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| Furman senior guard Pjay Smith Jr. |
How Furman is looking to Turn Disappointment into Dynasty
Furman has 198 overall wins since the start of the 2015-16 season, which is tied with UNC Greensboro for the most overall victories in the Southern Conference, and with its 113 league wins only two behind the same aforementioned UNCG program over that same span, and coming off a 17-16 season a year ago and a fifth-place finish overall in the league, the 2024-25 season will be more about returning to the championship standard, and make last season's disappointment into a return to the standard, which would include a another potential title run and subsequent NCAA Tournament bid.
A second title in three seasons would be somewhat of a mini-dynasty for the Furman basketball program, but you can't run without first walking. Furman isn't going to replace what it lost overnight, nor is it going to change everything that went wrong last season with one big win, however, a slow, dedicated approach to improving with each new assignment, and the Paladins could find themselves right back where they want to be on a Monday night in early March in Asheville.
Eighth-year head coach Bob Richey has helped take to Paladin basketball program to unprecedented heights in his coaching tenure at Furman and has helped build a solid foundation for the winningest team in the state South Carolina over the past decade, as well as helping the Paladins become one of the top teams in all of mid-major basketball.
However, coming off a disappointing 2023-24 season, the work of putting that disappointment in the rearview mirror and forging full steam ahead has already begun for Richey and his new staff and his players. It's about 2024-25.
Looking back, however, the media can get away with it a little bit. It’s no doubt been a longer off-season than usual for a team which is used to heading to the off-season with 20 or more wins and a top three finish in the league standings.
But this off-season has been different. Roster changes, coaching transitions as a result of recent success, and figuring out the NIL/transfer portal era have all been part of that unfamiliar territory for Richey and returning players.
Recently, one noticeable remission from the new online roster most have already been able to discern is Kent State transfer Jalen Sullinger, who has been removed from Furman’s basketball roster. He is now re-enrolled as a student at Kent State and has recently been listed on the Golden Flashes roster for the 2024-25 season.
Preparations are already underway for the upcoming season, with a palpable eagerness to erase the 2023-24 season from the collective memory bank. The first official practice was completed on Sept. 23.
For me as a media member, it's hard to comprehend how things could have gone that wrong for a team well-stocked with talent. It was bizarre. Such is life, however, and there are no guarantees, but even if you say that Furman wasn't good enough to repeat, it should have been better than what it was, which was a collection of both good times and more bad ones. There were glimpses of how good they could be, but more often than not, head-scratching moments.
According to most preseason publications and the league's head coaches at media day, the 2023-24 season was one in which the Paladins were the heavy favorites to cut down the nets in Asheville as defending champions for the first time in 43 years, however, things drastically veered off course before the calendar changed to a new year, as Furman dropped an embarrassing 79-74 contest to NCAA Division II Anderson at Timmons Arena.
Furman’s season would end in the semifinals of the Southern Conference Tournament, where the Paladins would fall to eventual champion Samford (L, 77-84) in Asheville.
Like any coach that has been successful in any sport, Richey continues to grow as a head coach, refining his craft with each passing season, and with a new staff and a lot of new faces among some familiar ones, he and his staff will look to turn the disappointment of 2023-24 into a potential SoCon dynasty in 2024-25.
In fact, the hardest part for successful head coaches at their profession is living up to the standards they have previously established. It's true of every successful head coach...Dabo Swinney...Dan Hurley...There's never been one that has had success that has had it easy after setting a new high bar.
It's the challenge that keeps the greats going. Most important of all, however, is creating a culture that teaches success on, but more importantly off the court or away from the field.
As for winning a second championship in three seasons? It will no doubt be a tough assignment, but that's nothing new. What is new is a new cast of players ready to quickly make 2023-24 a distant memory.
Culture Problem?
The word culture. It’s easily one of most misused and mis-understood words in all of college athletics, and in the media, we like to be lazy applying that term in college basketball, especially when there is a mass exodus of players at one time.
Following such a tumultuous season coupled with the crazy world of NIL and transfer portal, the Paladins would lose their top three scorers from last season and one of their top additions from the transfer portal over the past couple of seasons.
The easy and lazy thing to say when looking at the talent Furman had entered the 2023-24 season, with JP Pegues, Alex Williams, Carter Whitt and Marcus Foster, is that the Paladins had some kind of culture problem because four of the team's best players left immediately after the season. Some faster than others, but nonetheless, a little over a month after the season, and Furman had taken significant hits to its offensive production.
However, the reality is more that college basketball has a culture problem because this is literally something that happened to every mid-major program in the country last season, which is in a word…chaos.
In its own conference that can be seen, as the team that won the SoCon last season—Samford—returns just one starter, in all-conference performer Rylan Jones. That’s two less than the Paladins return for the 2024-25 season. Samford certainly has a strong culture, which Bucky McMillan has built in four short seasons at the helm. Chattanooga took a hit when Sam Alexis left, yet they have a good culture in place there.
The more defined narrative in the SoCon that has seemingly emerged over the past decade is that it’s hard to repeat the title run. Nearly every team loses vital pieces to the puzzle that helped it win the year before.
Furman’s inability to capitalize on the success of a year before is nothing new. In fact, Furman’s problems last season were less about its culture, and more about being a team without the main pillars that had carried the Paladins to a title a year before—Mike Bothwell and Jalen Slawson—and less about something being wrong with the program as a whole.
The 2023-24 Paladins lacked leadership, and some of that was created by the pressure to win the title in 2022-23. This is my opinion here, but I think it’s one worthy of consideration.
The supporting cast, which included JP Pegues, Alex Williams, Marcus Foster and Carter Whitt would all play roles in helping the Paladins snap the 43-year curse and, in fact, the Paladins couldn’t have made such a run without any of the four.
Pegues’ performance down the stretch to garner SoCon Tournament MVP honors, or what about Marcus Foster’s game-clinching triple against Chattanooga. Williams had some off-the-court issues, which saw him suspended six games to start the 2022-23 season, however, it was the play of Williams that provided a noticeable turning point in a 79-67 loss to Western Carolina.
After giving some excellent effort off the bench for one of the few bright spots at WCU, Williams saw his minutes double the next time out in a 25-point, 97-72, win over The Citadel the next time out and it would be the start of Williams playing a big role as Furman’s main sixth man for the remainder of the season.
Carter Whitt also played a key role in the 2022-23 title run, as the Paladins likely don’t win a thrilling 73-67 game at Chattanooga without a clutch three late in that game that gave the Paladins a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.
With the game tied 66-66 with a little less than three minutes left, starting point guard JP Pegues, who himself ended the night with 11 points, six rebounds and three assists, had an open shot from the right elbow when he received the pass, however, Carter Whitt was in the right corner and had a better one. Pegues whipped a pass to the corner and Whitt caught it and stepped into his shot not thinking twice.
It swished for Furman’s eighth triple of the night, giving the Paladins a 69-66 lead and would ultimately spark the run that ended up winning the game, as the Paladins outscored the Mocs 11-3 during the final 2:42 to garner what is the Paladins’ fourth true road win of the season. It was a complete 180-degree difference of how things transpired in overtime at Timmons Arena last Saturday against UNCG, with the Spartans out-scoring the Paladins 11-3 in the extra session.
Whitt’s emergence allowed Pegues to get some much-needed help at the point, easing the overall minutes he had to play the rest of the season.
That quartet played the entire 2022-23 season playing for Mike Bothwell and Jalen Slawson and helped ensure the enduring legacy of that amazing tandem of players wouldn’t be the players that almost helped Furman’s program break through and snap a long NCAA Tournament drought.
More importantly that quartet played to a different level so, wouldn’t be tied to 36-foot three-pointer at the buzzer by David Jean-Baptiste in an overtime which the Paladins didn’t miss a shot (5-for-5) in the SoCon championship game in 2022.
It was more important for them sacrifice for their teammates to become legendary rather than any personal glory gained. In turn, as the season progressed and at nearly every postgame press conference, either Jalen Slawson or Mike Bothwell would mention the importance of Pegues and how he had become the best point guard in the SoCon, and whether it was true or not, they believed it and that was all that mattered. The confidence in Pegues helped bring him to the level needed to win a championship.
The problem in 2023-24 was not only the scoring and defensive production provided by Bothwell and Slawson had graduated, but also the two reasons the Paladins played with such tenacity to win the whole thing in the first place were no longer there.
There was no burden of not winning it anymore and no legacy of being the SoCon’s Buffalo Bills. There was, however, the pressure of being the defending champion and being the projected champion. Furman’s collection of personalities didn’t match to one single identity to reach that same common goal again.
The Paladins’ returning talent was highlighted by that quartet—Pegues, Williams, Whitt and Foster—who spent the 2023-24 season trying to stay healthy and trying figure out their individual roles, and unfortunately, that caused some internal issues, on-court inconsistencies, and by the time the tournament arrived, a joyless endeavor to defend the title it had won a year earlier in Asheville.
In the regular-season finale vs Mercer, it was noticeable that this team wasn’t in-sync and the body language and the arguing among players made it more apparent the team had identity issues rather than bad culture. In fact, the 2023-24 Paladins were talented, but struggled shooting the three ball more than any other in Bob Richey’s tenure as head coach.
Success also had led to alleged NIL money issues, and that’s a problem outside of Furman’s culture and not created by the family culture, which had been started under Niko Medved a decade earlier and only elevated by Richey in his seven years at the helm.
One glance at Southern Conference hoops over the past decade is that continuity is tough to maintain, and that has made sustained success even tougher. It’s the biggest reason why we haven’t seen a repeat champion since Wofford won the title in back-to-back campaigns in 2013-14 and then again in ‘14-‘15.
Seven of the past nine SoCon hoops defending champions have finished lower than they were projected in the preseason, with only East Tennessee State (2017-18/picked 4th and finished 2nd) and UNCG (2021-22/picked 6th and finished 6th) matching or exceeding expectations coming into that title defending season.
Furman is a different program because of a culture that focuses cultivating men off the court to enable a seamless transition that will create a successful man and father after basketball ends. The problem isn’t one of bad culture, but more of not compromising the standards of creating a better man at the expense of bending to to the sport that college hoops has now become, due to NIL and the ease of the transfer portal.
That as much as any opposition will be the most daunting task ahead for Richey and his staff.
Offensively, the Paladins finished the season connecting on just 44.4% from the field for the season, while averaging 79.5 PPG. The scoring average isn't a real concern, as it was only about two points off what the Paladins scoring average in the 2022-23 season.
While the 44.4% field goal percentage as a team was a bit of a drop from last season, the Paladins were only four percentage points lower in 2 pt field goal percentage from what they were last season, which of course ranked third in all of college basketball. The issues have been the progression in the wrong direction on the defensive end of the floor, which really started last season in non-conference play. Some of that was masked by the fact that the Paladins had arguably the best rim protection in the league and one of its best overall defensive performers. This past season, however, the Paladins were the worst outfit the Paladins have had under head coach Bob Richey.
According to KenPom, the Paladins finished the season ranking 204th in defensive efficiency, 308th in effective field goal percentage defense (52.9%) and 240th (16.2) in turnover percentage.
In each of the past two seasons, one of the elements head coach Bob Richey has mentioned most during his postgame press-conferences is the fact that each of the past two Furman teams haven't been able to generate the type of ball deflection defense that Furman has used with such success in Richey's first five seasons as the head coach. When the Paladins had length with Jalen Slawson, Clay Mounce, Tre Clark and Noah Gurley, it was hard to pass around or over that.
Over the past two seasons, the Paladins haven't been able to put that much length on the floor at one time, and outside both Cooper Bowser this past season and Jalen Slawson in 2022-23, the Paladins haven't had as much of that.
That is about to change with the newest Paladins having been introduced to the fold for the 2024-25 season. While it’s not going to be an easy job to keep Furman among those competing for a title in the always competitive and rising mid-major conference that is the SoCon, it is going to be one that appears, at least on paper, to be an achievable goal.
With that said, it’s also hard to overlook the Paladins have a coach that has won 156 games in eight seasons, which easily the best run of success in Furman basketball history.
Saying that Furman under Richey will finish out of the upper echelon of the league in the immediate future would be the equivalent of having predicted that to be the case for Mike Young (former Wofford head coach), Steve Forbes (former ETSU head coach) or Wes Miller (former UNC Greensboro head coach) during their time coaching in the league.
In other words, Furman won’t be the favorite, but it would be shocking to see them finish any lower than they did a year ago. I think it’s fair to assume Furman will finish somewhere in the top four of the league’s regular-season standings in 2024-25.
It’s not a culture problem for Furman basketball, it’s a time of adjustment, change and transition, and that’s true of most mid-major programs throughout the SoCon and nation at this moment, and as they say, this will be the coaches earn their paycheck, and in Bob Richey, Furman has one of the very best in the business. If you were expecting the Paladins to stumble, it would seem more of a wish than an actual reality.
The Southern Conference figures to be a wide-open race in 2024-25, with Chattanooga, East Tennessee State and Wofford expected to be primary contenders. Furman and Samford right behind and in contention for a title as well. It's yet again a new season and a lot of new faces in the conference, including two new head coaches.
A Preview of 2024-25
You can wager a good amount of money that the Paladins will be a good shooting team this season, as it was one of the major weaknesses of a team that a team that was so talented last season, yet fell way below expectations, and it was primarily the three-ball that proved to be the biggest struggle offensively for the Paladins. It also had to do with pass-count numbers being low, which is an essential metric the Paladin coaching staff evaluates because its direct influence on Furman's offensive success, and thus, it's ability to hit shots from the perimeter in rhythm.
Why is that an issue? The three-ball has been Furman's hallmark over the past decade and especially in the seven seasons under head coach Bob Richey. Since the start of the 2017-18 season, Furman has connected on 2,310-of-6,245 three-pointers, which converts to a 36.9% shooting effort from three-point range in seven seasons under Richey. It's a major reason why the Paladins have won 156 wins under Bob Richey over the past seven seasons.
In the 2023-24 season, the Paladins connected on 320 three-pointers, which is 20 less in three less games. It felt like, at least at times, that Furman wasn't a very good perimeter shooting team. That, however, was probably further from the truth than reality. It was more a reflection of a team not doing the things needed to create the open shots that had been created in previous seasons.
The Paladins did shoot the ball less than 35% from long-range this past season, and that's usually the benchmark for teams. The Paladins finished the 2023-24 campaign connecting on 33.2% (320-of-988) from long range this season. By comparison, the 2022-23 season, which yielded Furman's first league crown in 43 years saw the Paladins connect on 34.4% from long range.
Strangely, the Paladins have shot exactly 988 three-pointers each of the past two seasons. When Furman has shooters, conceptually, the Paladins' style of offense is nearly impossible to defend. It really was each of the previous two seasons coming into the 2023-24 season, and the fruits of that can be discerned from the Paladins connecting on a Southern Conference record 401 threes two years ago, and then last season, while the Paladins weren't the best perimeter shooting team, they more than made up for it from two-point range, connecting at a sizzling 58.3%, which ranked third in all of college basketball.
Mike Bothwell and Jalen Slawson were those dudes. In their final two seasons, their offensive influence was astounding in those two stats listed above. The 2021-22 Furman offensive efficiency is probably a benchmark in terms of its efficiency and versatility. Furman needed only one
Despite holding to being a developmental program, Furman doesn’t limit itself from excluding the portal. In fact, when you lose 70.8% of the team's scoring to the portal, or if you're looking for it in mathematical terms the Paladins lost 56.5 of their 79.5 PPG average from last season, it forces you to look to the portal.
But in previous years, Furman hasn’t been hesitant to do just that. In the spring of 2021, the Paladins brought in Conley Garrison for one year from Drury and the sharp-shooting guard was the perfect one-year addition in the 2021-22 season, nearly helping the Paladins get to the NCAA Tournament.
Carter Whitt, who this past spring transferred out to Belmont to finish out his career, played for a year at Wake Forest before joining the Paladin program and played a big role in the latter half of the 2022-23 title run and then played a bigger role last season, with several standout performances. Whitt will be missed as a teammate and as an on-court performer, but it was more an issue that Whitt hasn’t found his niche yet in stints at both Wake Forest and at Furman.
Finally, last year Furman brought in PJay Smith Jr. (10.0 PPG, 3.4 RPG) at point guard after there was interest from several prominent mid-major players, including one that played at a rival school in the SoCon that could have played right away as a graduate transfer.
With plenty of good scoring and shooting options at its disposal, Furman opted to stick with Smith, and that move paid off. Smith was the best friend of JP Pegues and his AAU teammate in high school and played his first couple of seasons of college basketball at Lee University in Tennessee for head coach Bubba Smith. Smith is an extension of Furman’s rich basketball culture, starring as a sharp-shooting guard for the Paladins in the mid-1990s.
In Smith, the Paladins got a career 40% shooter from three-pointer, and following his first season in Greenville, he ended up averaging
In each instance, those players were added as character-building pieces to a team that already had strong leadership before ever being added on just talent alone. Saying all that to say that Furman looks for the right people to plug into its culture rather than the right talent to match a statistical need. The two seemingly go hand-in-hand.
The rising senior point guard has made great strides during the offseason and with Sullinger likely no longer with the team, and that will give Smith a more clearly defined role for the upcoming season as a result.
As expected, Smith ended up being one of Furman's better shooters from three-point range last season, finishing second to only Alex Williams' 40.2% shooting from long range this past season. Smith finished the season connecting on 36.3% of his long-range efforts, as he ranked second to only JP Pegues in three-pointers made, finishing the season with 74 triples.
Eddrin Bronson is a 6-4 guard that coaches have been excited about since he arrived on campus last fall. The former three-star recruit out of Tampa Catholic is poised to get his Paladin career started in 2024-25 and is versatile in that he can provide depth at the point guard spot, as well as possessing the athleticism to be an option off the ball.
Bronson was already going to be a major part of the Paladin plans even if Whitt, Pegues and Foster hadn't all hit the portal. The 6-4, 184-lb guard out of Tampa Catholic in Tampa, FL, according to head coach Bob Richey following Furman's regular-season ending loss to Mercer, as he highlighted the fact that he wished the rule for redshirt freshmen was the same as it was at the NCAA Division I football level, which allows for all redshirt freshmen to play up to 25% of the total games before having to forfeit that redshirt.
During his time at Tampa Catholic, Bronson was able to average 17 PPG and four rebounds per contest during his senior season. He also helped Tampa Catholic to a 19-11 overall mark and Florida 3A state playoff appearance. He was a three-time all-county pick.
Bronson will be asked to step up offensively. His strength and power off the bounce will remind folks a little of a combination of Marcus Foster, with his strength and power, as well as Clay Mounce with his overall athleticism and bounce off the dribble. If you are a longtime fan of Paladin hoops, former Paladin guard Steve Harris (1992-95), who spent three years in the Furman backcourt after transferring in from Clemson. Harris was a powerful, athletic guard that was an effective perimeter threat and was good on the glass. A more recent comparison might be a guy like Daniel Fowler (2015-19).
Joining Brunson in the backcourt as a newcomer into the fold will be Tommy Humphries, who is also a player that is ready for battle heading into the 2023-24 season.
The 6-5, 215-lb product of Minneapolis, MN., has good athleticism and strength and is a player that comes into the program that has been used to winning. He starred at Totino-Grace High School in Minneapolis, where he was ranked as the No. 5 player in the state of Minnesota by PrepHoops.com, as he was a key piece to helping Totino-Grace yo back-to-back AAA state titles. In the state title game last March, Humphries scored 11 points en route to helping his school to its second-straight AAA state crown.
Humphries ended up garnering all-state honorable mention honors as a senior, while also garnering Minnesota State High School League AAA all-tournament accolades. Like Bronson, Humphries brings an edge and a dedication to lock down and guard the opposition on the defensive end of the floor, along with being a pretty good athlete himself.
Like most of Richey's recruits, Humphries can also step out and shoot the three. The backcourt depth, however, is thin outside Smith, Bronson and Humphries. Furman has been active in the transfer portal over the past couple of weeks, however, without a solid commitment yet.
Furman was able to get another outstanding shooter from the transfer portal via the Division II ranks, in Barry University Bucs product Nick Anderson, who like Conley Garrison a couple of years ago, would be a graduate transfer with one year of eligibility remaining.
Anderson is a prolific shooter, starring for former Furman head coach Butch Estes (1986-95), as his quick release off the hand-offs and curls is somewhat reminiscent of former Wofford guard Fletcher Magee, in that it is especially tough to block his shot. He’s the kind of shooter that will make an instant impact in the lineup this season and will be in contention to potentially start.
Anderson finished out his final season with the Bucs averaging 17.4 PPG and 2.2 RPG, while shooting a blistering 42.3% from three-point range, having knocked down 101-of-239 long-range attempts in his final season at Barry. Among the other Southern Conference programs, who were interested in procuring the services of Anderson during the off-season were The Citadel, Chattanooga and East Tennessee State.
Rounding out the newcomers in the backcourt is 6-7 Florida State transfer Tom House. House is a player that is another that could provide an instant impact with his long-range shooting ability, and he will have two seasons of eligibility remaining.
Two years ago, the Paladins broke open a close game in the second half to come up with what was an 89-74 win over Belmont.
Florida State transfer Tom House rounds out the backcourt additions for the Paladins heading into the 2024-25 season, and he is another potential 40% or better shooter from the perimeter heading into the season. House was a player that was highly sought after during the recruiting process, and it came during a time when recruiting was a little tricky due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He averaged 1.5 PPG and shot 47% from three-point land this past season in Tallahassee, and he comes to Furman with two seasons of eligibility remaining. House his best outing as a Seminole against Kennesaw State last season, posting a career-best nine points, while adding seven points against South Florida.
