+)



NCAA Tournament

March 20, 2025 No. 15 Wofford vs. No. 2 Tennessee, 6:50 p.m. EST (TNT)

Furman falls in SoCon Title Game to I-85 Rival Wofford

Terriers Blistered the Nets For 68% in the Second Half to End Furman's Run

ASHEVILLE, N.C. In what was a crazy competitive season in the Southern Conference—a league which again ranked inside the top half of college basketball according to college basketball’s primary metric, KenPom (No. 13)--No. 6 Wofford and No. 5 Furman added another classic to SoCon Championship game lore, as the Terriers outshot a talented Furman team, which connected on 42 three-pointers over a three-game span in the tournament, and used a 14-of-28 effort from downtown of its own to capture a 92-85 in the SoCon Title game Monday evening, before a packed Harrah’s Cherokee Center crowd of 6,332 fans.

It was a game that, much like the one a decade ago when the two first met in a title game as No. 1 (Wofford) vs. No. 10 (Furman) matchup, came right down to the wire and delivered in from an entertainment standpoint, with both teams displaying elite shooting over 40 minutes of basketball. The Terriers won the shootout by scorching the nets the entire night, particularly in the second half, which saw Terriers connect on 68% (13-of-19) of their shots from the field and 61.5% (8-of-13) from long range to overcome a Furman team that delighted with sharpshooting from all spots on the floor for three games in Asheville, but it was the Terriers that hit shots in key moments that allowed Wofford to overcome a late four-point deficit (83-79) with just over two minutes remaining in the game.

Wofford went on a 13-2 run over the final 2:33 to overcome a four-point deficit and come away with their sixth Southern Conference Tournament title, improving to 6-1 in championship games. Furman, which reached the championship round for the third time in four years, fell to 7-6 all-time in tournament title games and is now 0-3 against Wofford in the Southern Conference Tournament, including 0-2 in championship games.

In an era in which we seemingly celebrate the transfer portal and NIL with roster turnover now on a season-by-season basis, it was Wofford, which retained nearly all of its scoring production from a year ago, that was rewarded for staying the course in the same locale over the past couple of seasons.

With the win, the Terriers improved to 19-15 overall, while the Paladins ended their season with a 25-9 overall record. Wofford moves on to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019, when Wofford knocked off Seton Hall, 84-68, in the opening round before falling to No.2 Kentucky, 62-56, in the next round. The Terriers will wait to see who they will face in the NCAA Tournament on Selection Show on Sunday, March 16, with the show slated to air at 6:30 p.m. EST on CBS. Wofford and Furman’s meeting in the championship game was one between two teams that have the league’s only two NCAA Tournament wins of the current membership in the 21^st century.

The Terriers connected on a sizzling 13-of-19 shots in the second half, including hitting 61.5% (8-of-13) shots from beyond the arc in the second half alone, out-scoring the Paladins 58-48 in the second half en route to a third-straight win. The Terriers finished the game shooting 54.2% (26-of-48) from the field and were 50% (14-of-28) from three-point range in the game. The Terriers also connected on 78.8% (26-of-33) from the free throw line.

Wofford became the first No. 6 seed to win the SoCon Tournament in the 21^st Century, and was the first non-No. 1 seed since 2017 (No.3 ETSU) to claim the Southern Conference title in a game that didn’t feature the top seed in the conference for the first time since 2014.

The Terriers got a career-high 20 points from Jackson Sivills, who connected on 6-of-9 shots from the field and were 4-for-7 from three-point range, while also adding four rebounds, an assist and had one block. Sivills, who transferred to Wofford from Murray State three years ago, was part of a core group that ended up sticking together for another season and one final run at an NCAA Tournament appearance. In fact, in comparison to a Furman team, which lost 72% of its point production a year ago, the Terriers only lost 8.3 PPG to the transfer portal.

Sivills was one of five Terriers in double figures in the game. The only player that Wofford head coach Dwight Perry ended up bringing in from the transfer portal was USC Upstate transfer Justin Bailey, who proved to be a key ingredient in the Terriers’ tournament title secret sauce, as he finished with 19 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field, including going 3-for-5 from three-point range and was 8-of-9 from the charity stripe. Dillon Bailey finished the contest with 15 points and did most of his damage from three-point land, finishing 4-of-7 from downtown and was a perfect 3-for-3 from the line.

Kyler Filewich, who was a Third-Team All-SoCon selection, finished the tournament as the Most Outstanding Player, capping off his strong three-game performance in the tournament by posting 13 points, six rebounds, two assists and one steal. Senior point guard Corey Tripp finished off his outstanding tournament by posting 11 points, eight assists, and six rebounds, helping extend his collegiate career for at least one more game as a result.