House was instrumental in leading Centerville High School to the 2021 state title and a state runner-up finish as a senior. For his prep career at Centerville, House posted averages of 14.4 PPG, 3.3 RPG, and 2.4 APG.
While the Paladins will again be solid in the backcourt, they could have among the top frontcourts in the Southern Conference in 2023-24, with Garrett Hien (6.8 PPG, 3.9 RPG), Tyrese Hughey (4.9 PPG, 3.8 RPG), Davis Molnar (2.9 PPG, 3.3 RPG), Cooper Bowser (3.9 PPG, 1.6 RPG, 27 BLKS) and Ben VanderWal (5.9 PPG, 4.6 RPG) all returning to the fold, while the additions of Division II transfer Charles Johnston from Cal State Monterrey Bay, as well as Mason Smith both figure to be instant impact players.
Hien, Hughey and VanderWal are three players left over from that championship run a couple of years ago, and both will feel as they have something to prove this season. They were all three a big part of that successful run two years ago, and Hien has the most experience of the three. His leadership and knowledge of the overall offense will be vital to the success of the Paladins.
Rotationally is one area that Richey has improved with each passing season of his coaching career and expect this year to be the best. The Paladins will likely have a 9-10 rotation throughout the entirety of the season rather than working into one as the season progresses, which has been the case in past seasons.
Hien is a player that could emerge as an x-factor player for the Paladins this coming season. Two years ago, Hien was a factor when in the lineup alongside Slawson, however, without the benefit of Slawson in the lineup, he saw his numbers take a bit of a dip, particularly his shooting from beyond the arc.
Hien went from shooting 35% (27-of-77) from long range two years ago to just 14.6% (6-of-41) last season. Those aren’t numbers that are indicative of the type of shooter Hien can be and it was clear that he never exhibited the type of confidence in his shot that he had shown each of the previous two seasons. If the Paladins are going to be successful in 2024-25, Hien has to produce. He is also just a 46.1% foul shooter for his career. That is an area that also must see improvement this coming season.
Having said that, the positives Hien can bring far outweigh the negatives, and the two main assets he brings are his knowledge of the Paladins’ motion offense, as well as his ability to see the game spatially. His skills as a passer are underrated, and he’s also a better than average athlete. He started 23 of Furman’s 33 games last season.
With the 6-9 Hien, 6-11 Cooper Bowser, and 6-11 Charles Johnston, the Paladins will have among the best size in the league this coming season and will have the ability to cause some matchup problems by having two or all three of those guys on the floor at the same time. The true freshman shot a blistering 74.2% (46-of-62) from the field last season, with a vast majority of those being dunks.
Bowser has NBA potential and his emergence towards the latter portions of the 2023-24 season were evident, and was largely responsible in helping the Paladins come up with a pair of big road wins wins at East Tennessee State and The Citadel last season. Without him in those two games, the Paladins likely don’t end up on capturing a win in either of those games.
With a progression track similar to that of how Jalen Slawson was able to make a giant leap in overall development from freshman-to-sophomore, expect Bowser to contend for all-league honors this coming season.
Already a presence on the defensive with his length and wingspan, his development of to his overall offensive game playing at the rim for the Paladins could be a huge factor for Furman this coming season. The sophomore from Woodbridge, VA., blocked a team-best 27 shots last season, while logging action in 32 games, including making three starts.
As far as Johnston is concerned, he comes to Furman with two years of eligibility remaining after transferring in from Cal State Monterrey Bay. He is an intriguing hoops talent, having played just four years of organized basketball, displaying a shooting range uncanny for most with his size, as well as being an elite rebounder and and an added asset as a rim protector.
Though the Otters struggled during the 2023-24 season, winning just seven games, it wasn’t the fault of Johnston, who ended up garnering second-team California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) honors last season following a campaign, which saw Robertson break the CSUMB single-season mark for total rebounds in a season, bringing down a total of 278 rebounds for the season, leading the league in rebounding average, at 10.7 RPG.
Additionally, Johnston, who is a native of Sydney Australia, finished the season as his team’s second-leading scorer, averaging 13.4 PPG. He finished the 2023-24 season by posting an impressive 13 double-doubles, scoring in double figures 20 times last season, including posting four games with 20 or more points.
The unique trait that Johnston brings to the Paladin roster as a 6-11 center is his ability to shoot the three ball with excellent efficiency from long range. The newcomer brings with him an ability to shot from long-range, making him a danger all over the floor. In his most recent season with Cal State Monterrey Bay, Johnston finished connecting on 37.7% (20-of-53) from three-point range last season. His 10.7 RPG ranked fifth in NCAA Division II in rebounding last season.
Hughey returns as one of the team’s best rebounders, and he will be another key in the paint. The 6-6 senior from Columbus, OH, is finally completely healthy after having been plagued by off-season surgeries on each hip the previous two seasons.
Despite those surgeries, Hughey is an exceptional athlete, but like Hien, needs to show his prowess as a consistent outside threat and he doesn’t have to average in double figures, but he needs to make the opposition to respect his ability to score. He is among the best rebounders on the Furman roster, and that’s a primary strength for him as a player.
He also became a solid presence defending around the basket last season, with the biggest improvement he made as a player was his presence as a shot-blocker. He completed the season with a total 18 swats, which was 10 more blocked shots than he had in 2022-23. Hughey started 20 of the 31 games he logged action in last season for the Paladins and shot a solid 51.3% from the field for the season. He has started a total of 24 times in 88-career games in a Paladin uniform.
VanderWal has more often than not been the energy spark-plug the Paladins have looked to each of the past couple of seasons, whether it be a loose ball, a play on the defensive end, or a highlight-reel dunk like the ones he produced in Paladin wins over Winthrop and VMI during his freshman and sophomore campaigns, respectively.
It’s a player like VanderWal that championship worthy teams often have that can make a difference in a palpable fashion when it comes to changing the team’s overall energy.
While VanderWal has most often provided that energy as a reserve off the bench, the 6-7 junior from Elmhurst, Ill., figures to provide that presence as a potential starter this season. He posted a career-high 15 points and 13 rebounds in Furman’s Valentine’s Day win over VMI last season.
He logged action in 30 games, missing three games due to having to have an emergency appendectomy last season. He made 10 starts for the Paladins last season and has garnered starting nods in 17 games in his Paladin career.
The biggest issue for VanderWal in his first two seasons in a Paladin uniform has been maintaining a consistency in his long-range shooting. He finished the 2023-24 season shooting just 18.8% (9-of-48) from long range. VanderWal shot just 27.6% (16-of-58) from long-range as a freshman.
Molnar is a player that should see some added minutes this coming season. He’s an asset on the backboards and is a solid defensive presence. At times last season, particularly in the Arkansas game and in the game at Wofford, he was able to give the Paladins a lift off the bench.
Furman's lone freshman signee comes to Greenville, S.C., from the Palmetto State's northern border state, where he led Davidson Day (Charlotte, N.C.) state championship as a senior, as 6-7 forward Mason Smith provided athleticism and a keen shooting ability, averaging 15 PPG and eight RPG, shooting 40% from three-point land en route to garnering All-Foothills Conference honors and NCISSA All-State honors as a senior.
Smith had originally been a Mercer commitment, however, after Greg Gary was not retained as the head coach, Smith, who is rated as a three-star prospect by most services, re-opened his recruitment and decided to commit to Furman. It appears more apparent that Smith won’t redshirt this coming season, and if that is the case, he will be among the best freshmen in the SoCon by the time the 2024-25 season comes to a conclusion.
I expect Smith to be a big factor this season with his shooting ability, and I am not sure how he redshirts this season given Furman’s shooting woes last season, as well as given his overall ability. He comes to Furman comparable to a guy like Clay Mounce (2017-2021), having already exceeded Mounce’s ability at this juncture of his career.
New Coaching Additions
Not only has the Paladin roster seen some major turnover, but the coaching staff will also have plenty of new additions for the 2024-25 season, with that a natural progression for many mid-major programs, who have had a great deal of success.
The Paladins will have six new members of its coaching staff and support staff this season. Top assistant Jeremy Growe has joined the College of Charleston's new staff under first-year head coach Chris Mack, and he will occupy the same role on the Cougars staff, as Associate Head Coach.
Tim Johnson moved on to take a position as an assistant on Matthew Graves' new staff at Indiana State. Former Chief of Staff Darren Angell has moved into the business world, and Director of Sport Performance Matt Aldred has moved on to join Dusty May's new staff in the same role at the University of Michigan.
The lone remaining holdover as an assistant coach--Chad Warner--who joined the staff prior to the 2022-23 season after being the head coach at Flagler University, has been elevated to the role of Associate Head Coach with Growe's departure.
Newcomers to the coaching staff include Kip Owens, Khyle Marshall, Pat Estepp and Rett Lister. Owens comes to Furman from Flagler, spending five seasons as an assistant, which included the final two as the Associate Head Coach of the Saints.
He worked alongside Warner during Warner's time as the head coach, and Owens helped guide the Saints to a 18-3 record, including an 11-1 record in the Peach Belt and helped the Saints reach the NCAA Division II national semifinals in 2020-21. The following season, he was a major part of helping the Saints return to the tournament and finish the campaign with an impressive 23-8 mark.
Owens played college basketball at NCAA Division II Alabama-Huntsville, starring for Lennie Acuff (current head coach at Lipscomb University) during his four years with the program. Acuff is one of Bob Richey's mentors and many of his coaching philosophies are based on Acuff's concepts.
During Owens' time as a player for UAH, he helped the Chargers to three NCAA Division II Tournaments, which included two Gulf South Tournament titles (2015 and '17) and a pair of regular-season titles (2014-15 and 2015-16).
Marshall joins the Furman program after spending three seasons at South Dakota State. In his first season on staff with the Jackrabbits in 2021-22, he was part of one of the successful seasons in Summit League history, with a 30-5 overall mark and an unblemished 18-0 mark in league action.
The Jackrabbits went on to the NCAA Tournament in 2021-22 and followed up in 2022-23 with a second-place finish in the Summit League. Last season, he helped the Jackrabbits compile a 22-13 record, which included a 12-4 mark in the Summit League, as SDSU won both regular-season and tournament titles, returning to the NCAA Tournament for a second time in three seasons.
Estepp spent 24 seasons at Cedarville University (OH) as an assistant and head coach. He spent 16 years as the head coach, compiling a record of 292-191 and led the Yellow Jackets to three NCAA Division II (NCCAA) national titles in 2012, 2019 and 2024. He will serve as the special assistant to the head coach, occupying essentially the same role that Angell did the previous two seasons.
Lister returns to Furman after spending one season as a graduate assistant at Kent State. He helped the Golden Flashes finish the 2023-24 season with a 17-17 record, helping Kent State reach the MAC Tournament title game.
During his four seasons as a walk-on player at Furman from 2019-23, he was one of the winningest players in Furman history, as he finished his career being a part of 90-career wins and helping the Paladins return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 43 years in 2022-23. He was also a part of a Furman team that won its first NCAA Tournament game since 1974, with the Paladins 68-67 upset of Virginia in Orlando in the 2023 NCAA Tournament,
Lister's father, Chad Lister, is a Furman graduate and has served as the head coach of nearby NCAA Division II North Greenville for better than two decades.
The 2024-25 Non-Conference Schedule
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| Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl (left) and Bob Richey (right) after Furman battle Auburn into overtime before dropping an overtime thriller, 81-78, at Auburn Arena on Dec. 5, 2019 |
It's going to be a different season in many ways for Furman basketball. One of those is that it will be displaced from its normal home--Timmons Arena--for the entire 2024-25 season, as the facility gets a 40-million-dollar facelift, which upon completion, will make it one of the nicest facilities in all of mid-major basketball. The link to the full 2024-24 schedule along with game times is listed directly below.
Furman ended its nine-year run of success inside the facility with a 109-19 record, which includes a 63-10 mark against league foes. Against non-conference opponents over the past nine seasons, the Paladins ended its run in the current Timmons Arena with a 46-9 record. All told, the Paladins posted a 246-110 record in its 27th season of operation. Furman will begin play in the new Timmons Arena in 2025.
When it comes to the 2024-25 schedule, certainly one of the more intriguing things about this college basketball season ahead is that schools can host open scrimmages. So, when you first glance at the 2023-24 schedule, you'll notice the Paladins host the Auburn Tigers in a scrimmage on Oct. 27, with tip-off slated for 1 p.m. in an open scrimmage.
The two scrimmaged last season, with Auburn taking a lopsided, 107-75 contest at Auburn Arena. One former Paladin will be returning to Greenville and now playing for the Tigers, in former Paladin guard J.P. Pegues. Pegues was Furman's leading scorer last season, averaging 18.4 PPG and 4.8 APG en route to garnering first-team All-SoCon honors last season. The scrimmage against Auburn will be for a good cause, as it will raise money for local charity organizations.
Furman has put together an enticing schedule once again this season, however, the Paladins are still looking to fill three dates on the schedule as of mid-August. The Paladins will look face off against a pair of Ivy League foes, facing both Princeton (Dec. 15) and Harvard (Dec. 21).
The Paladins suffered what was a heartbreaking, 70-69, loss on the road at Jadwin Gym last season, which marked the first of such “season-altering” losses for Furman, which saw the Paladins uncharacteristically surrender a nine-point lead in the game’s final four minutes. The loss at Princeton would also be the game the Paladins would end up losing wing Marcus Foster for an extended amount of time to a knee injury.
The Paladins will be on the road at Harvard just before Christmas, as the Paladins will face off against the Crimson in just the second-ever meeting between the two programs, which saw the Paladins claim what was an 87-69 win over the Crimson during the 1959-60 campaign. The Paladins and Crimson will meet on Dec. 21 at Lavietes Pavilion.
The Crimson are coached by Tommy Amaker and are coming off a 2023-24 season, which saw Harvard post a 14-13 record and that included a 5-9 record in the Ivy League. The Crimson lost both meetings against common opponent Princeton last season, as the Crimson were 89-58 losers to the Tigers in Philadelphia, while dropping a 66-53 decision to the Tigers at Lavietes Pavilion.
The Crimson are coming off what was an uncharacteristically down season in the Ivy League, but recently welcomed in seven newcomers ready to make an impact this upcoming season, with 6-2 senior guard Evan Nelson being one of the top returnees, as he missed the 2023-24 season with an injury. Two years ago, he started 26 out of 28 games for the Crimson, averaging 8.4 PPG and 3.4 APG.
Another talented guard returning to the fold for the 2024-25 season is junior wing Chandler Pigge', and he was able to log action in 25 games, which included 22 starting nods last season. He finished out the 2023-24 campaign averaging 8,1 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 1.6 APG and 1.3 SPG.
Like Furman, Amaker's Crimson weren't immune to significant departures to the portal, as Ivy League Rookie of the Year and leading scorer Malik Mack must be replaced. Mack moved on to Georgetown after averaging 15.4 PPG better than five assists-per-game last season.
For a fourth-straight season, Furman will face off against the Belmont (Nov. 8) Bruins in a key matchup, as the two will face each other on Nov. 8 at the Curb Events Center in Nashville. The Paladins have claimed each of the past two games in the series between the two, with both wins coming by double-digits.
The Paladins put together maybe their most impressive performance of the season in an early-season, 99-76, win over the Bruins in the 2023-24 campaign, as the Paladins were paced by a game-high 23 points by JP Pegues in what was his debut for the Paladins last season.
There will at least be a little familiarity on the other sideline as well, with former Paladin guard Carter Whitt having transferred into the Belmont basketball program during the off-season. Whitt played a significant role as a backup and starting point guard during the 2023-24 season, averaging 7.9 PPG, 3.1 RPG and 3.5 APG last season, as he logged action in 33 games, including having made 15 starts. He figures to play a significant role for the Bruins this coming season.
Belmont is program that Furman head coach Bob Richey on more than one occasion has remarked that the Paladin basketball program is built on many of the same principles that current head coach Casey Alexander's predecessor Rick Byrd built longevity and sustained success upon. Belmont has built one of the most successful basketball brands in all of mid-major basketball over the duration of its 27-year membership as an NCAA Division I member, which includes having made nine NCAA Tournament appearances.
The Bruins were again a 20-game winner last season, having posted a 20-13 mark, which included a 12-8 mark in the Missouri Valley Conference, and that was good enough for a tie for fourth place in the league's final standings.
Belmont returns two players with starting experience from a year ago, in junior wing guard Isaiah Walker (4.1 PPG, 3.2 RPG) and 6-9 sophomore forward Brigham Rogers (4.9 PPG, 2.9 RPG). Walker is a veteran that has started 24 games in his career, while having seen action in a total of 64 games over the previous three seasons.
The last time the Paladins and Bruins faced each other in Nashville, it was Belmont that got the better of things, winning a thrilling, 95-89, contest in overtime in come-from-behind fashion. It will mark the sixth all-time meeting between the Paladins and Bruins, with Furman holding the narrow 3-2 advantage in the all-time series.
The Paladins will have a Nov. 23 date on the road in Charleston against an improved Charleston Southern (Nov. 23) team, which is led by a former Bob Richey recruit, in Saah Nimley, as Richey recruited Nimley to Charleston Southern in his first job as an assistant coach under former Buccaneers coach Barclay Radebaugh. Things now come full circle, as Richey will meet up against Nimley for the first time.
Nimley has helped lead the Bucs to a 10-20 record last season, which included a 6-10 mark in Big South play last season and a seventh-place finish in the league standings. The last time the Paladins and Bucs met on the hardwood came during the 2019-20 season, and that contest would see Furman wallop CSU, posting a 91-47 win at the CSU Buc Dome.
Charleston Southern has a good nucleus returning for the 2024-25 season, which includes four starters returning to the fold, led by Taje' Kelly, who is a 6-7, 240-lb power forward from Atlanta, GA. He led the Bucs in scoring last season, averaging 14.4 PPG and 7.6 RPG.
The Paladins and Bucs will be meeting for the 18th time on the hardwood, with the Paladins having a 10-7 all-time series edge, including having won each of the previous two meetings between the two. Charleston Southern last defeated the Paladins on the basketball hardwood in the 2008-09 season, as the Bucs claimed a 75-64 win in North Charleston.
Having already competed in ESPN Events tournaments each of the past two seasons, taking part in the Charleston Classic a couple of years ago, and last season, and taking part in the Myrtle Beach Invitational in the 2023-24 campaign, head coach Bob Richey and the Furman Paladins will set their sights towards the west this season, as the Paladins will take part in the Las Vegas Showdown, which of course, is also sponsored by ESPN Events.
On Nov. 26, 2024, the Paladins will battle Seattle University (Nov. 26) prior to what figures to be a much-anticipated Top 10 clash between college basketball blue bloods Duke and Kansas. The Paladins will face off against Kansas (Nov. 30) the following Wednesday night at historic Phog Allen Fieldhouse in what will be the second all-time meeting between the two programs.
Seattle will face Duke on Nov. 29 as a part of the Vegas Showdown, with that game slated to take place at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Tip-off times for all games will be announced at a later date.
The Paladins, which return three starters from a team that finished 17-16 last season and has won 198 games since the start of the 2015-16 season, has never faced off against the Seattle Redhawks on the college basketball hardwood. The 198 wins by Furman over that span are tied with UNC Greensboro for the most wins over the past nine seasons. The Paladins were 10-8 in Southern Conference play, which was good enough for fifth in the final standings--it's lowest finish in the league since 2014-15.
Furman won its quarterfinal matchup over No. 4 Western Carolina (W, 79-76) in overtime at the Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville before dropping an 84-77 contest to eventual tournament champion and top seed Samford in the SoCon semifinals the following day to conclude the 2023-24 campaign.
The Redhawks are coming off a 23-14 campaign, winning the College Basketball Invitational (CBI), with a 77-67 championship game win over High Point. The 23-win campaign last season marked a third-straight 20-win season for the Redhawks under the direction of head coach Chris Victor.
The Redhawks posted an 11-9 mark in the WAC this past season, which was good enough for a fourth-place finish in the league standings. The Redhawks' pursuit of a WAC Tournament title would come to an end at the hands of eventual conference tournament champion and NCAA Tournament participant Grand Canyon, who handed the Redhawks an 80-72 setback in the semifinal round of the Hercules Tires WAC Tournament.
Like Furman's Bob Richey, who has posted an impressive 156-70 record, Southern Conference regular-season and tournament titles (2022-23), and an NCAA Tournament appearance and win (2023) over the past seven seasons, Victor has made his mark as one of the young and upcoming head coaches at the mid-major level. Victor sports an impressive 169-74 record in eighth seasons as a head coach, which includes a 66-35 record in three seasons as the head coach of the Redhawks.
Seattle plays as a member of the Western Athletic Conference, which includes the likes of Stephen F. Austin, Grand Canyon and Abilene Christian, who are some teams that have made some recent noise in the NCAA Tournament.
The Paladins faced WAC member Stephen F. Austin back during the 2022-23 season, holding off the Lumberjacks for a 72-70 win at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville.
The Redhawks are a team on the rise in college basketball yet remain in search of their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1969.
However, with its rise in the ranks the past three seasons, a return to the heyday of the 1960s for Redhawks basketball seems a lot closer now than it did just a few years ago. The Redhawks made six NCAA Tournament appearances in the 1960s, including a run to the Sweet Sixteen in 1964.
The Redhawks (once referred to as the "Chieftains") have made 11 NCAA Tournament appearances, which includes making the 1958 national championship game, where they would drop an 84-72 decision to Kentucky at Freedom Hall in Louisville.
The Redhawks were NCAA Division I members from 1946-80 before budget problems forced the program to ultimately re-classify as NAIA in 1980. The Redhawks would spend 28 years getting back to the Division I level, competing in the NCAA Division II Tournament just once in 2007 before progressing back to Division I in 2008, which is where they have been ever since.
Like most every successful mid-major program, the Redhawks were bitten by the transfer portal bug, however, also utilized the portal to bring in some talent that should contribute right away.
The Redhawks must replace their top two scorers from a year ago, in Cameron Tyson (17.9 PPG) and Alex Schumacher (13.5 PPG), who were at the center of the team's overall success and ultimate CBI championship winning team last season.
In addition to replacing those two guards, the Redhawks also must replace 6-10 junior forward Brandon Chatfield (9.4 PPG, 5.4 RPG), who transferred to Iowa State for his final season of eligibility.
The good news for the Redhawks heading into the 2024-25 season is John Christofillis (12.7 PPG, 2.3 RPG) returns as part of the backcourt for the 2024-25 season, and he started 25 of the 28 games he logged action in last season.
The other returning starter to the fold for the 2024-25 season is Melbourne, Australia native and rising senior Kobe Williamson. The 6-8 forward started 28 of 37 games for the Redhawks last season, averaging 8.9 PPG and 5.7 RPG.
A neat sidebar to the matchup is the fact that Furman's 6-11 Charles Johnston (Cal State Monterrey Bay), which is a key acquisition from the transfer portal, also hails from Australia, having grown up in the capital city of Sydney.
The Redhawks also addressed some needs in the transfer portal, bringing in 6-3 guard Maleek Arlington from Idaho State and Dasean Stephens from Mount Jacinto College in Mt. Jacinto California. Both will likely be immediate impact players for the Redhawks this coming season.
Arlington averaged 12.3 PPG as a member of the Idaho State Bengals last season, while dishing out 5.0 assists-per-game, pulling down 3.5 rebounds-per-game, and posting 2.3 steals-per-contest.
Stevens averaged 21.0 PPG as a freshman and 21.5 PPG as a sophomore at San Jacinto College. Both guards will have two years of eligibility remaining.
Another potential impact player in the low-post in 2024-25 is Matthew Alexander-Moncrieffe, who transfers in from the University of Georgia with one year of eligibility remaining.
Moncrieffe appeared in 44 games during his time with the Bulldogs over two seasons, averaging 3.9 PPG and 4.0 RPG. Prior to transferring to Georgia, Alexander-Moncrieffe spent two seasons at Oklahoma State.
When Furman meets the Jayhawks at Phog Allen Fieldhouse on November 30, it will mark just the second all-time meeting between the two programs. The Paladins and Jayhawks will be meeting on the hardwood for the first time since Dec. 21, 1993, when the Jayhawks posted what was a 101-60 win over the Paladins at Phog Allen Fieldhouse.
The Jayhawks have met several Southern Conference teams of late on the college hoops hardwood, including this past March, as the Jayhawks picked up what was a narrow 93-89 win over Southern Conference champion Samford.
The Jayhawks have faced SoCon members Wofford (2018), East Tennessee State (2019) and of course, Samford in the NCAA Tournament this past season.
Furman in ESPN Events Tournaments
Charleston Classic (1-2) (Nov. 17-20, 2022)
vs Penn State, L (68-73)
vs. Old Dominion, L (77-82)
vs. South Carolina, W (79-60)
Myrtle Beach Invitational (1-2) (Nov. 16-19, 2023)
vs. Liberty, L (74-88)
at Coastal Carolina, W (89-80)
vs. Wyoming, L (71-78)
Like the loss to Princeton during the 2023-24 season, the setback to Tulane (Nov. 15) was arguably equally as heartbreaking, and the Paladins will get the opportunity to exact some revenge on Nov. 15 when the Green Wave pay a visit to the Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
In last December's meeting, Furman looked to have won the game on buzzer-beating three-pointer from JP Pegues as time expired, as the Paladin bench erupted with the scoreboard at Devlin Fieldhouse reading: Furman 92, Tulane 89.
However, eight-tenths of a second were put back on the clock, and on the ensuing inbounds pass, Tulane guard Kevin Cross, who finished the night with a triple-double, caught it, turned, and double-clutched a three from about 33 feet and was fouled in the process by Furman's Davis Molnar with only five-tenths of a second bleeding off the clock.
Cross connected on all three free throws to send the game to overtime. At the end of the first overtime, the two teams were still tied, 99-99, however, Jaylen Forbes got hot in the second game extended period, connecting on three-straight triples after Furman had taken a brief lead, enabling the Green Wave to outscore the Paladins 18-11 in the second OT and ultimately come away with the win. Kevin Cross posted 25 points, 12 assists and had 12 boards, while Forbes led the Green Wave with 26 points.
It outshined JP Pegues' career-best 29 points, while PJay Smith Jr and Alex Williams each chipped in with 23. The Paladins overcame a 16-point second half deficit to eventually take the lead late on a Carter Whitt layup and then on Pegues' three before the two teams headed for a pair of overtimes. It was Furman's first double-overtime game since December of 2018 against Western Carolina at Timmons Arena.
The Green Wave lost plenty off what, and for head coach Ron Hunter, who heads into his fourth season as the head basketball coach of the Green Wave. In fact, after winning 19 games a couple of years ago, the Green Wave finished the 2023-24 campaign with just a 14-17 overall record.
Like most teams across the college basketball landscape this season, the Green Wave have hit the transfer portal hard and have brought in some talented players in the process.
The Green Wave added Kaleb Banks in the frontcourt from Indiana, while also adding forward and Texas A&M transfer Tyler Ringgold. Rounding out the major power conference transfers that highlighted coach Hunter's latest signing class were a pair of wing guards from Georgia and Georgetown, respectively, in 6-5 Mari Jordan and 6-4 Rowan Brumbaugh.
In his only season at Georgetown, Brumbaugh saw action in 31 games, which included making 20 starts in his redshirt freshman campaign. During his one season of action with the Hoyas, Brumbaugh averaged 8.3 PPG and 2.6 RPG, while shooting 40.7% from the field and 37.0% from beyond the arc, as he connected on 27 triples for the season.
Johnson played a significant role on UGA's international tour of Europe in July of 2023, averaging 11.5 PPG and shooting 60% from the field, including 37.5% from three-point range in the Bulldogs' tour of Italy in the summer of 2023. He was listed as the No. 84 recruit overall in the state of Georgia, including ranking No. 21 at small forward when he came out of Norcross High School in the spring of 2023.
There is a bit of local flavor returning home for the Green Wave as well when Tulane visits Furman in mid-November.
Like Johnson, Ringgold redshirted the 2023-24 season at Texas A&M and he was ranked as a three-star recruit out of Greenville, S.C., as he played at Legacy Early College, helping his prep program in upper state South Carolina to a 16-8 mark as a senior. It will mark just the second all-time meeting between the Green Wave and Paladins.
Furman will take on both Jacksonville (Nov. 11) and Florida Gulf Coast (Dec. 4) as a part of the SoCon-Atlantic Sun Alliance, facing off against the Dolphins on Nov. 11 in Greenville, while traveling to face the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles on Dec. 4.
Much like the Dolphins, which used to play some of their games at Veterans Memorial Arena--a bigger downtown Jacksonville arena as opposed to its on-campus home, which is known as Jacksonville's on-campus facility, the Paladins will be taking advantage of their bigger downtown venue (Bon Secours Wellness Arena) for the entire 2024-25 campaign, as Timmons Arena will be getting a 40-million dollar upgrade.
There is a historical link that exists between the Jacksonville basketball program, as well as the Furman basketball program, and that link is the late legendary head coach Joe Williams, which helped lead both programs to some success during different eras as a head basketball coach.
Williams, who passed away in the spring of 2022, helped lead the Dolphins program from 1964-70 before taking over the head coach at Furman, where he would go on leading the Paladin hoops program to unprecedented success before finishing out his career as the head coach at Florida State from 1978-86.
Williams would of course lead Jacksonville to its greatest moment as a hoops program, taking the Artis Gilmore-led Dolphins all the way to the national championship game against UCLA, however, John Wooden's UCLA Bruins would end up getting the best of the Dolphins, 80-69, in the 1970 national title game.
In 1970, Williams would take over the helm of the Paladin basketball program, and likewise, would lead it to some of its most memorable moments in an eight-year span. Williams would lead the Paladins to five of its seven NCAA Tournament appearances, as he took the Paladins to the 1971, '73, '74, '75 and '78 NCAA Tournaments, respectively, helping the Paladins make the championship game of the Southern Conference Tournament seven times in eight seasons as the head coach.
He helped recruit arguably two of the greatest players to ever suit up at both programs, in big men Gilmore at Jacksonville, as well as procuring the talents of big man Clyde Mayes during his time as the head coach of the Paladins. Williams helped lead Furman to its first of two NCAA Tournament wins, which came in a 75-67 win over South Carolina on March 9, 1974, in Raleigh.
As for the series between the two programs, Furman and Jacksonville will be meeting on the college basketball hardwood for the 16th time when the two meet in early November. The Dolphins hold a narrow 8-7 all-time lead in the series, which included winning the first six meetings between the two in the series from 1970-1974 before the Paladins, who were under the direction of Williams, would capture their first all-time win in the series after capturing what was a 71-64 decision on Feb. 23, 1974, at Furman's then downtown home--Greenville Memorial Auditorium.
Since breaking through with that win during the 1973-74 campaign in Greenville, the Paladins have since won six of the last eight meetings between the two, however, the Dolphins were able to claim victory in the most-recent meeting between the two, posting what was a 65-53 win on Dec. 22, 2012, which was part of a 7-24 season for the Paladins under head coach Jeff Jackson. Current Paladin head coach Bob Richey was in his second season as an assistant coach on the Paladin staff.
Jacksonville is coming off a 16-17 season in 2023-24 under the leadership of Jordan Mincy, who heads into his fourth season as the head coach of the Dolphins and has posted a 45-49 record in his three previous seasons. The Dolphins posted a 5-11 mark in the Atlantic Sun last season, which was good enough for a 10th-place finish in the league standings.
As the No. 10 seed, the Dolphins knocked off Kennesaw State (W, 92-86) and regular-season champion Eastern Kentucky (W, 67-65) before losing to eventual league title winner and No. 2 seed Stetson, 88-87, in the semifinals. The Jacksonville Dolphins have made five NCAA Tournament appearances, with the last one coming 39 years ago, as the Dolphins dropped a 61-50 contest to Temple on March 13, 1986.
On Dec. 4, 2024, the Paladins will be in Fort Myers, FL., where they will face off against Florida Gulf Coast in a key non-conference clash, as the Paladins will play their second opponent in the SoCon-Atlantic Sun Alliance. It was a decade ago when the Paladins and Eagles faced off in consecutive seasons, and those two meetings came at a time when FGCU was on the heels of a remarkable run in the NCAA Tournament to the Sweet 16, as "Dunk City" took college basketball by storm during the 2013 NCAA Tournament.
A year later in what was Niko Medved's first season as the head coach, the Paladins would lose a heartbreaker on the home floor to the Eagles, with a 70-69 setback to the Eagles. The Eagles would go on to post 22 wins to follow their 26-11 mark as a part of that magical NCAA Tournament run a year earlier under the leadership of current SMU head coach Andy Enfield.
In the 2014-15 season, the Paladins made the trip down to Fort Myers to face FGCU inside Alico Arena, where the Paladins would end up dropping what was an 83-78 contest at Alico Arena. Those represent the only two meetings between the two in series history. Once again, the Eagles would match their 22-win campaign a year earlier, as the golden era continued for FGCU basketball.
FGCU is coming off what was a 14-18 record last season, which included a .500 mark (8-8) in the Atlantic Sun last season. The Eagles should be improved this season under the direction of third-year head coach Pat Chambers.
There is some reason to believe that the 2024-25 season can be a turnaround campaign for the Eagles, and FGCU did manage to get some good news recently, as it was announced that graduate 6-8 forward Keshawn Kellman would get a sixth season of eligibility.
Kellman was a player that averaged 12.2 PPG and 7.0 RPG last season and will be a force in the paint once again this season. He ranked as FGCU's third-leading scorer last season. The Eagles must replace its two other top scorers from last season, in guards Isaiah Thompson and Zach Anderson, as both have moved on.
The Eagles were able to make some key acquisitions in the transfer portal, however, as redshirt junior forward Michael Duax joins the FGCU program from Northern Iowa, while 6-4 graduate guard Zavian McLean joins the Eagles from Columbia, and 6-6 wing Jevin Muniz comes to Fort Myers from Delaware State. That talented trio should contribute in the immediate this season for coach Chambers.
When the Paladins and Eagles meet on Dec. 4, it will mark just the third all-time clash between the two programs, with the Eagles having won the only other two meetings.
Rounding out the games that have been scheduled thus far for the Paladins' non-conference slate are against South Carolina State (Dec. 14), while the Paladins will open the 2024-25 season on Nov. 4 against Columbia International (Nov. 4).
The Paladins and Bulldogs have faced off against each other in each of the past two seasons, and it will mark the 21st meeting between the two programs, with the Paladins holding a commanding 15-5 series advantage.The Paladins have won the past four games against the Bulldogs, with the last time South Carolina State having won a game in the series being the 2016-17 campaign, when SCSU came to Timmons Arena and handed the Paladins a rare home setback, claiming a 69-67 win in Greenville.
A solid nucleus of talent returns for the Bulldogs for the 2024-25 season, as SCSU will look to improve on what was a 14-17 season in 2023-24 under third-year head coach Erik Martin.
Players like 6-1 junior guard Michael Teal (7.2 PPG, 1.2 RPG) and 6-6 junior forward Davion Everett (8.8 PPG, 6.8 RPG) give SCSU some experienced leadership and stability in terms of players returning, as in recent seasons the Bulldogs have lost multiple talented players to the transfer portal.
Transfer guard Wilson Dubinsky (Seward Community College) could be an immediate impact player for an SCSU team that figures to challenge a top tier finish in the MEAC this season, The program has come a long way in two years under Martin, and the Bulldogs played well in both encounters at Timmons Arena before eventually falling in defeat. The Paladins were able to hold off the Bulldogs for an 86-78 win late last November.
Furman will open the 2024-25 season against a Non-Division I foe for the fifth-straight season, as the Paladins will host Columbia International on Nov. 4. The Rams won 20 games last season, posting a 20-12 overall record, which includes a 17-7 mark in the Appalachian Athletic Conference, which is a program record for conference victories.
With Timmons Arena undergoing a 40 million dollar upgrade this season, the Paladins will play their home games at both the Bon Secours Wellness Arena, while some selected games will be played at nearby North Greenville University. All nine of Furman's SoCon games, as well as games against Tulane, Princeton and Jacksonville will be played at the BSWA.
Furman also has matchups to be announced against two non-Division I opponents on Nov. 20 and on Dec. 18. The Nov. 20 matchup will give a different part of the Greenville community to take in a Furman basketball game, as the Paladins will play at Legacy Charter High School.
The 2024-25 SoCon Schedule
Jan. 1 at Western Carolina (Feb. 5 vs. Western Carolina at Davis Arena on the campus of Bob Jones University)
Furman will kick off its 2024-25 Southern Conference portion of the slate in Cullowhee, taking on Western Carolina at the Ramsey Center on New Year's Day 2025. The Paladins effectively have ended WCU's season each of the past two seasons, defeating the Catamounts 79-76 in overtime in quarterfinal action of the Southern Conference Tournament last season.
On its way to an NCAA Tournament bid a couple of years ago, Furman was able to post what was an 83-80 win over the Catamounts on that occasion in the Southern Conference Tournament semifinals.
Furman has lost its last two games in Cullowhee, dropping what was a 79-67 contest on Dec. 31, 2022, while also dropping an 85-77 contest to the Catamounts last season in the regular-season road finale. The Paladins claimed the other two meetings, which included the aforementioned win in the Southern Conference Tournament and used a JP Pegues jumper with 0.8 seconds remaining to claim a 69-67 win at Timmons Arena last season.
The Catamounts will have almost an entirely new roster and a new head coach coming off what was a 21-win campaign last season, marking just the second time in WCU's NCAA Division I era of hoops that it has won 20 or more games. Tim Craft will take the reins of the program in 2024-25 and he has added talent from both the portal and from the prep ranks in order to help the Catamounts sustain success in the 2024-25 season.
Craft, who was a highly successful coach in the Big South Conference at Gardner-Webb will look to help the program not only sustain the success it had under his predecessor Justin Gray--now the head coach at Coastal Carolina--but also get the Catamounts back to the top of the SoCon mountain for just the second time in program history, qualifying for the Big Dance, which is something the Catamounts have not done since 1996.
One of the holdovers from that team that won 21 games last season has been a key component of the Catamount team each of the past couple of seasons, in 6-8 wing Bernard Pelote. He's played well against the Paladins in the past, including in that 12-point Western Carolina win over Furman back during the 2022-23 season, as he posted 14 points and eight rebounds to lead a balanced attack by the Catamounts.
Three freshmen signees highlight the newcomers for the Catamounts so far in the recruiting process, including Fischer Brown out of Wasatch Academy in Utah, CJ Hyland out of Grayson High School in Lawrenceville, GA, and 6-6 forward Max Williams, who is a walk-on out of Hanover, VA.
Like Stansberry, Brown comes to Cullowhee known for his shooting acumen, averaging 12 PPG, while shooting 46% from the floor and 43% from three-point land 93% from the charity stripe as a senior. He established himself as one of the best shooters in high school basketball.
Brown, who is originally from Lewiston, Montana, led lewiston High School to a state title as a junior after averaging 23 PPG, seven rebounds and three steals per game, while shooting 43% from three-point range. He transferred to the prestigious Wasatch Academy in Utah for his senior campaign. Brown had a game in which he totaled 54 points against Hardin as a junior en route to winning the Montana State Basketball Player of the Year.
The other true freshman signee for the Catamounts came a little closer to home, as 6-1 guard CJ Hyland remained committed to the Western Carolina basketball program, despite the coaching change.
Hyland, who hails from Lawrenceville, GA., originally signed with WCU back in early November as a part of the early signing period for the Catamounts. Hyland began his prep career at Lanier High School prior to transferring to Peach State powerhouse Grayson High School for his final three seasons. Hyland is a three-star recruit, according to verbalcommits.com.
Among the portal "gets" for the Catamounts, keep an eye on Chevalier "Ice" Emery will add an impact scorer to the backcourt for the Terriers, and has spent time at both Merrimack, and most recently, Dodge City CC. He helped Merrimack to a 2022-23 NEC Championship, and in his most recent stop at Dodge City CC, averaging 17.4 PPG, which included 28 double figure scoring performances, as well as 15 games with 20 or more points. Maybe most impressively, Emery connected on over 40% of his three-point field goals, finishing the season 80 triples. He will have two seasons of eligibility remaining for the Catamounts.
Furman will face off against Western Carolina for a second time in Southern Conference play on Wednesday, Feb. 5, as the Catamounts will pay a visit to the Bon Secours Wellness Arena for the first time. The game mark the 62nd all-time meeting between the two programs, with Furman holding a commanding 42-19 all-time edge.
Jan. 4 at UNC Greensboro (Feb. 15 vs UNCG/Bon Secours Wellness Arena)
The next game on the SoCon slate will also be on the road and it will come against one of the two teams that garnered a regular-season sweep of the Paladins last season, in the UNC Greensboro Spartans.
Like Western Carolina, it will be a new beginning under fourth-year head coach Mike Jones, as he will have to replace much of the old guard and add some new blood if he wants to Spartans program to sustain the success it has already been able to establish over the better part of the past decade on the Southern Conference hoops hardwood.
UNCG is tied with Furman for the most overall wins among league teams since the start of the 2015-16 season, as both have claimed 198 wins, however, the Spartans have the most Southern Conference wins during that same span, having posted 115 to Furman's 113 wins.
The Spartans were able to secure a 69-57 win over Furman in their Southern Conference opener last season at the Greensboro Coliseum. Furman was without its three top scorers entering that contest, as Marcus Foster, JP Pegues and Alex Williams all missed the game due to injury.
In the second matchup in Greenville, the Spartans were able to come away with what was an 89-87win last season in which the Spartans blistered the Timmons Arena nets from all over the floor, connecting on 53.7% from the field and also knocked down a blistering 59,1% (13-of-22) from three-point range en route to getting the win in Greenville.
The Spartans have hit the portal and brought in a trio of players that should help immediately. Two of those additions will have two years of eligibility remaining, as the Spartans added point guard Ronald Polite III (7.2 PPG, 2.7 APG) and 6-8 power forward Malik Henry (2.9 PPG, 64.3 FG%) to the fold for the 2024-25 season.
UNCG's most-recent portal addition comes to the Gate City from one of the top mid-major programs in the nation last season, as Robert Sean Birmingham makes his way from Indiana State to UNCG, where he will suit up for the Spartans in 2024-25.
Birmingham was a former three-star recruit according to multiple services and originally committed to the Sycamores and former ISU head coach Josh Schertz in the early-signing period last November. However, with Schertz moving on to take the Saint Louis job after taking the Sycamores all the way to the championship game, Birmingham, who originally hails from Iceland, re-opened his recruitment.
Birmingham's second home has been the Old North State, where he played his prep basketball at Concord Academy just down the road from Greensboro on the outskirts of Charlotte.
The 6-8 power forward averaging 14 PPG, 7 RPG and averaged 2.5 BPG as a junior and he was a CISAA All-Conference selection from 2020-22. Birmingham will have a chance to make an immediate impact for the Spartans this coming season, with the potential of being the heir apparent to Mikeal Brown-Jones.
Jan. 8 at The Citadel (Feb. 26 vs. Furman/Bon Secours Wellness Arena)
Furman heads for the coastal region of South Carolina for their third Southern Conference clash of the 2024-25 season, as they will take on what should be a much-improved The Citadel team under the direction of third-year head coach Ed Conroy.