In a valiant effort in the loss, the Paladins were led by PJay Smith Jr., who posted a game-high 27 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field and 4-of-8 from three-point range, while finishing a perfect 11-of-11 from the free throw line. He finished the 2024-25 season making his final 43 free throws and his 110 three-pointers over the course of the season were only three behind the single-season school mark of 113 triples made by Alex Hunter during the 2021-22 season, which was one that would see the Paladins make a school-record 401 three-pointers.

Joining Smith in double figures in the setback for the Paladins was Nick Anderson, who finished out his one season as a Furman Paladin, posting 13 points on 5-of-13 from the field, including 3-for-10 from long range. He was also 2-for-3 from the charity stripe and contributed one assist and one steal.

Garrett Hien finished out his five seasons as a Paladin by adding 13 points, six rebounds, two assists and a steal in strong championship performance, while fellow big men Charles Johnston and Cooper Bowser rounded out the double figure scorers for Furman by adding 12 and 11 points, respectively. Johnston, a native of Sydney Australia, was an impressive 4-of-6 shooting from the field, which included going 4-for-5 from long-range. Bowser was 4-of-5 from the field and a perfect 3-for-3 from the charity stripe. Bowser added one assist and one block to his overall totals. Ben VanderWal finished off a solid 2025 SoCon Tournament by adding seven points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

The Paladins finished the game shooting 48.2% (27-of-56) from the field for the game, while posting a 39.4% (13-of-33) effort from long range. The Paladins were also an impressive 18-of-20 at the charity stripe in the contest, which was good enough for a 90% shooting clip from the charity stripe. The Paladins, however, ended up attempting 13 less free throws and were outscored 26-18 from the line.

Wofford finished the game by winning the battle of the boards, claiming a 30-26 edge on the glass, while Furman held the advantage in total assists (19-14). The Terriers ended the game with advantages in fast-break scoring (6-0), second-chance points (10-5) and bench points (14-12), while the Paladins finished with advantages in points in the paint (28-24) and points from turnovers (15-11).

How It Happened:

Wofford came out and established the momentum early on in the game, as it took a 8-0 lead on threes from Corey Tripp and Jackson Sivills before a Garrett Hien alley-oop to Cooper Bowser got the Paladins on the board. The Terriers would eventually take a 9-4 lead into the first media timeout.

The Terriers would eventually build as much as a 27-14 lead in the opening half when Kyler Filewich converted a layup off an offensive rebound and put-back with 8:26 left in the half and it suddenly looked as if the Terriers were going to run away with the championship win. Furman would quickly respond with an 8-0 run, beginning with a tip-in layup from Garrett Hien and capped by a Charles Johnston three-pointer, who finished 4-of-5 in the game after coming into the game having gone 4-of-21 from long-range since mid-January, and his first of four threes on the evening got Furman to within five, at 27-22, with 6:36 left in the half.

A Corey Tripp three from the top of the key put the Terriers back on top, 30-22, however the Paladins continued their charge with a Hien layup and after Johnston grabbed the rebound off a Kahmare Holmes missed three, the ball found its way into his hands on the offensive end moments later, as he stroked home a second three in quick succession to get Furman to within three, at 30-27, with just under five minutes remaining in the opening half of play.

A pair of Jeremy Lorenz free throws put the Terriers back up five, and emotions continued to rise as the intensity heated up on the Harrah’s Cherokee Center hardwood. Garrett Hien was fouled hard by Sivills, which was enough to see both Hien and Sivills exchange stares as well as some choice words. Hien knocked down 1-of-2 from the line, getting the Paladins back to within four, at 32-27, with 4:13 left in the half.

The Terriers and Paladins would go scoreless over the next couple of minutes before PJay Smith Jr. brought the Furman crowd to its feet with a three with 2:15 remaining in the opening half, as the Paladins continued to inch closer, getting to within a point, at 32-31.

Wofford continued to have all the answers, however, pushing its lead back to four when Sivills found himself open on the left wing for a three off a nice feed from Kyler Filewich, making it a 35-31 Terrier lead with 1:50 remaining in the half.

The Paladins would own the final moments of the opening half, carrying the momentum into the halftime locker room. It started with a Nick Anderson three-pointer, which got the Paladins back to within a point, at 35-34, with 1:32 left. After Sivills missed a three for Wofford, the Paladins would take their first lead of the game when Charles Johnston connected on a three from the left wing with 1:03 left to make it a 37-35 Furman advantage.