After splitting with the Bulldogs two years ago in Furman's run to its first Southern Conference title in 43 years back during the 2022-23 season, the Paladins claimed both meetings with the Bulldogs last season, which included coming from behind to defeat the Bulldogs, 82-79, in overtime.
It took a JP Pegues three-pointer with eight-tenths of a second remaining in order for the Paladins to force the extra session with the Bulldogs. In the extra session, the Paladins were able to outscore the Bulldogs 10-7 in the extra session, as the Paladins escaped with the win after having trailed by as many as 18 points in the contest.
The Bulldogs and Paladins represent the oldest rivalry in SoCon hoops, as the two will be meeting for the 222nd time in series history, with the Paladins holding what is a 133-88 all-time edge. The Paladins have owned the series of late against the Bulldogs, having claimed 19 of the past 23 meetings between the two dating back to the 2013-14 season, including 11 of the past 12.
In the other meeting in Greenville last season, the Paladins were able to get an 82-68 win over the Bulldogs in what was a stellar 26-point outburst by Alex Williams, as the Paladins captured their first of 10 Southern Conference wins in the 2023-24, following what was an inauspicious, 0-2 start.
The Paladins and Bulldogs will look a lot different this season, personnel-wise, however, one thing that you can always count on when these two together in any sport is the game will be hotly contested. The Bulldogs finished the 2023-24 season with just an 11-21 mark, including just a 3-15 mark in Southern Conference play, which was good enough for a ninth-place finish in the 10-team league.
Plenty must be replaced heading into the 2024-25 season, whether as a result of losing players to graduation, or to the transfer portal. In fact, the Bulldogs must find a way to replace its top five scorers from last season, with leading scorer AJ Smith (16.2 PPG, 4.3 RPG) having transferred to College of Charleston, while second-leading scorer Elijah Morgan (14.5 PPG, 3.9 RPG) is out of eligibility.
Promising rising junior guard Madison Durr (11.9 PPG, 4.2 RPG) was probably the most surprising player to enter the transfer portal for the Bulldogs. A powerful force that could get to the bucket and if he didn't, draw a foul in the process, provided a lot of offensive energy for The Citadel over the past two seasons. He was the team's third-leading scorer and the 6-4 guard will now ply his trade in the Northeast, playing for Monmouth.
One of the reasons The Citadel was so good on the defensive end this past season is because they had a rim-protector in the form of 6-11 Vanderbilt transfer Quentin Millora-Brown (11.1 PPG, 9.4 RPG), who ended up as a member of the SoCon's All-Defensive Team this past season. Millora-Brown, who ranked fifth in the league in blocks last season, swatting away 47 shots (1.5 BPG) last season, has also exercised his eligibility, and leaves a huge void in the paint for the Bulldogs.
Winston Hill is another potential big loss for the Bulldogs, playing and starting in 14 games as a graduate transfer from Presbyterian, where he played three seasons prior to suiting up for The Citadel, scoring 1,400 points. He averaged 9.6 PPG and 6.6 RPG before suffering a season-ending and ultimately a career-ending injury.
I say Hill is a potential big loss because with his injury last season, I am not sure if he submitted an appeal to the NCAA due to that injury for an extra year of eligibility. If he could return, that would be a huge boon for the Bulldogs.
So who returns and what will the 2024-25 season look like for Ed Conroy's Bulldogs? One of the few holdovers from last season is 6-5 shooting guard Kenyan Davis, who battled his own share on injuries late on in the regular-season. Had he been able to stay healthy, he ended up being one of the top freshman performers in the league last season. He finished out his rookie campaign with the Bulldogs by averaging 5.7 PPG and 1.7 RPG.
Colby McAlister is yet another returnee to the fold for Ed Conroy, however, outside of Kenyan Davis and McAlister, the cupboard remains mostly bare for the 2023-24 season. Small forward Christian Moore (4.6 PPG, 2.4 RPG), who was another player that has his season shortened due to injury last season, returns, as does fellow small forward Kam Roberts (2.1 PPG, 1.3 RPG).
One of the key additions made by Conroy from the transfer portal during the off-season is Lipscomb transfer Paxton Davidson. The 6-3 guard will come into the Bulldogs program with three years of eligibility remaining, and finished off the 2023-24 season averaging 1.8 PPG and 1.6 RPG last season.
While Davidson didn't factor into Lennie Acuff's plans in Nashville all that much in his one season there, he's the kind of shooter that has the chance to come in and make an immediate impact for the Bulldogs in the 2024-25 season. Davidson redshirted his first season with the Bisons, and ended up seeing action in 14 games last season, posting a career-high six points in a win over Asbury.
The other addition the Bulldogs made from the NCAA Division I ranks is 6-9 power forward Dominic Commisso, who comes into The Citadel program from Southeastern Louisiana. Commisso is a redshirt freshman and will have four years of eligibility remaining, as Conroy and staff have made a dedicated effort to add size underneath following the departure of Quentin Millora-Brown.
Prior to finding his way to Hammond, LA, Commisso played one season of post-graduate hoops at the Newton School in Boston, MA. Commisso originally hails from Roscoe, Ill., where he played at Hononegah Community High School, averaging 12 PPG and 7 RPG.
The other additions for the Bulldogs via the transfer portal come from lower division programs, with one of those being 6-8 power forward John Adams, who comes to The Citadel with two years of eligibility remaining from NCAA Division III Worcester Polytechnical Institute.
Adams will give the Bulldogs size and a physical edge underneath, which is something that was refreshing to see last season, as the Bulldogs were a bit more physical underneath, despite the fact that Stephen Clark moved on to South Carolina.
Adams was part of a winning program at WPI, and he will bring that mentality to The Citadel roster. He helped WPI to a 21-5 mark last season, while averaging 14.5 PPG, 11.3 RPG and 2.6 APG.
The final addition via the transfer portal came in late April, as Conroy and staff procured the services of junior point guard Cameron Glover, who comes to The Citadel from Division II Montevallo.
Like Adams, Glover will also have two years of eligibility remaining. In his one season at Montevallo, Glover was solid, averaging 15.8 PPG, 2.9 RPG and 2.8 APG en route to helping the Falcons to a 12-16 record.
Prior to his time at Montevallo last season, Glover spent two seasons playing at Division III Birmingham Southern, where he saw action in 57 games, with 40 starts and averaged 12.9 PPG and 2.6 APG. It feels like all three additions via the transfer portal will have a chance to come in and start from the outset.
Rounding out the additions from the portal is guard Brody Fox from NCAA Division III University of Wisconsin-Stout. In terms of "gets", this might be the best one for the Bulldogs. Fox is a 6-6 athletic guard that can score points in bunches. He finished out his four years with the Blue Devils by scoring 1,427 points, which ranks fifth in that program's history.
Last season, Fox garnered Division III Fourth-Team All-America honors after averaging 26.6 PPG, which ranked second in scoring average in Division III last season. In early-season win over Greenville (IL), Fox dropped a school-record 70 points in what was a 147-126 win for the Blue Devils.
The Bulldogs have signed a trio of talented players, with two of those three signees coming in the early signing period last November, with the additions of both 6-10 center Graham Elkenberry out of Portland, OR and 6-1 point guard Eze Wali out of Warwick, RI.
The most recent signee brought in by Conroy and staff is 6-4 wing Darius Kearse, who comes to The Citadel out of Richmond, VA, via Hargrave Military Academy.
Wali is a player that will also have a chance to add depth at point guard this season, and he comes to The Citadel as a three-time state champion in Rhode Island and had an impressive career at Pomfret School, where he was a standout that recorded over 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists in his prep career.
As far as Elkenberry is concerned, he will also have a chance to contribute immediately this season, likely providing depth at center. The 6-10, 215-lb Elkenberry needs to add some beef to his overall frame, but he's pretty athletic and is agile with good footwork. He comes to The Citadel after having led the state of Oregon in blocks twice in his career as a prep, and will give the Bulldogs some good rim protection.
Rounding out the signees is Dante Kearse, who is the most recent addition to the fold for the Bulldogs. The 6-4 wing is a two-time all-state honoree during his time at Hargrave Military Academy, where he scored 1,000 points in his career. Kearse is athletic and much like Durr, will give the Bulldogs some power and slashing ability at the guard position.
The Bulldogs are going to be largely a young basketball team this season, which is very much in contrast to what the Bulldogs were heading into the 2023-24 season. It will be interesting to see if what Conroy has added from the transfer portal will be enough leadership to carry the Bulldogs this season, but the depth is going to be provided largely by freshmen. With that said, The Citadel still has one of the best coaches in the league, so you can bet they will be competitive no matter who they put on the floor.
Jan. 11 vs. Wofford/Bon Secours Wellness Arena (Mar. 1 at Wofford)
In recent seasons, the Paladins have been pretty dominant in the series against the Terriers, winning five of the past six matchups in the series, including having won each of the last three against the Terriers by double digits.
Wofford was able to put an end to a five-game winning streak by capturing what was a 77-67 win in the first clash between the two last season at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium in Spartanburg.
In what was the first of those two meetings between the two foes last season, the Terriers were able to hold a massive, 46-14, advantage in points in the paint, and that proved to be a major factor in the difference between the two teams when they met in Spartanburg. Furman also had no answers as to how to stop point guard Corey Tripp, who has quietly helped establish himself as one of the top players in the Southern Conference.
Tripp posted 20 points, while forward Kyler Filewich owned the paint essentially the entire night, as he posted 17 points and 10 boards, finishing 8-of-9 shooting from the field. The loss by Furman in Spartanburg brought an end to what had been a five-game winning streak in the series, as well as during the 2023-24 season for the 'Dins. It would turn out to be their longest winning streak of the season.
In the second meeting between the two in Greenville in late February, it was almost a complete role reversal for the Paladins, who relished the fact that they were in the friendly confines of Timmons Arena. The Paladins would end up posting what was an 82-67 win on the home hardwood, getting 20 points apiece from both JP Pegues and Marcus Foster en route to a key Southern Conference home win late in the regular season.
It was a key factor in helping the Paladins finish a place higher in the league standings, as the Paladins finished fifth place in the final league standings, while the Terriers would fall to sixth and lock up the final bye spot for the 2024 Southern Conference Tournament.
The Paladins were able to post one of their best defensive performances of the season, holding the Terriers to just 43.9% from the field, and that helped offset a strong 43% (12-of-28) shooting performance from the beyond the three-point line. The Terriers had three players finish with 11 points to lead the way scoring-wise, with Dillon Bailey, Jackson Sivills, and Chase Cormier all contributing double figures.
Wofford, who is under the direction of former Paladin assistant Dwight Perry, as the second-year head coach has his Terriers in line to be a SoCon title contender entering the 2024-25 season. That will make this a big early conference matchup for both programs, as each figure to be in the mix for a regular-season league title in the upcoming season.
Wofford is a team that exceeded expectations last season, and that was due in large part of what head coach Dwight Perry was able to do in terms of developing the players he already had, as well as going out in the transfer portal and effectively addressing the needs at hand. The Terriers would end up going on to finish with a 17-15 record and 10-8 in league play. The Terriers were knocked out of the SoCon Tournament by No. 3 seed Chattanooga, as the Mocs were able to garner the season sweep of the Terriers, knocking off Wofford, 72-57.
One of those "needs" the Terriers needed to mine the portal for last season was shooters, as Wofford was not a great shooting basketball team in Perry's first season as the head coach. The addition of a player like Dillon Bailey and Chase Cormier helped address those long-range shooting woes, as the duo ended up connecting on 116 of the team's 306 total three-pointers last season, shooting them at a 40.8% (116-of-284) clip last season. It was evident in the team's overall improvement in shooting from long-range last season as well, as the Terriers went from connecting on 33.0% from three-point range last season to shooting 36.0% from long-range in 2023-24.
The Terriers also made 59 more threes this past season (306-247)and attempted 104 threes (852-748) this past season as opposed to the 2022-23 campaign. Equally as important to Wofford's improvement is what they were able to get from the trio of Corey Tripp, Jackson Sivillis and Kyler Filewich, who. were as improved as any three players in the Southern Conference last season. Tripp will enter the season as a SoCon Player of the Year candidate.
As far as the portal is concerned from this past season, the Terriers got a huge "get" in Justin Bailey, who crosses the street from USC Upstate to Wofford to play for the Terriers. I look for Wofford to be in the title mix all season. Keep an eye on newcomers Luke Flynn and Kahamre Holmes, who are two of the top incoming freshmen in the SoCon heading into the 2024-25 season.
The Paladins and Terriers will be meeting for the 156th and 157th times in the two meetings between the two this season, with the Paladins holding the commanding 92-63 series edge.
Jan. 15 vs. East Tennessee State/Bon Secours Wellness Arena (Feb. 1 at ETSU in Johnson City)
A mid-January matchup against East Tennessee State figures to be one of the biggest of the season, and the Bucs will be one of the heavy favorites to claim the league title, as head coach Brooks Savage enters his second season at the helm of the Bucs' program.
In year one, Savage was busy helping rebuild much of what Steve Forbes had helped establish during his five seasons at the helm of the Bucs hoops, in which he won 130 games, including 30 in his final season as the head coach in 2019-20.
Furman and East Tennessee State both enjoy great hardwood traditions, and while ETSU has struggled a bit since Forbes departed for Wake Forest following that magical 2019-20, which saw the Bucs win 30 games for the first time in school history, as he took the Wake Forest job opening, the Bucs looked to regain some that winning edge and program prestige last season and I look for ETSU to capitalize on that momentum late last season.
The Paladins and Bucs rank first and third, respectively, in overall wins since the start of the 2015-16 season, with Paladins tied with UNCG for overall wins in that span (198), while the Bucs have 189 over that same span. In terms of Southern Conference wins, the Paladins and Bucs rank second and third, respectively, with the Paladins having won 113 league games since the start of the 2015-16 season, while the Bucs have 102 victories over that same span.
The Bucs are coming off a 19-16 season, which included a trip to the Southern Conference Championship game, losing the title game, 76-69, as the Bucs attempted to become the first team to win four games in four days since Clemson accomplished that feat during the 1939 season.
Furman comes in having claimed four-straight in the series and five out of the last six against the Bucs. In fact, Furman has won five-straight against the Bucs in Greenville, however, all of those games were played at ETSU's house of horrors so to speak--Timmons Arena.
Furman's current run of success against the Bucs marks its most successful run of success against ETSU since winning four-straight against ETSU from 1996-2000. The win in Johnson City marked the first time the Paladins had won on the road against ETSU in consecutive seasons since the 1986-87 (W, 62-61) and 1987-88 (W, 91-89) seasons. The Paladins improved to 14-19 all-time in Johnson City and now hold a narrow 35-34 lead in one of the SoCon's best hardwood rivalries, and one that seemingly sees close games with every meeting.
The Bucs are responsible for handing Bob Richey and the Paladins their worst SoCon defeat since the 2014-15 season and also its worst since the 2014-15 season. That lopsided win by the Bucs occurred back during the 2018-19 season, as the Steve Forbes-led Bucs posted a 79-56 win over the Paladins in Johnson City. Later that season, the Paladins handed the Bucs one their worst setbacks since re-joining the league in 2014-15, as the Paladins claimed a 91-61 win over Furman at Timmons Arena. The 23-point win by the Bucs six years ago marks Bob Richey's worst loss to a SoCon foe.
The Paladins claimed an 82-73 win at Timmons Arena last season and in that contest, the Paladins were led by JP Pegues and Alex Williams, who finished with 20 points apiece, while Carter Whitt--a former player for ETSU head coach Brooks Savage during his time as Steve Forbes' assistant at Wake Forest--finished the game with 14 points on a 5-for-9 shooting performance from the field, as well as dishing out a career-high tying eight assists in the win.
As a team, the Paladins were outstanding from the free throw line in the contest, connecting on 23-of-26 attempts from the foul line.
The Paladins held as much as a 21-point lead (69-48) in the second half before the Bucs rallied to make things a little interesting late in the contest. The Bucs, which managed a 36-38 edge on the backboards in the contest, was led by Jaden Seymour's game-high 23 points. Quimari Peterson added 16 points and seven rebounds, while Ebby Asamoah and Jadyn Parker added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
There was a defining turning point in that first contest between the two in Greenville last season. Late in the half and trailing 40-35, the Bucs had a chance to make it a one-possession game after Whitt's pass was stolen by Seymour, however, Whitt raced back to cause a bit of hesitation on Seymour's initial shot attempt, and after the nice shot-fake and thinking the coast was clear, the talented junior wing from Charlotte, N.C., went up for the strong dunk attempt finish only to find that Whitt's hustle had given Tyrese Hughey enough time to sprint back and chase him down and glass his dunk attempt, bringing a roar from the 2,279 fans on-hand at Timmons Arena.
Seizing upon the momentum gleaned from Hughey's big block, the Paladins would get a pair of free throws from Ben VanderWal with under a minute left to put the Paladin lead back to seven, at 42-35, however, on the next trip down the floor for the Bucs, the aerial acrobatics would continue as Allen Strothers missed floater was snagged in mid-air by 6-11 Jadyn Parker who dunked it home in beautiful fashion to make it a 42-37 game with just 23 seconds remaining.
The Bucs did lose leading scorer Ebby Asamoah to graduation, as well as leading rim protector Jadyn Parker, but ETSU did as well as any team in the SoCon at mining the portal for talent and bringing in talent that could be impactful right away.
The second meeting between the two in Johnson City came at a time when the Furman athletics family had a heavy heart, with the sudden and tragic passing of Paladin defensive tackle Bryce Stanfield just prior to the Furman football team beginning of spring practice. A classy moment of silence was observed by ETSU prior to the matchup in Freedom Hall.
The Paladin team itself had been dealing with a bout of food poisoning, and it was not known whether or not Bob Richey would even be well enough to coach an hour before the tip-off. All of that adversity made Furman's two-point road triumph, in arguably the toughest road venues in the SoCon, one of the Paladins' most impressive victories of the 2023-24 season.
The second clash also came when the Bucs were starting to play some really good basketball during the 2023-24 season, having won three-straight and looking to nab one of those top six seeds for the Southern Conference Tournament. Furman, meanwhile, had lost two-straight games and were reeling a bit when coming to Johnson City.
The Paladins would trail for most of the night, however, would make a run late in the contest, and Cooper Bowser was inserted into the lineup for the last five minutes of the game after Garrett Hien had fouled out. It proved to be another defining moment in the contest, as the Paladins held on for a 65-63 win, marking a second-straight win for the Paladins in Johnson City.
It marked the first time Furman had won consecutive road games over the Bucs since the 1996-97 (W, 67-54) and 1998-99 (58-55) campaigns, respectively. The win saw the Paladins improve to 14-19 all-time in games played in Johnson City.
JP Pegues was key down the stretch for the Paladins, scoring seven of the f inal nine points of the game to close with a game-high 15 points, and came alive down the stretch, scoring nine points in the final 7:49 of the game to help spark the Paladins offensively.
Pegues finished the night connecting on 5-of-11 shots from the field, which included a 1-for-4 effort from three-point range, and hit 4-of-6 free throws down the stretch to help the Paladins secure the win.
In addition to his team-leading scoring performance, Pegues also added five rebounds, four assists and two steals to round out an all-around solid performance befitting of the player he is, which is one of the top players in the Southern Conference.
If it was Pegues that helped take over the game on the offensive end of the floor late in the contest, then it was Cooper Bowser, who was inserted into the lineup with 7:49 remaining and that would give the Paladins the rim protection it needed to comeback late and steal the road win.
With Furman trailing by eight points (57-49) with 5:50 remaining, it was Bowser that made the biggest play on the defensive end of the night when he blocked Ebby Asamoah's layup to give the Paladins momentum, and that was something the Paladins wouldn't relinquish the remainder of the evening. That set the stage for Pegues to get going on the other end.
Offensively, Bowser also played a role, as he took a lob from Pegues and slammed it home to tie the game, 61-61, with 2:12 remaining. For the game, Bowser posted four points, one rebound and one block in 9:22 of game action, and his presence absolutely made an impact on the result.
Prior to him coming into the game, ETSU had Furman's big men virtually gassed at that point in the game, and the Bucs were getting whatever they wanted around the basket, whether it was scoring from close range, or on the offensive glass.
On what was a challenging night for Furman to get its "big three" (JP Pegues, Marcus Foster, and Alex Williams) points, the only other Paladin to finish the night in double figures was Foster, who finished with 11 points to record his 15th double-figure scoring performance in 16 outings for the Paladins this season.
He was heavily guarded for much of the game, and had to work as he has had to all season to get shots up in the win. Foster finished the night 4-of-10 from the field and connected on 1-of-4 from three-point range. He also connected on both of his foul shots. Foster connected on a three with 4:17 remaining--his only one of the night--to get the Paladins within five (59-54) late.
All told, Pegues and Foster scored 12 of Furman's final 16 points in the game, with dynamic scoring duo having combined for just 15 points (Pegues 8, Foster 7).
Also helping key the Furman Road win over the Bucs was a solid supporting cast, which saw Tyrese Hughey and Ben VanderWal add eight points, while Carter Whitt and Garrett Hien both chipped in with six.
ETSU placed five in double figures, with Quimari Peterson leading the way with 14 points after posting 16 for the Bucs in the first meeting with the Paladins earlier this season. Jadyn Parker just missed posting another dou-ble-double performance, finishing with 13 points and nine rebounds, while also being a menace in the paint by swatting away five Paladin shots.
Jaden Seymour, who scored 23 points in the first meeting with the Paladins this season, added 12 points, six rebounds, two steals and an assist to notch his 21st double-figure scoring performance of the season.
Delaware transfer guard Ebby Asamoah and Allen Strothers ended up rounding out the double figure scorers for the Bucs, finishing with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Though points were hard to come by for both teams, Furman shot the ball at a much higher clip than its hosts, operating as efficiently offensively as it has in a couple of weeks, despite being defended as hard as it has been in league play all season.
The Bucs should absolutely be in the mix for a Southern Conference title this season, and much of that has to do with the fact the Bucs have a legitimate Player of the Year candidate returning, in wing guard Jaden Seymour.
While there are no moral victories, the run the Bucs made in the SoCon Tournament felt like a giant leap forward for the program. It's a step that could propel the Bucs forward for the foreseeable future, and that type of momentum can propel a program forward to greatness the following season.
With Jayden Seymour (14.7 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 43 STLs, 22 BLKs) and Quimari Peterson (13.5 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 131 ASTs) returning, the Bucs have back two of their top three scorers from a year ago, and a pair of players that will enter the season as all-conference picks. Seymour is like in line for player of the year consideration, and is a player that reminds me in a lot of respects to former Furman Paladin and NBA Draft pick Jalen Slawson.
Seymour has similar athleticism to that of Slawson, and is also an excellent defender, as well as being a good ball-handler. If he can improve his long-range jumper, he could find himself being a hot name next June when the NBA Draft rolls around.
With that said, the real x-factor next season for the Bucs will be Karon Boyd (6.7 PPG, 6.7 RPG), who is an outstanding defender, as well as being among the best offensive rebounders in all of college hoops. When he missed time this past season, it was noticeable.
The Bucs will lose their top scorer Ebby Asamoah and top rim-protector and record-setting shot-blocker Jadyn Parker (7.5 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 73 BLKs), so those two losses will have to be accounted for, especially Parker, who helped make the Bucs one of the top defensive teams in the league last season.
The Bucs also lost Tyler Rice (3.7 PPG, 1.3 RPG), Braden Illic (2.6 PPG, 1.4 RPG) and Justice Smith (4.3 PPG, 2.0 RPG) to the transfer portal. They will return talent and depth in the backcourt, however, with Allen Strothers (3.0 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 24 STLs), Maki Johnson (3.5 PPG, 1.2 RPG) and Gabe Sisk (3.6 PPG, 2.0 RPG) all back for Savage in 2024-25.
Head coach Brooks Savage has done a nice job of addressing the needs at hand for the Bucs at the end of the season when it comes to what is leaving and with what returns.
With that said, the latest pickup for Savage and staff is an impressive one, bringing in 6-11 Roosevelt Wheeler from VCU. Wheeler played in 15 games last season for the Rams and will address the departure of Parker, giving Savage that athletic rim protector that both he and Forbes have loved during their time leading the Bucs program.
Wheeler started his career at Louisville, where he spent his first two seasons, as he was the backup center during his freshman campaign back in 2021-22 and as a sophomore in 2022-23, the Richmond, VA., product saw action in 25 games and averaged 1.2 PPG and 2.0 RBG, averaging about nine minutes per contest.
Last season, Wheeler returned home to Richmond to suit up for the Rams where he averaged 0.6 PPG and 0.7 RPG. Prior to college, Wheeler starred at John Marshall High School in Louisville as a junior where he averaged 15.8 PPG, 11.9 RPG and averaged 4.3 BPG.
He did not play as a senior in high school due to an Achilles injury and the COVID-19 pandemic. He helped John Marshall to an impressive 23-2 record and a 2A State Championship. Wheeler will have one year of eligibility remaining.
The Bucs also have addressed backcourt needs in the transfer portal, bridging in a trio of talented NCAA Division I transfers.
Curt Lewis comes to ETSU from the University of Missouri by way of John A. Logan College, where he was a teammate with Quimari Peterson, as they helped John A. Logan to a national championship a couple of years ago.
The 6-5 guard, 215-lb guard spent his first two seasons prior to matriculating to John A. Logan and eventually Missouri at Eastern Kentucky where appeared in 56 games and averaged 10.4 PPG, while shooting 44.5% from the field and 34.4% from three-point land.
In his one season at John A. Logan, which involved helping the Volunteers to the program's first national title, he was named the 2022-23 NJCAA Division I Men's Basketball Player of the Year after averaging 14.3 PPG, including shooting 51.8% from the field and an ultra impressive 48.3% clip from three-point range. In addition to his 14.3 PPG, Lewis added 6.1 RPG, 3.8 APG, 2.3 SPG, and 1.1 BPG.
In his one season with the Tigers, Lewis averaged 2.0 PPG and 1.4 RPG, as he saw action in 23 games with a pair of starts, averaging just under 10 minutes-per-game. His athleticism and shooting ability will help off-set the loss of Ebby Asamoah.
The most recent addition made by head coach Brooks Savage and staff is North Texas transfer John Buggs III from North Texas. Buggs III will be a nice addition at point guard, giving both depth and an extra ball-handler on the floor along with Quimari Peterson.
Buggs III spent last season with the Mean Green after starting his career at the UMass in 2019-20 and then went to Hill College before matriculating to the University of Texas-San Antonio and eventually, North Texas. Buggs III will have one season of eligibility remaining.
Last season with the Mean Green, Buggs III averaged 7.3 PPG and made 26 starts in his 29 appearances. He finished the season with 60 made threes, including shooting them at an impressive 45.1%.
Prior to his one season at UNT, Buggs played in 32 games, with 30 starts and averaged 11.0 PPG, while shooting 40% from long range and making a total of 80 three-point field goals.
I really like the additions of Buggs and Lewis, as head coach Brooks Savage and staff have addressed the perimeter shooting woes that seemingly plagued the Bucs throughout the regular season in 2023-24.
The one freshman player that head coach Brooks Savage has been able to lure to Johnson City so far is 6-8 power forward Brandon Crawford, who comes to Overtime Elite High School and hails from Irmo, S.C. Crawford is extremely athletic and the Irmo, S.C., product will have a chance to have an impact in 2024-25.
A 3.43-star recruit according to verbalcommits.com and is a top 80 player in the state of South Carolina, according to Phenom Hoops. Crawford's overall athleticism will give him a chance to suit up and have an impact immediately for ETSU in the 2024-25 season.
ETSU has outstanding momentum moving forward off last season's run to the title game before losing to Samford in the championship game and with the experience and talent returning coupled with the two players the Bucs have signed from the portal, it should be enough to ensure the Bucs status as legitimate title contenders and for some, maybe even the title favorites entering the 2024-25.
One thing is for sure, the turnaround and overall improvement of the Bucs last season were noticeable, and it seemed as if Savage and his staff did an excellent job of assessing their team's overall strengths as the season progressed, and then, in-turn, playing to those strengths in Asheville.
The major factor as to why the Bucs were able to stay in most every game last season was their extreme dedication on the defensive end of the floor. I expect ETSU to be a top three finisher and perhaps an NCAA Tournament team in 2024-25...Let the good times roll again in Johnson City.
Jan. 18 vs. Chattanooga/Bon Secours Wellness Arena (Feb. 8 at Chattanooga)
Following its clash with ETSU, the Paladins will take on another of the Southern Conference title contenders and the team likely enter the season as the league favorites, with Chattanooga set to visit the Bon Secours Wellness Arena on Jan. 18. The Paladins will make the trek to the Scenic City on Feb. 8.
The Paladins and Mocs split the seasonal series between the two last season, with both getting wins by double digits over the other. The Paladins were able to claim what was an 82-65 win in Greenville on Feb. 18, 2024, while the Mocs hammered the Paladins 73-58 in their second SoCon game of the season, as the Paladins suffered one of their worst Southern Conference losses since the 2018-19 season.
In the first matchup between the two in the Scenic City last season, the Paladins suffered a shooting night that would be one of the worst in recent memory, and the Paladins finished the contest connecting on just 27.5% (19-of-69) from the field, which included just a 4-for-33 effort from three-point range, which computes to just 12.1% from long range. It was a woeful performance.
Chattanooga had five players finish in double figures, as forward Tyler Millin led the way with 16 points, while fellow big man Sam Alexis added a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds, as the Mocs held Furman to season lows for points (58) and shooting percentage (27.5%) en route to a 73-58 Southern Conference win over the Paladins Saturday night at McKenzie Arena.
The Paladins missed 16-straight shots and went 13 minutes without scoring from the field, which allowed the Mocs to build a 23-point (43-20) halftime lead and all but decide the final outcome in the opening 20 minutes of basketball. It was Furman's worst Southern Conference loss since December 29, 2019, as Furman dropped what was a 79-56 setback at East Tennessee State. All told, the Mocs finished the half on a 25-8 run to take the 23-point lead into the halftime locker room.
Millin finished the night connecting on 8-of-11 shots from the field, while Alexis finished the contest having connected on 5-of-9 shots from the field and was 1-for-2 from the charity stripe.
Trey Bonham and Honor Huff helped fuel the Mocs talented backcourt, finishing with 12 and 10 points, respectively, while Jan Zedek came off the bench to add 12 more to the Chattanooga cause.
The Mocs finished the night by connecting on 48.3% (29-of-60) from the field, including a 29.2% (7-of-24) performance from three-point range.
Furman saw two of its three leading scorers return to the fold, as both point guard JP Pegues and Alex Williams were back in action for the Paladins, and that would be the two players that would end up scoring in double figures for the Paladins in what was a night that saw plenty of adversity on the floor in the way of getting shots to fall for Furman.
Pegues posted his second double-double of the season, posting 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Alex Williams added 15 off the bench for the Paladins.
Pegues finished the night by connecting on 6-of-21 shots from the field and was 4-for-6 from the foul line. Williams contributed his 15 points in the contest by connecting on 5-of-18 shots from the field, however, was just 1-for-11 from long range.
All told, Furman's Williams and Pegues went a combined 1-for-19 from three-point range. The Paladins finished the contest 7-for-24 from long range, and have now connected on just 18-of-111 (16.2%) from three-point land over the past four outings. Furman finished the night connecting on just 19-of-69 shots (27.5%) from the field
Carter Whitt and Ben VanderWal both flirted with double figure scoring performances, adding nine and eight points, respectively, VandwerWal was among Furman's best all-around performers off the bench in the contest adding seven rebounds, including four on the offensive end.
After Cooper Bowser started off the second half in a positive fashion for the Paladins with a dunk, order was restored for the Mocs quickly as UTC scored six of the next eight points on a pair of Sam Alexis buckets and a Tyler Millin layup to stretch the lead to 27 by the opening media timeout.
The Mocs would lead by as many as 28 points at the 14:14 mark of the second half following a layup by Trey Bonham, however, the Paladins would cut it to 12 twice inside the final three minutes, with the first coming on an Alex Williams three from the far corner and the next time coming on a pair of JP Pegues free throws, making it a 68-56 game with 2:32 left.
However, Chattanooga would put the game on ice shortly thereafter, as the Mocs used a pair of Tyler Millin run-out buckets on a dunk and layup would push the lead back to 16 with 2:04 remaining. The 12-point margin would be as close as the Paladins could get the rest of the way, as the Mocs closed out a 15-point win.
Chattanooga came out and shot the ball well in the opening half, and Furman went ice cold from the field, as the Paladins registered a season-low (20) points in the opening half this season, missing 16-straight shots from the field, leading to Furman’s largest deficit of the season, as the Mocs went to the break with a 43-20 advantage.
The opening half of play saw the Mocs connect on 51.5% (17-of-33) from the field and 37.5% (6-of-16) from three-point land, while the Paladins connected on just 24.1% (7-of-29) from the field and missed 13 of 14 shots from long range in the opening half of play.
The Paladins would play strong defense in the next matchup between the two just after Valentine's Day, and just as they had caught an ETSU team at seemingly the exact wrong time, which was during a winning streak and playing some of its best basketball of the season, that would be exactly the same scenario that would present itself when Furman met the Mocs for the second time last season.
The late season win by the Paladins saw Furman improved to 14-10 against Chattanooga in the series since the start of the 2013-14 season, including claiming what was its seventh win over that same span by double figures. It was Furman's seventh win in its last eight meetings between the two at Timmons Arena.
The only blemish against the Mocs on for Furman over the last eight seasons came on Feb. 12, 2022, as Chattanooga would capture a 64-58 win at Timmons Arena. The Mocs went on to win the SoCon regular-season and tournament titles. Sunday's meeting marked the 99th clash of the two programs on the college basketball hardwood, with the Mocs now holding the 58-41 series edge.
Needless to say, but the rivalry between the SoCon's most-decorated basketball tradition--Chattanooga (12 titles)--and a program that has become a regular league title contender over the past nine seasons--Furman--has become one of the more enthralling rivalries on the SoCon hardwood.
For the first 11 minutes of Sunday afternoon's Sunday matinee' Southern Conference basketball game on CBS Sports Network, Furman locked down Chattanooga's easy on the eyes offense and rendered one of the nation's most efficient offenses inept, holding the Mocs to just two field goals over the first 10:51 of the game to build a 19-10 lead.
Chattanooga's first-half shooting struggles was reminiscent of those encountered by Furman to open the previous clash between the two last month in the Scenic City. In that contest, the Paladins missed 16-straight shots and went 13 minutes without scoring from the field, which allowed the Mocs to build a 23-point (43-20) halftime lead and all but decide the final outcome in the opening 20 minutes of basketball.
Furman finished the opening half last month connecting on just 7-of-29 from the field (24.1%), which included a 1-for-14 (7.1%) effort from three-point range as the two teams entered the halftime locker room.
On Sunday, Chattanooga connected on just 6-of-29 (20.7%) from the field and were 4-for-16 (25.0%) from three-point range. It was almost an identical role reversal.
Furman's 73-58 loss to the Mocs last month ended up being the Paladins' worst Southern Conference loss since December 29, 2019, as Furman dropped what was a 79-56 setback at East Tennessee State.
Furman was once again without Alex Williams (15.1 PPG), who is the team's third-leading scorer, due to a suspension. Williams posted 15 points in Furman's 15-point loss to Chattanooga back in January.
What was available Sunday were two of Furman's three-headed scoring monster that should find themselves in contention for all-league honors in the postseason. JP Pegues, who was the SoCon Tournament's Most Outstanding Performer last March en route to helping lead Furman to a SoCon title run over the course of three days in Asheville, led the way for the Paladins with 22 points.
The preseason All-SoCon selection and junior guard from Nashville, posted his 10th performance of 20 or more points this season by connecting on 7-of-17 from the field, including 4-for-8 from three-point land and the league's best free throw shooter was perfect from the line, finishing 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.
In addition to his 22 points for the Paladins, Pegues also added three assists and five rebounds to his overall totals.
Furman's other preseason All-SoCon performer--Marcus Foster--didn't play in the first meeting with the Mocs last month, but he had a substantial affect on Sunday's outcome before a national television audience. The redshirt senior from Atlanta finished as the Paladins' second-highest scorer, posting 15 points on 4-of-11 shooting from the field, which included a 3-of-6 shooting effort from three-point land. Foster was also a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line and added six rebounds, two assists and a block.
Rounding out the Paladins in double figures in the contest was Lee University transfer guard PJay Smith Jr. finished with 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field for the game, which includes a 3-for-8 from three-point range and was 0-of-1 from the line. Smith also added three rebounds, three assists and blocked a shot.
Also of note was the performance of Ben VanderWal, who came into the contest off a career night against VMI last Wednesday by posting 15 points and 13 rebounds, followed that up against the Mocs with nine points, seven rebounds, three assists and a block.
Freshman center Cooper Bowser added eight points and two rebounds off the bench, while Tyrese Hughey added seven points and Garrett Hien, who has been re-inserted into the starting five, finished with six points, seven rebounds and dished out a pair of assists.
Chattanooga has one of the most dynamic and diminutive backcourts in college basketball, in both Honor Huff and Trey Bonham, who had strung together a pair of 31-point performances in wins over East Tennessee State and UNC Greensboro coming into Sunday's showdown in Greenville.
Unfortunately, the duo didn't finish the game together, as Bonham left early in the second half with an apparent ankle sprain and did not return. Bonham finished 0-of-6 from the field and had just two points.
Huff on the other hand, led all scorers with 26 points and was one of two Mocs in double figures, connecting on 6-of-14 shots from the field, which included a 3-for-8 effort from beyond the arc and went 11-of-12 from the charity stripe. Huff also distributed three assists and registered three steals.
The only other Mocs player in double figures in the contest was freshman guard Noah Melson, who came off the bench to add 10 points and two boards in 19 minutes of court time. Melson finished the contest connecting on 3-of-4 shots from the field and was 2-for-3 from beyond the arc.
The Paladins finished the game shooting an impressive 48.3% (29-of-60) for the game, which included a 40.7% performance from three-point range (11-of-27), and connected at an 86.7% (13-of-15) clip from the foul line.
Chattanooga finished the contest connecting on just 33.9% (19-of-56) from the field, which included a meager 28.9% (8-of-28) effort from three-point land. UTC's 33.9% effort from the field was its lowest since a 70-54 home loss to UNC Greensboro back on Jan. 13 at McKenzie Arena, which saw the Mocs convert at just a 30.9% (17-of-55) clip for the game.
The Paladins finished the game holding advantages in points from turnovers (19-11), total rebounds (40-33), points in the paint (30-16), total assists (20-13) and fast-break points (13-11). The Mocs held the slight edge in bench scoring (20-19), while the two teams finished tied in second-chance points (12-12).
Furman's tough defense in the early going was evident, and it was an 8-0 run, which was capped by a no-look feed from Carter Whitt-to-Ben VanderWal, who converted the reverse layup, giving the Paladins the 19-10 advantage with 9:16 remaining in the opening half.
Chattanooga started the contest by making only two field goals in the first 10:51 of game action, which came on a three-pointer from Myles Che and a short jumper from Honor Huff, as the Mocs missed 17 out of their first 20 shots from the field.
Following a triple from the left elbow from Tyler Millin that trimmed UTC's deficit to six, at 19-13, with a little over nine minutes left in the opening half, Furman put together a 15-0 run to take complete control of the game.
The Paladins took a 21-point opening half lead, using back-to-back threes from JP Pegues and PJay Smith Jr., with 5:30 left in the frame to give Furman a 34-13 lead and bringing the sellout crowd of 2,377 fans to its collective feet.
Furman's final points of the half, which came on a Garrett Hien layup in the paint following a Jan Zidek turnover, allowed Furman to take its largest lead of the afternoon, at 48-24, with 58 seconds left in the opening 20 minutes. The Paladins would settle for a 48-29 halftime lead.
Furman would never really see the Mocs the margin inside double digits in the second half, getting as close as 11, at 59-48, when Honor Huff knocked down 2-of-3 free throws after having been fouled on a three-pointer with 11:06 left.
However, Furman's response would be a 14-3 run, highlighted by four three pointers from Pegues, Marcus Foster (2), and Tyrese Hughey, while another Pegues layup accounted for the totality of the 14 points during the run and Foster's two threes bookended the second half Paladin spurt to give Furman a 73-51 lead with 6:18 remaining. Furman was able to pretty much coast to the win from that point.
While last season's clash produced a pair of one-sided games for each team, the new seasons at least promises the hope of a couple of better regular-season clashes, and perhaps one in the SoCon Tournament in Asheville.
The Mocs will likely be my favorite at Southern Conference media day on Oct. 1. My reasoning for that is that Chattanooga figures to have one of the best backcourts in the Southern Conference heading into the 2024-25 season, with the return of a pair of absolutely jet-quick guards in the backcourt, with Trey Bonham and Honor Huff both back to highlight the dynamic returnees for Chattanooga.
The one major loss for head coach Dan Earl, who heads into his third season leading the Mocs basketball program is big man Sam Alexis. With that said and with Chattanooga has returning and with how they attacked the portal during the off-season, they will be my favorites to claim the 2024-25 SoCon title, with ETSU in a close second.
Along with the departure of Alexis, Randy Brady and Myles Che have also moved on, as have Jan Zidek and Tyler Millin, who are both out of eligibility.
The great news is that Huff and Bonham will have plenty supplemental help coming from the transfer portal, due to how the Mocs attacked the transfer portal under third-year head coach Dan Earl. It's an area that he talked about being unfamiliar upon first taking over the reins of the Mocs hoops program following their title run in 2021-22. What he came away with talent that will be as much of an attraction to the Scenic City as Lookout Mountain or Ruby Falls heading into the 2024-25 season.
The Mocs have added Bash Wieland from Bellarmine, who is a 6-6 guard and grad transfer that will help the Mocs immediately and give them some size in the backcourt in what figures to be a four-guard offense this coming season. Wieland averaged 14.2 PPG and 5.3 RPG in his final season at Bellarmine, while also dishing out 2.2 assists-per-game.
Another outstanding addition from the transfer portal is Jack Kostel from Division II Alabama-Huntsville, where he played for former Chattanooga coach John Shulman. Kostel is a 6-2 guard that could be the fourth starting guard in that Mocs backcourt next season, averaging 13.3 PPG and 4.2 RPG during his final season at UAH.
The Mocs added 6-7 Garrison Keeslar from Division II Walsh. Keeslar will have two years of eligibility remaining upon his arrival, averaging 15.5 PPG and 6.7 RPG last season.
In keeping with the theme of additions made from the NCAA Division II ranks, add Division II All-American Frank Champion to the mix for the Mocs, as he joins the Chattanooga hoops program from just up the road at North Georgia College.
Champion looks to be the prized get for head coach Dan Earl and the Mocs from the transfer portal, as the 6-7, 220-lb native of Lithonia, GA, will have one year of eligibility remaining upon his arrival at UTC.
Last season, Champion ended up averaging 17.6 PPG, 7.6 RPG and posted an impressive 4.6 APG en route to garnering NABC NCAA Division II All-America honors last season and was a finalist for the Bevo Francis national Division II Player of the Year award.