Tripp would get fouled by VanderWal going to the hole and he would knock down both free throws to tie the game, 37-37, with 43 seconds left. However, it would be the Paladins that would carry the momentum into the half, with Hien playing a part in that boost of energy heading into the locker room.

First, Hien hit a cutting VanderWal for a dunk off the right side, giving the Paladins the 39-37 lead with 24 seconds remaining in the half. Then, on Wofford’s final shot of the first half, Hien blocked a Sivills three, and Johnston came away with the ball, as the Paladins headed to the half with a 39-37 lead. Over the final eight minutes of the half, the Paladins outscored the Terriers, 25-10, to take a narrow two-point lead into the half.

The second half would see the Paladins and Terriers continue to dazzle with some outstanding offensive basketball, with the Paladins getting six early points from Smith on a three-pointer and three made free throws after being fouled on a three-pointer by Justin Bailey, and after knocking down all three of his charity shots, Furman held a 45-42 lead 90 seconds into the second half. 

The Paladins would eventually increase their lead to six when Nick Anderson knocked down a free throw line jumper with just over 14 minutes left, giving the Paladins a 54-48 lead. It was Furman’s biggest lead of the game, and one of two occasions in which the Paladins would hold a six-point advantage in the second half. However, despite a couple of chances to extend the lead further, the Paladins could not create any more separation than that, thanks in large part to Wofford’s tremendous shooting acumen throughout the second half. Midway through the second half, the Terriers eventually tied the score, at 62-62, after a pair of free throws from Justin Bailey with 10:17 left.

Following an Anderson missed three, Wofford would assume its first lead of the second half, as Bailey knocked down two more free throws with 9:48 remaining, giving Wofford the 64-62 lead.

The Terriers would continue to take charge of the game, and it was the start of what would end up being a 15-5 spurt from the Terriers, as Wofford took an eight-point lead, at 77-69, following a pair of free throws after he was fouled by Cooper Bowser with 6:53 remaining. Bowser would return the favor on the other end after he made a pair of free throws after he was fouled on an alley-oop attempt. Bowser connected on both to cut Furman’s deficit back to six with 6:39 left.

Furman drew even closer after Justin Bailey missed a three and then Hien came down and found himself open on the right wing for a three, which he made and cut the Terriers lead to three, at 77-74, with 5:58 left.

On the ensuing Wofford possession, Smith tried to swipe the ball away from Filewich, but was whistled for the foul, putting the senior from Manitoba at the line for a pair of free throws. Following a rare consecutive made free throws from the senior, the Terriers increased their lead to five (79-74) with 5:32 left.

Furman would then use a 9-0 run over the next three minutes to seemingly take control of the game, and the Paladins looked like they were ready to close out the championship game like they had the semifinal in an overtime win over Chattanooga, which saw the Paladins taking over the game in the final couple of minutes of the, 80-77, overtime win.

Anderson started the 9-0 run with two made charity shots after he was fouled by Sivills. On Wofford’s next possession, the Paladins switched into the 1-3-1 zone, and it took the Terriers by surprise, leading to a Ben VanderWal steal, who then fed Hien in transition, but his shot was blocked off the glass by Filewich, who grabbed the rebound and fed Dillon Bailey in transition the other way, but Bailey ran over VanderWal, who drew a charge, which was one of several high IQ basketball plays made by Furman’s junior forward over the course of three games in Asheville.

Anderson then hit the back iron on a three, but Furman’s 1-3-1 continued to befuddle the Terriers, and Tripp threw a pass out of play, giving the ball back to the Paladins. Hien was able to bring the Paladins to within a point after converting a layup on the other end with 3:53 left, trimming the Terrier lead to 79-78.

Furman continued its strong defense on the other end, as an entry feed to Lorenz by Tripp appeared that it might lead to an easy two for Wofford, however, the high-low feed from Tripp didn’t account for the incognito Anderson, who had anticipated the feed over Hien to Lorenz and his perfect timing allowed the Barry University transfer swipe the ball away and Smith converted a layup on the other end with 3:10 left to give the Paladins an 80-79 lead, as the Furman faithful raised the decibel level once again inside the Harrah’s Cherokee Center.

Wofford’s Tripp then committed his fourth turnover of the night when his lazy pass was stolen by Smith, which led to an Anderson three from the top of the key, giving the Paladins a two-possession lead, at 83-79, with 2:34 left.