One of the key additions to the front court is 6-9 Adam Larson out of Southeast Missouri, where he averaged 7.2 PPG and shot over 40% from three-point range last season. Larson is one of the crafty big men that can pass and shoot and cause problems that head coach Dan Earl likes to utilize in his multi-faceted motion offense.
The cherry on top of the portal additions for the Chattanooga Mocs is Pacific transfer center Makai Richards. The 6-10, 225-lb center will have two years of eligibility remaining with the Mocs.
In his redshirt sophomore season with Pacific, Richards shot a team-best 66.2% from the field and ranked second on the team in blocks, swatting away 10 shots. He finished the 2023-24 season averaging 4.3 PPG and 2.4 RPG.
The addition or Richards addresses the biggest question mark that head coach Dan Earl and staff had heading into the off-season, which was replacing their man-in-the-middle, in Sam Alexis, who transferred to Florida.
Not only did Chattanooga bring in already seasoned talent from the portal, but they also found some in the prep ranks. Both 6-7, 175-lb wing forward Isaiah Otalyuk and 6-9, 240-lb Latif Diouf have been signed by the Mocs staff as a part of the early signing period back in November. Both were rated as three-star recruits, according to verbal commits.
Otalyuk joined the Chattanooga program from Word of God Christian Academy in Cary, N.C., while Latif Diouf will give the Mocs an international flavor, joining up with the Mocs program out of the Netherlands.
Otalyuk was ranked as the No. 19 prospect in the state of North Carolina, according to Hoopseen.com. He had a game in which he went for 45 points last season, which included a 10-for-13 effort from three-point land.
Diouf comes to Chattanooga from Gouda, The Netherlands, where he played both small forward and power forward and is a member of the U18 The Netherlands national team. During his junior season of 2022-23 at the Dunn School in Los Angeles, CA., he had a 52-point scoring night in an 81-76 win over Foothills Tech.
He is one of the top incoming freshman. talents in the SoCon, and will likely tag-team in the middle with Adam Larson. Both should give the Mocs a well-skilled passer and shooter in the paint, and those are two things that make Earl's teams so tough to guard defensively.
Without Alexis and Zidek, finding that third and potentially fourth scorer will be key. Jack Kostel or either Bash Wieland could end up being those guys. I expect big things from Wieland, as I liked him when he was at Bellarmine. I also expect Champion to be an easy pick for potential newcomer of the year in the league. He is one of the top finds from the portal and kudos to the Chattanooga staff for not only finding such a talent right down the road, but also being able to convince him to come to the Scenic City to continue his college basketball career.
Any combination of both Wieland and Champion in the lineup at the same time could be fun to watch. Both are tough, hard-nosed players that know their way around the basket, and both have solid mid-range shooting ability.
When Furman and Chattanooga meet in the first clash on Jan. 18, it will mark the 100th all-time clash between the two on the hardwood, with the Mocs posting a commanding 57-40 all-time series advantage.
Jan. 22 at VMI (Feb. 22 vs. VMI in Greenville/Bon Secours Wellness Arena)
It's typically never an easy ask when teams have to travel to play VMI in Cameron Hall in Lexington, VA., and that has been true in both the Keydets' previous stint as a Southern Conference member, as well as the current one.
Furman was able to get the seasonal sweep of the Keydets last season, which included going to Lexington and getting one of its most complete performances in Southern Conference play, as the Paladins put together what was a 100-60 win over the Keydets in Lexington last season. The Paladins also defeated VMI, 79-68, in Greenville.
The meeting in Lexington marked the return to the lineup for Marcus Foster, who had missed over a month following a knee injury. The Paladins posted one of their best second halves of the season, out-scoring the Keydets, 59-34, in the second half of the contest. Foster scored 18 points in the second half, while Alex Williams led the way in scoring for the Paladins, finishing with 23 points.
It was Williams and Carter Whitt that helped carry the Paladins to a big first-half lead, as the two combined for 29 of Furman's 41 first half points in their win at Cameron Hall. Whitt finished with 15 of his 21 points in the contest in the opening half, while Williams added 14 of his 23 in the opening 20 minutes of basketball.
Foster probably couldn't have envisioned much of a better return to the starting lineup for the 'Dins, as he finished the contest with his 18 points coming on a 6-for-10 shooting performance from the field, which included a 3-of-6 effort from three-point land and a 5-for-6 effort from the line. Foster added 10 rebounds to finish off his double-double effort.
The key to the Paladins win in Lexington was a run that started with just under 14 minutes left in the contest, as the Paladins embarked on one of their biggest scoring runs of the season, out-pacing the Keydets 29-8 en route to stretching what was a 52-39 advantage following a Taeshaud Jackson triple with 13:58 remaining to 81-47 following on of Foster's three triples with 6:58 left, staking the Paladins to an 81-47 lead and all but rendering the result academic.
The second meeting of the season between the 'Dins and Keydets would take place in mid-February, as the Paladins hosted the Keydets in Timmons Arena, getting a big night from Ben VanderWal en route to what was a 79-68 win.
In that second meeting, the Keydets were without leading scorer Brennan Watkins, who missed the contest with an injury. anderWal scored his team-leading 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field, including hitting his lone three-point field goal attempt. The sophomore forward also finished the night 4-of-6 from the charity stripe. VanderWal grabbed five of the team's 14 offensive rebounds in the contest, while collecting eight caroms on the defensive glass.
VanderWal was joined in double figures for the Paladins by JP Pegues and Marcus Foster, who added 14 and 13 points, respectively, to round out the Paladins in double figures in the contest. Pegues finished the contest by connecting on 5-of-14 shots from the field, which included finishing 4-for-11 from three-point land. Pegues also dished out a team-leading eight assists, grabbed three rebounds and recorded a steal.
Foster finished the night connecting on 4-of-14 shots from the field and went 2-for-8 from three-point land. The redshirt senior guard also finished 3-of-4 at the free throw line, and added seven rebounds, an assist and a steal.
Garrett Hien finished just out of double figures, finishing with nine points, seven rebounds and a steal, while Carter Whitt completed his night with eight points and seven assists.
For a second-straight game, Cooper Bowser was big off the bench for the Paladins, as he finished with five points, four boards and blocked a pair of shots in 15:42 minutes of court time. VMI ended the night with two players in double figures, led by Taeshaud Jackson II, who added a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds. It marked the sophomore forward's 13th-career double-double, including his eighth of the 2023-24 season. Jackson finished the contest connecting on 5-of-12 shots from the field, including missing his only three-point shot, while making 4-of-7 from the charity shot.
Highly touted recruit Maurice Wright Jr. had a career night for the Keydets, as he posted a career-best 13 points and registered three of the team's 10 steals in the contest. Stephen Olowoniyi and DJ Nussbaum finished just out of double figures, adding nine and eight points, respectively, in the losing effort.
So what does 2024-25 have in store for head coach Andrew Wilson, who heads into his third season as the head coach. Well, with each passing season at VMI it seems like he is having to piece together a new roster.
No coach has battled to keep his players more than Andrew Wilson in his first two seasons as the head coach of the VMI Keydets, losing virtually his starting five to transfer each of the past two seasons.
There's a weird silver lining of note, which is the fact that Wilson is procuring the type of talent that can find a home elsewhere, and most at the NCAA Division I level, which is somewhat remarkable considering that most that coach in the sport, or write about the sport consider the job in Lexington, VA., absolutely the toughest in all of Division I. There are a myriad of reasons for that line of reasoning, but being able to retain players has been a problem that unfortunately precedes Wilson's short coaching tenure thus far.
What's different is the fact that most of the times in the past, it was just one or two really good players seeking to play somewhere else. Over the past two seasons, the Keydets have seen recruiting classes seemingly leave en masse.
With that said, there is some light at the end of the tunnel for VMI. Rather than tell you who is leaving and will not return, it might be easier to just detail the players that have remained loyal to Wilson and the VMI hoops program.
The good news is AJ Clark returns for the 2024-25 season, and that's he was the one player that perhaps improved as much as any in the 2023-24 season from the start of the campaign until the end of the season, and he would end up being one of the best on-ball defenders for the Keydets during the 2023-24 season.
Others returning to the fold for the Keydets include Maurice Wright Jr., who started to find more and more playing time as the 2023-24 season progressed along and his further development as a player offensively will be paramount to the immediate future plans for the Keydets.
Cooper Sisco, who missed the entire 2023-24 season with an injury, returns at shooting guard where he figures to be one of the better shooters on the team next season.
Adding more depth to the shooting guard position will be Jaren Morton, who logged action in only two games during his freshman season with the Keydets.
Others returning to the fold for the 2024-25 season for the Keydets include 6-1-point guard Walker Andrews, as well as 6-8 power forward Robert Peters (1.7 PPG, 1.3 RPG). Andrews redshirted his first season in Lexington, while Peters logged limited action in 19 games for the Keydets last season.
One of the more shocking things during the month of May was how VMI was able to clean up in recruiting--both in the transfer portal and in terms of high school signees. If VMI didn't take transfers before, there's nothing like splashing all the water out of the pool when you do. All told, the Keydets signed a total five transfers, including one who has already been a Keydets for one season and shown proven scoring ability in the SoCon.
The Keydets welcome a solid transfer into the program for the 2024-25 campaign, as TJ Johnson made the move from Lipscomb-to-VMI with three years of eligibility remaining. Johnson, a 6-6, athletic small forward and will have three years of eligibility remaining.
Last season for the Bisons, Johnson averaged 3.7 PPG and 1.8 RPG and shot 34.7% from three-point land.
Rickey Bradley Jr. is obviously a familiar name to VMI fans, and now somewhat of a prodigal son, as he returns to the coach and program that originally recruited him in the first place--Andrew Wilson and the VMI Keydets.
The Milwaukee, WI, product spent his sophomore campaign in Atlanta, playing for the Georgia State Panthers in the Sun Belt. He saw action in 13 games with Georgia State last season, which included making six starts and averaged 2.4 PPG and 1.8 APG.
During his freshman season at VMI, Bradley Jr. averaged 9.4 PPG and 4.8 RPG. He posted a season-high 24 points in the regular-season finale win over Wofford during the 2022-23 season. Bradley Jr. was also a great asset on the defensive end of the floor, leading the team with 31 steals.
Augustus Kiudulas, who hails from Vilnius, Lithuania, joins the Keydets basketball program from helping the Sycamores to a 32-7 record and an NIT runner-up finish.
Prior to signing with Indiana State, Kiudulas played professionally in Lithuania for Vilnius Rytkas 2 in the NKL National Basketball League in Lithuania. He averaged 11.5 PPG, 4.3 RPG and dished out 2.1 APG while shooting 38.2% from three-point land. He is also a member of the Lithuanian National Team.
Kiudulas will add both skill and a big scoring presence underneath for the Keydets, as he will likely play the No. 4 spot. He will also add to the low post defending for VMI in 2024-25. Kiudulas will have four years of eligibility remaining.
Wilson did his best to add some size in the paint along with making a concerted effort to bring in skill at all positions. That international mixture will certainly add to the technical and fundamental talent the Keydets possess in 2024-25.
One of the additions that figures to be a solid rim protector is 6-11 Cyprian Hyde from the University of Portland.
Hyde was a Top 75 recruit out of California before signing with the Pilots, and he finished out his senior season by averaging 15.5 PPG, 10.7 RPG and 2.3 BPG.
Tan Yildizoglu is a 6-4 transfer guard from Pacific, adding even more to the Keydets international mix heading into the 2024-25 campaign. He gives the Keydets another outstanding skilled European, who brings great shooting ability, along with being technically gifted as both a passer and ball-handler.
Yildizoglu played in 28 games for the Tigers last season, which included making a pair of starts and one of those came in the WCC Tournament against Pepperdine. Yildizoglu is also a member of the Turkish National Team and paced his team with 20 points and eight assists in Turkey's historic win over Team USA for the bronze medal in the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup in 2023.
He registered career highs for points (10) and rebounds (10), along with dishing out five helpers in a game against San Diego last season.
The Keydets have signed a trio of talented freshman players so far, with both having a chance to come in and make an impact from the outset. Linus Holmstrom, a 2.85 star recruit, according to verbalcommits.com, comes to VMI all the way from Colorado Prep.
Holmstrom is a Swedish-born guard, who is highly skilled, as well as being an outstanding perimeter shooter. Holmstrom was the captain of the U16 and U18 Swedish national team, averaging an impressive 13.4 PPG and 2.6 APG, while shooting a solid 38% from three-point range.
He was a big reason why the Swedish national team got promoted to Division A and stay for the Euro Championships, which is the first Swedish team to accomplish such a feat in more than two decades.
Another talented wing that coach Wilson and the Keydets were able to sign is 6-5 small forward Cal Liston, who comes to VMI from Lassiter High School in Marietta, GA., where he played for former Wofford head coach Jay McAuley.
A three-star recruit according to verbalcommits.com, where he was an all-region first team selection as a senior and was ranked as one of the top 200 recruits (No. 138/Relentless Hoops) to come out of the state of Georgia. His strength and athleticism will give him a chance to make an impact for VMI sooner rather than later.
Rounding out the additions made by VMI is 6-8 power forward Kaden Stuckey, who comes from the country to the north, spending his time at Orangeville Prep in Canada.
The 6-8, 227-power forward has a 7-1 wingspan and is the son of former Missouri State Hall of Fame and former pro Kelby Stuckey.
After two seasons have yielded just an 11-53 record, which includes a 3-33 Southern Conference record, there's seemingly nowhere to go but up for head coach Andrew Wilson and the Keydets. He's probably growing frustrated with having to recruit a new team each season, however, seeing as how that's becoming largely the norm for a lot of mid-majors now with NIL and the transfer portal, it now at least gives other coaches around the league an idea of some of the headaches that Wilson and his staff encounter each and every season.
Wilson has an eye for talent, and it would be interesting to see what he could do if he could manage to keep some of his players around long enough to develop some cohesion as a unit. He has managed to keep AJ Clark and Maurice Wright Jr., and I look for their development to continue upward this season, as it was towards the latter half of the season a year ago.
As for wins and losses, I can say 10 wins would honestly be something to aim for and then progress from there. I can tell you one thing, VMI will be competitive in the league, but they will likely not win many games once again in Wilson's third season. Also, with this haul of five players from the transfer portal, and obvious and unmistakable effort was made to try and beef up the front court this season. The Keydets will go from being one of the smaller teams in the league to one of the biggest.
When the Paladins and Keydets end up meeting this season, it will mark the 109th all-time clash between the two programs, with Furman owning a commanding 71-37 all-time series edge with both wins last season.
Jan. 25 at Mercer (vs. Mercer Feb. 12 at Bon Secours Wellness Arena)
Furman didn't fare so well when it faced the Mercer last season, as the Bears claimed both regular-season contests against the Paladins, posting a season sweep of the Paladins for the first time since the 2014-15 season.
The Bears were able to claim what was a 78-69 win in Macon last season before handing the Paladins an 82-75 setback in their final game of the current rendition of Timmons Arena.
The Bears will have a new coach and an almost an entirely new roster this season that should make the Bears competitive sooner than later in the league.
The Bears captured a nine-point win over the Paladins by completely dominating the second half against Furman in the first meeting between the two last season at Hawkins Arena.
The win marked the first by the Bears since 2016 against the Paladins, snapping what had been an 18-game losing skid in the series against the 'Dins. For head coach Greg Gary, it was his first win over Furman in this his fifth season as the head coach of the Bears, as he im-proved to 1-13 all-time against the Paladins. It was Mercer's first win over the Paladins since Stephen Croone and Devin Sibley were suiting up regularly for the Paladins.
Fresh off a career-high matching 30-point performance last time out against VMI, Mercer's Jayln McCreary posted 28 points to lead the Bears to a 78-69 win over Furman. The Paladins simply had no answers as to how to slow McCreary in the paint for the Bears, nor could they really figure out how to stop Mercer's other primary big man, Alex Holt.
Playing its first road game in the final month of league play, it would have caught most who didn't know by surprise that Furman was the defending Southern Conference basketball champions. Mercer played the second half as the aggressor from start-to-finish and looked more the part of defending champs by comparison.
It comes as little surprise then, that the Bears were easily able to overcome its halftime deficit of 40-34 and outscore the Paladins 44-29 in the second half en route to what was one of Mercer's best halves of basketball all season.
A 19-5 second half run by the Bears was a big key, which was super charged by supplemental scoring from Caleb Hunter, who scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half to supplement the work already being done in the paint by McCreary.
Both teams shot the ball pretty well in the opening 20 minutes of basketball, with Furman connecting at a 50% (13-of-26) clip, while Mercer connected on 47.1% (16-of-34), as the Paladins would carry a 40-34 lead into the halftime break. However, for the second-straight game and for just the third time this season, the Paladins could hold it together in the second half.
In terms of three-point shooting, the Paladins finished the night connecting on just 27.3% (6-of-22) from three-point land, while the Paladins continued their stellar shooting from the free throw line of late, connecting on 82.6% (19-of-23) from the charity stripe. Following the 50% shooting effort in the opening half, the Paladins could only muster a 34.6% (9-for-26) in the second half. It led to a final shooting clip of 42.3% (22-of-52) from the field for the game.
Mercer came out and blistered the nets at a 56.6% (17-of-30) clip in the second half and held the Paladins to just a 34.6% (22-of-52) shooting clip from the field, to outscore the Paladins by 15 points en route to what was seemingly a pretty easy victory. The Bears finished the night of totals of 51.6% (33-of-64) shooting from the field, while connecting on just 22.2% (2-of-9) from three-point land. The Bears also connected on 66.7% (10-of-15) shots from the charity stripe.
Like his 25-point performance in Macon last season, Marcus Foster would lead the way scoring-wise for the Paladins in the loss, finishing with 19 points and nine rebounds, as he just missed his sixth double-double in what was his seventh game back from injury.
With his 19-point scoring effort, Foster crossed the 1,000-plateau for his career, ending the game with 1,012 points in his Paladin career. The Peach State product finished the night connecting on 6-of-15 shots from the field, which included going 1-for-5 from three-point range.
The senior guard also finished the game connecting on 6-of-7 foul shots and was one of three Paladins in double figures in the loss. Foster is the 51st player in program history to cross the 1,000-point plateau in a career.
The second meeting in Greenville saw the Paladins seemingly out of sorts from the opening tip-off of the contest, and the Bears controlled the game from the outset, never really allowing the Paladins to find a comfortable moment in the game, which was thanks in large part to the Bears tenacious defense, as well as blistering the nets on the other end of the floor.
A bit concerning was Furman's play on the defensive end of the floor of the final two games of the regular season, which came on the road at Western Carolina and at home vs. Mercer.
Furman closed out the modern era of Timmons Arena much like they did Memorial Auditorium before moving into its current facility, which was a loss to the top team in the conference, Davidson, (L, 79-88) in 1996.
Some 28 years later, Furman closed out the modern of Timmons Arena against Mercer, and the Bears are trending in the right direction at precisely the right time, as for the third time in their last five games, the Bears connected at 50% or better from the field en route to an 82-75 Southern Conference win to close out the 2023-24 regular season.
The win helps Mercer complete its first season sweep of Furman since the 2014-15 season, and the Bears will head into the 2024 Southern Conference Tournament red-hot, as they have won four of their last five games.
The eight-point loss closes one chapter of Furman basketball, while opening another. Saturday afternoon's game marked the final game in the current configuration of Timmons Arena, which will now get a 49 million dollar facelift.
Furman ends a remarkable run of success over 27 seasons inside its home facility that though odd at first, would grow on both Paladin fans and team alike as the years wore on, while becoming one of the tougher venues to garner a win over the past nine season for the opposition.
Furman ended its nine-year run of success inside the facility with a 109-19 record, which includes a 63-10 mark against league foes. Against non-conference opponents over the past nine seasons, the Paladins ended its run in the current Timmons Arena with a 46-9 record. All told, the Paladins posted a 246-110 record in its 27th season of operation. Furman will begin play in the new Timmons Arena in 2025.
For much of the 2023-24 regular-season, Furman's men's basketball team has lacked something. Outside the obvious of having graduated two of the best players in school history--Jalen Slawson and Mike Bothwell--the Paladins have just haven't been able to find sustained success other than one five-game winning streak in the middle of the season.
In the final two regular-season games of the 2023-24 season against Western Carolina and Mercer, the Paladins gave up a total of 103 points (Western Carolina 55 pts and Mercer 48 pts) and saw those two teams combine to connect on 61.6% (37-of-60) from the field and 50% (13-of-26) from three-point range in a pair of second halves.
Gary's Bears would finish the season in strong fashion, winning a game in Asheville over The Citadel before being eliminated by eventual champion Samford, and just a little less than 48 hours following Mercer's exit, it would be announced that the Bears would be moving in a different direction with their basketball program.
With Gary's exit, Director of Athletics Jim Cole moved swiftly and hired UT-Martin head coach Ryan Ridder to help change the prospects of the Bears program, which has descended into mediocrity under Gary. With the loss in the tournament to the Bulldogs, it concluded the Greg Gary era as the head coach, as he finished 81-79 in his five seasons at the helm of the Mercer hoops program.
With that said, the Bears appear to definitely be on the uptick with how Ridder has attacked the portal since taking over and has been able to put together a nice roster of players as a result.
Ridder racked up 48 wins in three seasons as the Skyhawks' head coach, and that included a 21-11 mark this past season.
In his nine seasons as a head coach, which also includes six seasons spent at both Daytona State and Bethune-Cookman, Ridder sports an overall mark of 191-120. During the 2022-23 season, Ridder would help lead the Skyhawks to 19 wins and a third-place win in the Ohio Valley Conference.
The 19 wins marked the fifth-most wins in a season in school history, and were part of a nine-game turnaround from his first season in charge of the program.
Like Craft at Western Carolina, Ridder will have to pick up the pieces from a roster that was hit hard by players leaving for the transfer portal after it was learned that Gary would not be returning as the head coach.
In addition to already having to replace the likes of leading scorer and all-conference selection Jalyn McCreary (15.6 PPG, 4.6 RPG), as well as sharp-shooting Jalen Cobb (5.8 PPG, 2.8 RPG), who is also out of eligibility, the Bears will also have to replace much of its remaining roster, including dynamic freshmen talents, in point guard David Thomas (11.0 PPG, 2.4 RPG) and 6-6 forward sharp-shooting Jake Davis (9.0 PPG, 4.5 RPG), who both entered the transfer portal shortly after the coaching change was announced.
Also hopping in the portal for the Bears upon learning of a leadership change for the Bears are guards Anthony Bernard (2.3 PPG, 1.2 RPG), Robby Carmody (7.5 PPG, 1.9 RPG), and Michael Zanoni (1.3 PPG, 0.8 RPG).
Forward TJ Grant (1.3 PPG, 2.1 RPG) is back to provide some veteran leadership, as is forward Alex Holt (7.3 PPG, 4.7 RPG), who after initially entering the transfer portal, has apparently decided to return according to the latest roster on Mercer's athletics website. Center Sidy Diallo is also back after exploring the transfer waters.
Caleb Hunter (4.9 PPG, 2.0 RPG) and Jah Quinones (5.9 PPG, 4.3 RPG) return to add veteran leadership and overall toughness to the Bears backcourt. Like Diallo and Holt, the duo briefly explored the transfer portal waters before opting to come back for the 2024-25 season.
With Hunter, Holt and Quinones apparently now on-board to return, it allows the Bears to retain some veteran leadership and holdover from last season’s club. That could come in real handy, as the team seemingly just started to gel as a unit over the last month of the season. If there’s any carryover at all from how that trio played down the stretch in February, it would be a huge boon for Mercer.
It’s vital for Mercer to develop a sense of identity around Mercer basketball again, which is something that Bob Hoffman seemed to have almost captured in a proverbial bottle in his early years at the helm in the lead up to the upset in the tournament of Duke.
A couple of years later, Hoffman and the Bears sold their soul to the transfer portal before that was ever a regular thing for mid-majors. Out went the identity… then the success… then Hoffman… then Gary. Ridder will understand the importance of those “carryover players.”
Ridder's new job in the ever-changing climate of the transfer portal and Name-Image-Likeness (NIL) will be to help the Bears re-establish an identity and something they can take ownership of as a basketball program. That was something former head coach Bob Hoffman did early in his career in Macon and will be interesting to see if that is something that Ridder tries to re-capture as he tries to rebuild Mercer basketball into a Southern Conference title contender.
Ridder's new job in the ever-changing climate of the transfer portal and Name-Image-Likeness (NIL) will be to help the Bears re-establish an identity and something they can take ownership of as a basketball program. That was something former head coach Bob Hoffman did early in his career in Macon and will be interesting to see if that is something that Ridder tries to re-capture as he tries to rebuild Mercer basketball into a Southern Conference title contender.
Mercer has made several key additions via the transfer portal, adding a couple of players that will have a chance to come in and make an immediate impact this coming season.
Ridder added 6-5 shooting guard Dwaine Jones from Division III University of Charleston, where he averaged 10.1 PPG and 5.8 APG last season for the Golden Eagles. Jones actually started his career at Coppin State before matriculating to Charleston. He will have a chance to make an immediate impact this coming season for the Bears.
Others added to the backcourt by the new head coach include 6-6 wing/guard Angel Montas, who joins the Bears program from Fordham. His two seasons prior to his arrival in Macon involved were shortened due to injury. Prior to having his season shortened in 2023-24 due to an injury, Montas averaged 4.4 PPG and 1.8 RPG.
He’ll give the Bears some good size on the wing. Montas could really score the basketball as a prep during his time as a prep, posting over 4,000 points during his time at Life Christian Academy in Kissimmee, FL. He was rated as a three-star prospect coming out of high school by 247Sports. During his prep career, Montas a native of the Dominican Republic, averaged an astounding 34.3 PPG and 8.4 RPG.
Jah Nze is another athletic wing guard that should give an immediate boost to the backcourt as well. The 6-4, athletic guard from North Florida comes to Mercer with one season of eligibility remaining, having spent the previous three as an Osprey. Last season, Nze averaged 8.3 PPG and shot 37.0% from beyond the arc last season.
Joining Marcus Overstreet as a huge get from the lower division ranks is Peach Belt Player of the Year Tyler Johnson, who comes to Mercer from the same quality program that produced ETSU's talented ultimate "glue guy" Karon Boyd, which is of course, USC Aiken.The 6-2 guard Johnson comes off a 2023-24 season in which he averaged 16.7 PPG and 6.7 RPG, while dishing out 2.1 APG and shooting 39.2% from three.
The final addition to the backcourt for the Bears heading into the 2024-25 season from the transfer portal is 5-10 point guard Ahmad Robinson, who comes to Mercer by way of the University of New Hampshire, where he was a Third Team All-America East selection last season. He started 30 of 31 games for the Wildcats, averaging 15.4 PPG, 4.6 RPG and dished out 4.7 APG.
Power forward Cam Bryant, who comes to Mercer from Georgia Southern, is a 6-7, 215-lb combination of power and athleticism to add to the Mercer frontcourt, and hewill have two years of eligibility remaining. In his lone season with the Eagles, Bryant averaged 5.9 PPG and 3.8 RPG. He will have a chance to step in and fill the void left by Jalyn McCreary.
Another potential impact addition via the transfer portal is University of Dayton transfer Petras Padegimas, who is a 6-8, 215-lb power forward. In his only season with the Flyers, the native of Kaunas, Lithuania averaged 1.1 PPG and 0.7 RPG. He has a chance to work his way into the fold with the Bears, and coach Ridder and staff like his base skill level and his developmental potential in the Southern Conference.
The prize find for Ridder after mining the portal might be 6-9, 220-lb center Marcus Overstreet. He transferred in to Mercer from Division II University of South Carolina Beaufort, where he averaged an impressive 17.6 PPG and 11.0 RPG in one season with the Sand Sharks. He will have a chance to make an impact immediately.
He's an instant impact player for Mercer and is the type of addition, along with Johnson and Brady Shoulders (see below), that should have the Bears immediately knocking on the door of the top teams in the league next season.
Joining Pedegimas from the nation of Lithuania is Laurynas Vaistaras from Plunges, Lithuania. Like Pedegimas, Vaistaras’ first stop in his NCAA Division I basketball career was not Mercer, as the 6-7 forward spent four seasons sporting similar colors as a player for the Campbell Camels up in Buies Creek, N.C. During his final season at Campbell, Vaistaras enjoyed his best season for the Camels, averaging 10.8 PPG, 4.3 RPG and 3.1 APG, which were all career highs.
As far as freshman additions are concerned for the Bears entering the 2024-25 season, the Bears have picked up 6-6 small forward Brady Shoulders, who joins coach Ryan Ridder coming over from UT-Martin where he redshirted the 2023-24 season and will have four years of eligibility remaining.
Shoulders was a three-star recruit coming out of Lyon County High School in Eddyville, KY. As a senior in 2022-23 at Lyon County High School, Shoulders helped his prep program to an impressive 31-6 record, winning the Region 2 championship for a second-straight season. Shoulders averaged 17.9 PPG and 11.1 RPG during his junior season. He is another of the SoCon's top incoming freshman talents.
Like Western Carolina, I imagine the 2024-25 season for Mercer will be one that sees the Bears in a complete rebuild mode, as new head coach Ryan Ridder looks to revitalize a program that just 11 years ago provided one of the greatest upsets in NCAA Tournament history in what was the Bears last season as an Atlantic Sun member.
The Bears had some success in the early going in the league, making the tournament semifinals in year one, and then in Greg Gary's first season as the head coach, made it all the way to the championship game in 2020-21 as the No. 7 seed before losing to UNCG.
Since joining the Southern Conference prior to the 2014-15 season, Mercer has posted an overall record over 145-146, while in league games, the Bears have posted an overall mark of 75-85. It will be interesting to see what Ridder does in year one in Macon, as he looks to bring the excitement back to Hawkins Arena.
When Furman and Mercer meet for the first time in the 2024-25 season, it will mark the 40th meeting between the two, with the Paladins holding the commanding 27-12 lead in the series.
Jan. 29th vs Samford/Bon Secours Wellness Arena (Feb. 19 at Samford) Furman and Samford have emerged as one of the top SoCon hardwood rivalries, and that is due in large part to the success both have had under their young head coaches.
Bucky McMillan has led the Bulldogs to three-straight 20-win seasons, the program's first NCAA Tournament in 24 years last March and back-to-back Southern Conference regular-season SoCon titles.
The genesis of the rivalry probably began in the 2022 Southern Conference Tournament, when the Paladins came from behind to post a 72-69 win in the SoCon semifinals. The Paladins would then sweep the Bulldogs in 2022-23, gaining a share of the Southern Conference title and garnering the No. 1 overall seed for the 2023 Southern Conference Tournament, which the Paladins would go on to win and return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 43 years before going on to upset the Virginia Cavaliers in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
Last season, the Bulldogs, for the first time, got the upper hand against the Paladins and claimed two out of the three meetings, with all three of those games having been decided by 10 points or less. Samford has been a program that has been on a constant rise in the Southern Conference the past three seasons.
The first matchup between the Paladins and Bulldogs came at a time when Furman was playing some of its best basketball of the 2023-24 season, and it was a game that would see Furman play one of its best defensive games of the season.
Fresh off the thrilling win over Western Carolina, Furman would face off against league-leading Samford, who came to Timmons Arena on the strength of a nation's best 17-game winning streak and were off to a 6-0 start in league play.
People were certainly beginning to wonder if the Bulldogs might run the gauntlet of the SoCon after having completed exactly one-third of the league slate without a losing a game.
The Paladins had won six of their last seven games against the Bulldogs, including each meeting during the 2022-23 campaign, which was ultimately why the Paladins were able to go to Asheville with the No. 1 overall seed last March, despite the two teams splitting the regular-season title with identical 15-3 league ledgers.
With Furman playing some of its best basketball of the season, it had to be able to handle Samford's sweltering press, which had been forcing the opposition into turnovers and was providing a big part of the Samford offense for the season.
The good news for Furman is that it had superior ball-handlers, with the likes of Carter Whitt, JP Pegues, and PJay Smith all providing the kind of skill level that should provide the Bulldogs with their toughest challenge since the two losses to open the season. The other element of that Paladin skill also turned out to be Furman's elite ability offensively as an outlet passing team.
Furman was able to garner a 78-68 win, but the most impressive part was without question holding the Bulldogs to the 68 points, which was it's lowest point total in a game all season since the opening-season loss at Purdue.
The reason the Paladins were able to hold the Bulldogs to just 25 points in the opening half of play. earlier in league play. Furman went to the half of Wednesday night's contest with a 34-25 lead, using good old-fashioned defense to help build that halftime advantage, holding the Bulldogs to just 37.5% (12-of-32) shooting from the field, including a 0-of-9 shooting effort from three-point range.
The win by the Paladins also marked the 150th win for head coach Bob Richey in his seventh season as the head coach of the Furman basketball program, and he is the second-winningest coach in Paladin basketball history, and he is the fastest to reach 150 wins as head coach.
In the 10-point win over the Bulldogs, Richey improved to 150-64 and .701 winning percentage as head coach, which has him ranked among the Top 20 active Division I head coaches in NCAA Division I college basketball.
The night for the Paladins belonged to Marcus Foster, who posted his second double-double in just his third game back for the Paladins, as he finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds to lead all scorers in the contest.
Foster finished as one of four Paladins in double figures, connecting on 7-of-17 shots from the field and was 3-of-7 from three-point land, including going 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.
Foster was joined in double figures by Alex Williams, who added 16 points, while JP Pegues finished with 12 and PJay Smith came off the bench to add 11. Carter Whitt led the Paladins with seven assists, as Furman finished with a team total of 19 helpers in the contest.
Samford finished the contest with three players finishing in double figures, led by Achor Achor, who posted 19 points, which included scoring 11 of the Bulldogs' 25 first-half points. He finished contest by knocking down 9-of-12 shots from the field and also added six rebounds, an assist and a steal.
Achor was joined in double figures by AJ Staton-McCray, who added 14 points, posting all 14 of those in the second half, while Nathan Johnson add-ed 10, and like Staton-McCray, scored all of those points in the second half.
The Paladins finished the game connecting on 45.9% (28-of-61), which included shooting 42.9% (12-of-28) from beyond the arc. Furman also shot a solid 76.9% from the charity stripe, knocking down 10-of-13 from the foul line.
The Bulldogs finished the game connecting on 43.8% (28-of-64) from the field and shot 33.3% (9-of-27) from three-point range.
Furman finished the night holding advantages in points from beyond the arc (36-27), total assists (19-14), total rebounds (41-35), second-chance points (19-10), points from the free throw line (10-3), and free throw attempts (13-10).
The second matchup between the two would be a heated battle and it would be the JP Pegues show before Samford's Jermaine Marshall would end up stealing the show on senior night in the end.
It was one of the best Southern Conference games of the 2023-24 season, and despite Furman taking a late five-point lead inside the final minute, Samford was able to rally inside the final 45 seconds of the game, with Jermaine Marshall scoring the final four points of the game, including getting the game-winning layup in the paint with 2.9 seconds remaining, as Samford moved a step closer to the Southern Conference title with a 74-72 triumph over the Paladins.
The win by the Bulldogs snaps a four-game skid in the series by Samford, as the Bulldogs Improved to 11-24 against joining the Southern Conference in 2008-09 and 11-26 against the Paladins in the overall series. The win also saw Samford remain perfect at 16-0 on its home floor this season. Furman won the earlier meeting this season, 78-68, in Greenville back on Jan. 24.
Furman and Samford both played the game with a physical edge, and both defended hard and well over the course of 40 minutes, in what was a physical clash between two of the SoCon's two best teams over the past couple of seasons, it was a game that would ultimately be decided by a player, in Jermaine Marshall, who missed the first clash between the two this season, as he was out with a torn meniscus knee injury.
For the game, Marshall had one of his better performances on both ends of the floor since returning, as it was his sixth game back in the rotation for the Bulldogs. Marshall, a native of Brighton, AL, finished as one of four Samford players in double figures, finishing with 15 points on a 6-of-11 shooting performance from the field and a 3-for-4 effort from the free throw line. His 15-point performance saw Marshall eclipse the 1,000-point mark for his career, and his game winning bucket gives him 1,002 career points.
Marshall also added eight rebounds, an assist, a block, and a steal to round out his performance. After a three-pointer by Jaden Campbell got the Bulldogs to within two, at 72-70, with 39 seconds remaining, it would set the stage for Marshall's late-game heroics.
Perhaps even better than his game-winning layup was Marshall's steal of a PJay Smith Jr. inbounds pass, in which he caught the low, swiftly thrown pass by Smith in attempt to knock the ball off of Marshall's leg back out of bounds and in most cases probably should have worked, however, the quick reaction of Marshall saw him catch the Smith inbounds pass at point-blank range and in-turn, forced Smith to commit the immediate foul. Marshall would have to earn the points from the charity stripe, which he would.
Marshall calmly made both foul shots to tie the game. After Furman got the ball quickly down the floor, Furman's JP Pegues, who finished with a career-high 33 points, launched a three out of a double-team from the right corner, which was rebounded by Marshall, and he went coast-to-coast for what proved to be the game-winning points with 2.9 seconds remaining.
Marshall's performance was particularly key without the services of AJ Staton-McCray, who didn't dress out due to a minor injury, and forward Achor Achor--Samford's leading scorer--who missed most of the game with an injury suffered early in the contest and the status of his injury is unknown.
Samford would actually be led in the contest by Rylan Jones, who was seemingly clutch all night for the Bulldogs, as he posted 17 points, five rebounds, four assists, three steals and turned the ball over only once. Jones, a transfer from Mountain West-leading Utah State, finished with his 17 on a 5-of-14 shooting effort from the field, which included a 4-for-9 effort from three-point land. He also finished 3-of-4 at the charity stripe.
Rounding out the Bulldogs in double figures in the contest were Nathan Johnson, who added 13 points off the bench, while Jaden Campbell finished with 12 points and four boards. Johnson also posted double figures in the first matchup between the two this season, as he finished that contest with 10 points in the Bulldogs' 10-point loss at Timmons Arena back on Jan. 24.
Marshall's flurry of heroics at the end of the game overshadowed a career night from Furman's junior guard JP Pegues, who finished the contest with a career-best 33 points, finished the game by scoring the Paladins' final 22 points, which was reminiscent of the 18-straight points scored to start the game for Furman last time the Paladins visited the Pete Hanna Center, with Mike Bothwell doing the honors on that occasion, as it turned out to be a 93-79 win by the Paladins on that occasion.
The junior from Nashville finished the night connecting on 9-of-15 shots from the field, which included a 6-for-11 performance from three-point range and was a perfect 9-for-9 from the charity stripe. Pegues scored 28 of his game-high 33 points in the second half, including 22 over the final 6:56 of game action. All told, Pegues accounted for 28 of Furman's 46 second-half points in the loss.
In addition to what the junior did as a scorer, he also added six rebounds, two assists, a steal and had only two turnovers against Samford's relentless pressure. The performance by Pegues marked the 11th time this season in which he has scored 20 or more points in a game, and his effort in the loss eclipsed his previous career-high of 29 points, which he established in the loss to Belmont earlier this season.
Pegues became the third Paladin to score 30 or more points in a game this season, and the fourth occurrence of that particular feat. His 33-point effort was a season-high for a Paladin player, and he joins Marcus Foster (2) and Alex Williams (1) who have also recorded 30-point scoring efforts this season. The last time Furman played in Homewood, which was in the regular-season finale last season, Mike Bothwell went for 35 points in the Paladins' 14-point road win to clinch the No. 1 seed in Asheville.
The only other Paladin to finish the contest in double figures in the loss was Garrett Hien, who put together one of his most complete performances of the season, as he finished the contest with 10 points, six rebounds and dished out five assists.
Furman's leading scorer Marcus Foster was held to just five points, marking the first time since he returned to the lineup 10 games ago that he has been held out of double figures, and just the second time he has been held out of double figures this season.
The Bulldogs finished the contest connecting on 48.1% of their shots from the field (25-of-52), which included a 36.0% (9-for-32) effort from three-point range. The Bulldogs, who get to the free throw line more than any other team in the Southern Conference, finished connecting on 15-of-19 charity shots for a 78.9% shooting clip from the line. The Bulldogs shot a blistering 60.0% (15-of-25) from the field in the second half, and were 50% (4-of-8) from three-point land.
The Paladins finished the night shooting the basketball at a 43.6% (24-of-55) from the field, including 28.1% (9-for-32) from three-point land, and finished 75.0% (15-of-20) at the charity stripe.
Samford ended the night with advantages in total assists (18-14), points off turnovers (23-10), bench points (30-12), points in the paint (32-28) and fast-break points (19-11). Furman held the edge in second-chance points (9-8) and the two teams tied with 32 rebounds apiece.
The rubber match between the two teams last season would come in the Southern Conference Tournament semifinals. While The Paladins would get off to a fast start in the contest, it would go cold in the middle portions of the first half and ultimately, ended up on the wrong end of an 84-77 decision and defense of Furman's magical run in 2022-23 would end on March 10, 2024.
The Bulldogs improved to 10-15 all-time in Southern Conference Tournament action, while also moving to 3-4 all-time against Furman in the tournament. The Bulldogs claimed two out the three meetings on the season, as Samford also held off Furman, 74-72, in Birmingham in late February.
Furman fell to 58-64 all-time in the Southern Conference Tournament, which includes a 12-18 mark in the semifinal round of the tournament.
The Paladins actually handed Samford its first of three SoCon losses, with a 78-68 win in Greenville, snapping the Bulldogs’ 17-game winning streak, which was tops in Division college basketball at the time.
Achor Achor finished his evening going 12-of-15 from the field and went 1-for-1 from three-point range, as well as connecting on 3-of-5 from the charity stripe. The 14 rebounds matched a season and career-high for Achor, and marked his third double-double of the season.
Joining Achor in double figures in the winning effort were Jaden Campbell and Rylan Jones, who finished with 14 and 11 points, respectively.
The Paladins were paced in the losing effort by JP Pegues, who record his 16th game of the season with 20 or more points, following up his 28-point performance in the quarterfinal win over Western Carolina by adding 22 in the semifinals against Samford. The native of Nashville, Tenn., closed out his junior season as a Paladin by connecting on 4-of-12 shots from the field, including 3-for-7 from long-range, and was 11-of-14 from the charity stripe.
Carter Whitt finished off one of his better performances of the season, adding 20 points on 7-of-11 from the field, including 4-of-5 from three-point land and was 2-of-2 from the line.
Furman got off to a quick start, and a Ben VanderWal layup of a missed three-pointer from Marcus Foster, who scored the Paladins' first eight points of the game, gave the Paladins their largest lead of the contest, at 23-14.
From there, the wheels became to run of the championship train for the Paladins, which would struggle to score for the remainder of the opening half of play, as the Bulldogs closed the opening half on a 20-5 run, which included a stretch for the Paladins that saw them miss their final 12 shots of the frame, which led to a 34-28 Samford halftime advantage. The Paladins finished the final 4:40 of the opening half without a field goal.
The Bulldogs assumed complete control of the game in the opening minutes of the second half, using a 14-7 run out of the locker room to assume a 48-35 advantage following three Jaden Campbell foul shots after he was fouled on a three-pointer by Alex Williams with 15:19 left.