Tripp committed his third-straight turnover and fifth of the night as his pass was picked off Hien at the top of the 1-3-1 and the Paladins came down and Smith, whose three killed off the Terriers nine days earlier with 1.1 seconds left at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium in Spartanburg, attempted to deliver the dagger again, but his three was off the front rim and no good.

If Smith had made the shot, it would have extended Furman’s lead to three possessions with just under two minutes left, and it might have been enough to have helped crown the Paladins SoCon Champions for a second time in three years, however, it would prove to be Wofford’s night, who was irresistible to the eyes shooting the basketball the entire night, especially in the second half.

Tripp snagged the long rebound off the Smith miss and found Filewich for a layup on the other end and that got Wofford to within two, at 83-81 with 1:54 remaining. That play proved to be the ever-so-slight momentum shift the Terriers needed in this epic SoCon title tilt. It was the start of what would be a 13-2 run over the final 2:33.

Furman took a timeout, and following a play drawn up by Richey during the respite, Smith got some separation from his defender, but drew some contact from Filewich on the layup attempt to affect the shot, and the tournament MVP came up with the ball, as Smith attempted to sprint back, but appeared have been slightly injured on the play and his inability to sprint back allowed Sivills an open look at a three, which he didn’t miss to give Wofford a lead they would never relinquish, at 84-83 with 1:26 left.

Good defense by the Terriers forced Furman into a shot clock violation on the other end, as the Terrier fans in attendance roared, sensing a real opportunity for the sixth seed to garner a sixth tournament title since 2010, as just 55 seconds remained. Tripp was fouled and he made both charity shots to increase Wofford’s lead to three, at 86-83, with 39 seconds remaining.

Smith and Anderson missed a pair of threes on the other end and Justin Bailey was fouled to effectively help ice the game after his two made free throws with 27 seconds remaining to make it 88-83. Bailey’s two free throws were part of a perfect 6-for-6 effort down the stretch that helped the Terriers claim their first time in six years. 

Press Conference 

https://youtu.be/kYlIcn3AKLA

 Some Final Regular-Season Notes:

--Furman finished the season with 25 or more wins for the fourth time in program history.

---Furman now has 14 twenty-win seasons in its 104 seasons of basketball, with seven of those coming since 2016-17, including the sixth under head coach Bob Richey.

--With Furman's 95-78 win over Samford in the quarterfinal round of the SoCon Tournament, head coach Bob Richey notched his 180th win in his coaching tenure at Furman.

---Bob Richey improved to 11-3 vs. Bucky McMillan in the quarterfinal win.

--Furman ended the season with the SoCon's most overall wins for the second time in three seasons, finishing with a 25-9 mark.

--Furman's 80-77 overtime win over Chattanooga in the semifinals knocked out the No. 1 seed, ensuring there would be no No. 1 seed in the SoCon Tourney championship game for the first time since 2014.

--Furman's 82-45 win over The Citadel in the final regular-season game against The Citadel marked the largest margin of victory for any SoCon team in 2024-25.

--With Wofford's 13 three-pointers in the game, Furman foes connected on 250 triples this season

--Through eight seasons under Bob Richey, the Paladins have connected on 2,680-of-7,252 from three-point range, which converts to 36.9%...The Paladins connected on 370 triples in the 2024-25 season.

--PJay Smith Jr. and Nick Anderson garnered First-Team All-Tournament honors for their performances over a the three-game tournament...Furman center Cooper Bowser 

--PJay Smith Jr.'s 110 three-pointers were just three away from tying the Alex Hunter's (2018-22) record of 113 triples set as a senior during the 2021-22 season.

--PJay Smith Jr. connected on his final 43 free throws to close out the season and scored 76 points in the SoCon Tournament, while posting 102 points over his final four games of the season. 

--Nick Anderson scored 62 points in the SoCon Tournament and had 83 total points in his final four games of the season.

--With its 2-1 mark in the 2025 Southern Conference Tournament, Furman improved to 60-65 all-time in SoCon Tournament action; The Paladins fell to 7-6 all-time in SoCon Championship games.

--Since the start of the 2015-16 season, Furman has won 223 games and has 107 losses.

--The 33 free throws attempted by Wofford against Furman were the most by an opponent all season, eclipsing the 32 shot by The Citadel against Furman in the Paladins 67-63 win back on Jan. 8 in Charleston.

--Furman's 42 three-pointers are one from setting the Southern Conference Tournament record, as Chattanooga connected on 43 triples in four games back in 2023.

--Wofford is 35-23 against the Paladins since joining the Southern Conference during the as a member in 1997-98, while Furman holds a commanding 93-65 all-time series edge.