Samford eventually took its largest lead of the night on a big dunk off the right side following a Paladin turnover, making it a 66-50 Bulldogs advantage with 5:40 left.
Furman employed its own version of a press to trim the Bulldogs lead to five following a JP Pegues three with 38 seconds remaining, however, it was too little too late for the defending champions, who finally had their crown stolen by the Bulldogs, as their will be a new Southern Conference champion in 2024.
For the game, Samford connected on 54.9% (28-of-51) from the field, which included just a 6-for-21 (28.6%) effort from three-point land. The Bulldogs shot 68.6% (22-of-32) from the charity stripe.
The Paladins on the other hand, connected on just 34.4% (21-of-61) from the field, which included a 28.9% (11-of-38) effort from long range.
The Bulldogs held a substantial 42-20 edge in points in the paint, while Furman finished the game holding advantages in points from turnovers (25-18), second-chance points (7-6), and bench scoring (32-24).
Samford also held a narrow 36-34 edge in total rebounds, as well as posting a 15-12 advantage in total assists.
The loss to Samford last season marked the end of the road for four great Paladins, with Carter Whitt, Alex Williams, JP Pegues and Marcus Foster all deciding to go their separate ways in the transfer portal. All four played their own unique roles in helping the Paladins to achieve something special, which was a return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 43 years and win a game in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 49 years. Best of luck to each of those guys, as all four are quality people first and great players secondarily.
As far as Samford is concerned. You can bet they will be good in 2024-25. Just how good? It's hard to know but they have a good staff and a great head coach that can recruit. They will also have to manage the unique pressure of being a defending champion, which Furman had to last year and each of the nine league champions have had to do but failed to duplicate the magic of the previous season.
The 2024-25 season will likely see the Bulldogs picked to finish highly once again in the Southern Conference, and that's despite only one starter returning from a year ago, in point guard Rylan Jones.
Jones leads a talented cast of players coming in from different places, as head coach Bucky McMillan cleaned up in the transfer portal.
Reigning Southern Conference champion Samford came into the portal season knowing they would suffer some significant losses as a result of graduation, however, everything seemed fine until the final day of the portal being open for head coach Bucky McMillan and staff. That's because Achor Achor (16.6 PPG, 3.6 RPG) announced at the 11th hour that he would be entering the transfer portal.
A crushing loss for the defending champion, who with the 6-9 Achor, might have been picked to win the league again, however, they now have to seemingly replace four of five starters might keep some from making that leap with their preseason ballot. Still, the Bulldogs should be in the mix to at least compete for a title this coming season.
In addition to losing Achor Achor, the Bulldogs will also lose Jermaine Marshall (10.6 PPG, 5.1 RPG), Jaden Campbell (11.3 PPG, 3.2 RPG), Garrett Hicks, Nathan Johnson (5.5 PPG, 2.2 RPG) and AJ Staton-McCray. Staton-McCray has opted to play his final season elsewhere, as the graduate senior had originally opted to return to his home state to play at Florida Atlantic prior to re-entering the transfer portal.
Others that have opted to transfer out of the program include point guard Dallas Graziani (4.1 PPG, 1.4 RPG) and center Zach Loveday (2.8 PPG, 1.7 RPG), who both spent one season in the program.
The main portal addition for the Bulldogs heading into the 2024-25 season will be Collin Holloway, who comes over from Tulane and will likely occupy a similar role to what AJ Staton-McCray did this past season for the Bulldogs.
Holloway is more than capable on the offensive end of the floor; however, he will also give the Bulldogs plenty on the defensive end of the floor just like Staton-McCray was able to do last season.
During the 2023-24 season with the Green Wave, Holloway was a significant contributor, as he averaged 12.8 PPG, while also contributing 4.3 RPG and 1.4 APG. The 6-6 wing from Baton Rouge scored in double figures on 21 occasions during the 2023-24 season, which included posting 20 or more points on five occasions.
Holloway’s top scoring effort of the season came in an 89-81 win at Fordham, as he finished the contest with 26 points. In what was a thrilling 117-110 win over Southern Conference member Furman, Holloway dropped 18 points.
The most recent addition the Bulldogs and staff have been able to make via the transfer portal comes from Wagner in the form of sophomore guard Julian Brown, who was outstanding in his two games in the NCAA Tournament for the Seahawks.
After posting 15 points in the NCAA Tournament opening round win over Howard, Brown followed that up with an even more impressive showing against North Carolina, dropping 18 points against the top-seeded Tar Heels to lead the Seahawks in scoring in the loss.
For Wagner last season, Brown ended up starting 19 of 32 games for the Seahawks, averaging an impressive 10.0 PPG, 1.8 APG and 2.9 RPG.
The two most-recent additions the Bulldogs have made from the transfer portal are also impressive, getting a pair of guards from the SEC ranks. Isaiah West, which was a freshman at Vanderbilt last season and averaged 2.8 PPG and 1.0 RPG, starting nine games for the Commodores. He will have three years of eligibility remaining for the Bulldogs and is a former four-star recruit.
The other SEC addition to the Samford lineup comes from Mississippi State, in Trey Fort. Fort comes to Samford as a graduate transfer and the 6-4, 200-lb guard averaged 25 PPG during his sophomore season at Howard and posted 5.0 PPG in 11 MPG last season for the Bulldogs.
He's athletic and can get from point A-To-B in a hurry. He is a really good get for Bucky McMillan and the Bulldogs. Fort posted 21 points in his debut game for Mississippi State against Arizona State. He will have one year of eligibility remaining.
Rounding out the additions from the transfer portal for Samford is Jaden Brownell from the University of Illinois-Chicago.
The 6-9 forward from Sandy Utah is coming off a redshirt junior season, which saw him average 6.1 PPG and 2.4 RPG, playing in 33 games, including three starts. He connected on a solid 36.3% (33-of-91) from three-point land last season. He's a solid addition and could be an important role player for the Bulldogs in the 2024-25 season.
Samford made a couple of key additions during the early signing period back in November, as the Bulldogs signed 6-9 power forward Caleb Harrison out of Huntsville, while also adding 6-5 shooting guard Zion Wilburn from Richmond, California.
Harrison is a three-star addition by most outlets and is one of the better freshman signings heading into the 2024-25 season. Harrison was an All-State selection as well as being named a 7A Area 7 MVP during his junior season, averaging 15.0 PPG and 8.0 RPG during his junior campaign at Huntsville High School.
Wilburn is from Richmond, CA, but played his final two seasons as a prep at Arizona Compass Prep School where averaged north of 15 PPG in his final two seasons as a prep. The 6-5, 190-lb shooting guard is athletic and is also a good shooter with a quick release.
With the recent departure of Achor Achor, Harrison could take on a much more impactful role in terms of adding depth inside in the 2024-25 season.
Defending a SoCon title isn't easy...It's why the league has literally not had one since the Wofford Terriers in 2013-14 and 2014-15 have been able to complete that type of run, and having to replace all five starters for the upcoming season isn't a successful tract to be on to complete the back-to-back feat, however, it can be done and Samford has a player in Colin Holloway that could make them a factor much sooner than later.
The Bulldogs will likely find themselves projected somewhere in the No. 4-6 range in the preseason. A big concern with Achor Achor's recent decision to enter the portal is the interior, especially at the No. 5 spot. Riley Allenspach, who was a solid force off the bench at center last season, will now be asked to make a huge jump.
The news in early June that Rylan Jones would be returning to the fold after being granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA due to medical hardship, and that news was maybe the best of the offseason for McMillan and Samford hoops. Last season, he was a steadying force for the Bulldogs, and probably the most undervalued player in the league. He averaged 9.4 PPG and started 34 of 35 games last season and ranked third in the league in total assists, with 174.
Stephen Croone Inducted into Furman Athletics Hall of Fame
No other player has been more important to Furman's resurgence as a basketball program over the past decade than Stephen Croone. The program's sixth all-time leading scorer and ranked fifth when he concluded his career with 1,936 points, is the latest Hall-of-Fame inductee for Furman basketball.
Imagining what Furman basketball would be like if Stephen Croone had transferred, or had both he and current head coach Bob Richey does not return for the Niko Medved era would likely provide a very different. Richey, who was the coach responsible for bringing Croone to Greenville, was the only assistant retained by Medved, and that likely played a big part of Croone deciding to return.
Croone, a native of Covington, GA., saw more bad than good in his time suiting up for the Paladins as the starting point guard. Croone was the player that bridged the close of the Jeff Jackson era to the new era, which was where the resurgence would begin for the Paladins in the second season under the direction of Niko Medved.
It comes with little surprise, then, that Croone was honored in special ceremony on Sept. 13, 2024.
The 2015-16 SoCon Player of the Year was one of the first one to embrace in a vision of what the program could become from a place Furman hoops program had been for so long, which was the doldrums of the Southern Conference.
Croone, along with Larry Wideman, Kris Acox and Kendrec Ferrara, would be part of that foundation that would go on to help the Paladins start to build something special in Greenville.
Later in Croone's career, players like Devin Sibley, Geoff Beans, Daniel Fowler and John Davis III would join alongside Croone in his final two seasons in Greenville, helping the Paladins turn the program completely around.
The 2016-17 season, which was the first after Croone graduated, the Paladins claimed a share of the regular-season SoCon Title along with UNCG and East Tennessee State. It was Furman's first regular-season title since the 1990-91 season.
From the 1979-80 season, which was the last one that the Paladins had last made it to the Big Dance as the Southern Conference champions until the start of Croone's sophomore season in 2013-14, the Paladins had just 12 winning campaigns in its previous 34, which included just two 20-win campaigns. The 2015 run to the title marked the first time since 2002 that the Paladins had made it to the championship game.
Bob Richey can relate to how tough it was to stay at Furman during that time. Richey, the assistant coach at that time that was responsible for convincing Croone to come to Greenville, wasn't entirely sure he'd be retained under new head coach Niko Medved. Richey convinced Croone to come to Greenville among several NCAA Division I offers. A supremely gifted athlete and scorer, Croone had options after the decision was made to move in a different direction following just a seven-win season in 2012-13 campaign.
In Croone's first season with the program, Furman the Paladins would finish the season losing 15 out of 18 SoCon games and when he suffered a foot injury late in the campaign, and actually was part of a team that was so beat up and injured that in several games during the season, that only eight Paladins were dressed for action.
Croone would be the highest career scorer for Paladin basketball in 13 years, since Karim Souchu went over 2,000 points in his career from 1999-2003.
It was clear that Croone was a gem of a recruiting find for current head coach Bob Richey early in his career, as he was a part of some pretty bad basketball teams. Heading into the 2015 Southern Conference Tournament, Croone had been a part of just 23 wins over three seasons, as the Paladins had posted a 23-66 record over three seasons entering the 2015 SoCon Tournament.
Croone became the first Paladin to garner three All-SoCon citations since Jonathan Moore (1978-80), and with his 40-point effort during his sophomore campaign in an 86-83 win over Liberty on Dec. 20, 2013, he became the first Paladin to score 40 or more points in a game since Roy Simpson accomplished the feat in 1972 against East Carolina. In 177-career games for the Paladins, Croone averaged 16.0 PPG.
Croone would lead the Paladins all the way to the SoCon championship game against Wofford during his junior campaign in 2014-15. Croone, a native of Covington, GA., was the centerpiece of what was a magical run to the title game, becoming the first No. 10 seed to ever finish the
Since the start of the 2015 Southern Conference Tournament, the Paladins have won 201 games, with Croone being a big part of the first 22 wins of those 201 wins, stretching back from the start of that tournament to the end of his senior season.
His final season as a Paladin would come to an end in the second round of the CIT, with an 80-72 loss to Louisiana-Monroe at Timmons Arena. It would be a game that would ultimately see Croone end up scoring 29 points in his career finale for the Paladins, finishing with 1,936 points, which at the time was fifth in program history. The Paladins finished the 2015-16 season with a 19-16 record, which included an 11-7 mark in league action, which was good enough for a third-place finish.
At the end of his junior season, Croone and his teammates would flip a switch. Furman opened the 2015 Southern Conference Tournament in Asheville as the No. 10 seed, and opened with a 73-56 win over No. 7 seed The Citadel.
The junior guard would pace the Paladins with 27 points on a 9-of-16 shooting performance in the tournament opener against the Bulldogs. He also would finish the contest by going 3-of-7 from three-point land.
In the quarterfinal round, the Croone and the Paladins would face off against No. 2 seed Chattanooga, who at the time were led by head coach Will Wade. The Paladins managed a 69-67 win over the Mocs, and that would be the game folks around the league would begin to raise their collective eyebrows.
In Croone's freshman season in 2012-13, the Mocs had beaten the Paladins 83-49 at the Roundhouse late in the season, and Croone was one of seven players that dressed in the Paladins late in the contest.
The two-point win showed just how far the Paladins had come in two years as a basketball program under the leadership of Medved, as he had entrusted Croone with a major leadership role in that rebuilding project. In that game as a freshman, Croone had tied with former Paladin big man Colin Reddick for top scoring honors with 12 points, brought down nine rebounds, dished out three assists, blocked two shots and recorded a steal before exiting late in the game due to cramps.
Two years later in his first win of his career against Chattanooga (0-6 vs. Mocs prior to 2015 quarterfinal game), Croone finished off a workmanlike effort, and teaming with SoCon Freshman of the Year Devin Sibley, combined to lead the Paladins across the finish line against the Mocs, as the backcourt duo finished with 29 points (Sibley 16 pts, Croone 13 pts) and 10 rebounds (Sibley 6 rebs, Croone 4 rebs) to lead Furman past the Mocs in easily what was Furman's most-impressive win of the 2014-15 season up to that point.
In the semifinals, Croone delivered wherever the Paladins needed him to, but it was most notably his efforts on the backboards that was most impressive. In what was a 52-49 slugfest win, Croone led the Paladins with 17 points and a remarkable 14 rebounds in the three-point win over the Bears. His effort helped lead the Paladins to the championship game for the first time since 2002.
In the title game against top seed Wofford, the Paladins would end up falling in a 67-64 heartbreaker, and despite losing top big man Kris Acox in the first half, the Paladins would be in the game the entire way, with the Terriers never able to establish a comfortable lead. In the title game loss to the Terriers, Croone finished with a team-leading 14 points, five rebounds, one assist and had one steal.
All told, in his junior season, Croone would find himself in double figures in 29 of the 31 games he saw action in last season, including all four games in the Southern Conference Tournament.
Croone bested the 20-point mark in nine games in 2014-15, and scored 30 or more points twice, with a season-high 33 points coming in the Paladins' SoCon-opening win over Samford. Croone had 31 points in an overtime loss to Chattanooga in early February at Timmons Arena.
In his senior season, Croone would help lead the Paladins to 19 wins, which was its second-highest win total since the 1990-91 season and first postseason invite for the program since the 1991 NIT.
Croone was named the Unanimous Southern Conference Player of the Year just prior to the Southern Conference Tournament, and his importance to the Paladins in his final season on the hardwood was paramount.
Despite the early part of the season nursing a thumb injury, Croone battled through the ailment and by the time Southern Conference play came around, was ready to make his presence known. It was the first time in the history of the program that a Furman player has been named unanimous coaches and media Player of the Year, and he became the first Paladin to garner the award since Chuck Vincent in 1998.
In conference play, Croone stepped his game up to another level, averaging 19.2 PPG in league games and was tied for first in scoring in league games, along with VMI's QJ Peterson. Croone's affect was no doubt important in four of the biggest home wins of the season against Wofford, East Tennessee State and Mercer, and maybe four of the biggest conference wins in the history of Timmons Arena. With that being put in perspective, three of the four teams won at least 19 games on the season, and the other one, which won 15, was the league's defending champion.
In the win over Wofford, which helped the Paladins snap a six-game skid to the Terriers, Croone had just two points in the opening half but posted 15 in the second frame. No one basket was more important than the final one--a tip-in of a Devin Sibley miss at the buzzer--as Furman posted its first win over Wofford since Jan. 14, 2013.
Croone scored nine of the Paladins' final 11 points in the contest, as Furman closed the game on an 11-2 run to capture their first win over the Terriers of the Medved era.
In an early 70-55 win over eventual Southern Conference regular-season title winner Chattanooga, Croone helped combine with backcourt mate Devin Sibley to score 35 of Furman's 70 points. The senior from Covington, GA, posted 17 points, four assists, three steals and three boards in the win. It was one of Furman's biggest conference wins in recent memory.
Against a good East Tennessee State team under first-year head coach Steve Forbes in the regular-season, it was Croone and Sibley carving up the ETSU zone like an old Thanksgiving turkey, with the duo combining for 41 of the Paladins' 74 points in that win.
The win against ETSU saw Croone finish the day with 21 points, went a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity stripe and dished out three helpers in the win.
Croone would save his best performances for his lasts in front of the home folks, including the regular-season finale against Mercer, helping the Paladins past the Bears with a season-high 31 points in the 85-74 win over Mercer.
Against Louisiana-Lafayette in the 80-72 second-round loss, Croone went out with a strong performance posting 29 points. All told, in his final season in the Purple and White, he recorded double figure scoring games in 31 of 35 games in his final season for the Paladins, and for his career, finished with 87 double figure scoring games in 94 outings.
Croone is one of those players that comes along maybe once every 20 years at some mid-major programs, while at others they come along with more regularity. However, I think coach Medved summed it up best just after Furman's emotional win over Mercer when he said. "I can replace points, rebounds, assists, blocks, but I can't replace the people these guys are."
Not only was Croone significant for what he did as a scorer, but also what he did on the defensive end of the floor and dishing out the basketball. For his four years in Greenville, Croone was truly a game-changer in every sense. In terms of what he could and the things he could do to affect a given basketball game, there have been few like Stephen Croone come through the doors of Timmons Arena in recent seasons.
No one will forget those moments he provided the Paladin faithful, including the demonstrative dunk against The Citadel as a sophomore, or the 40-point effort against Liberty.
Croone will rightfully see his name always remembered in the history of Furman basketball, as he will be honored Friday night in a ceremony in downtown Greenville at Larkins on the River Restaurant.
Following his career in Greenville, Croone spent one season with the Sioux Falls Skyforce in the NBA D-League before playing professionally overseas in Finland, Bulgaria and Georgia.
Croone was among five inducted into the Furman Hall-of-Fame in latest Furman athletics enshrinement class. He was joined by former women's soccer coach Brian Lee ('93), cross country and track standout Troy Reeder ('18), honorary inductee and benefactor Chris Borch ('78), and Allie Buchalski ('18), who is a member of the 2023 enshrinement class.
Croone's speech was emotional and from the heart, as he talked about the experiences of what it meant to be a Paladin hooper and shared a neat story about Bob Richey being the coach that believed in him as much as he believed in himself. He went to share that in Richey's first recruiting visit that he didn't even get into the game.
In another story, in the game in which he scored 40 points (his career high and most by a Paladin since 1972) that he had asked his father how many points he needed to score to get some money from his father, Arthur Croone. A game before, his dad told Stephen that if he got 25 points, he'd give him a little spending money. Croone detailed that he finished with 18.
The next time he approached his father was prior to Furman's game with Liberty, his father upped the points total to 40. Croone went out and the shots fell, and he had 23 at the half.
He ended up with exactly 40, and as he got closer to that total, he continued to glance over at his father until finally he achieved the feat. A career high. Croone was special and his relationship with Bob Richey was one that will resonate down through the history of the program. It's a foundation...A cornerstone upon which Furman's current success is built upon.
Furman Legend Frank Selvy Passes Away
Last month, one of the greatest scorers in college basketball history and Furman's greatest athlete in its rich history passed away at the age of 93.
A little less than two years ago, Selvy was named into the collegiate basketball Hall-of-Fame. Frank Selvy was one of nine inductees into the 2022 National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame this November in Kansas City. He most notably scored 100 points in the Paladins’ 149-95 win against Newberry College on Feb. 13, 1954 - the NCAA Division I record.
Also known as the “Corbin Comet”, Selvy was a scoring machine throughout his career as a Paladin. Hailing from Corbin, Ky., he starred for Furman from 1951-54.
In his 100-point game, Selvy shot 41-of-66 from the field and went 18-for-22 from the charity stripe in front of more than 4,000 fans on-hand at Furman’s then on-campus and downtown facility, Textile Hall. The game was also played before a state-wide viewing audience and was the first basketball game ever televised in the state of South Carolina.
Selvy also had a flair for the dramatic and reached the century mark with a 40-foot jumper at the buzzer. He finished his career with eight 50-point games and scored 40 or more 22 times.
During the 1953-54 season alone, Selvy scored an incredible 1,209 points on 45% shooting from the field and 80% shooting from the free throw line. This single season point total ranks first in Furman history. His 2,538 career points rank fourth in SoCon history.
Considering the fact Selvy played only three seasons and there was no 3-point shot as a part of the sport during that era, the scoring machine posted one of the most distinguished careers in the history of college basketball.
As you might expect, Selvy racked up plenty of national honors throughout his career. He was a three-time All-SoCon selection, a two-time SoCon Player of the Year, a two-time consensus UPI and Associated Press NCAA All-American (1952-53 and 1953-54).
He was selected first overall in the 1954 Draft by the Baltimore Bullets. He made two NBA All-Star Teams over a career that spanned nine seasons, which was interrupted for three years by military service.
Selvy is now a member of six Halls of Fame: the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, the Furman’s Athletic Hall-of-Fame, the Southern Conference Hall-of-Fame, the Kentucky Basketball Hall of Fame, the Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame and the South Carolina Sports Hall-of-Fame.
When Selvy played in the Southern Conference, the league included current ACC members North Carolina, North Carolina State and Duke as well as South Carolina from the SEC.
The New Season
Furman has started practice for the 2024-25 season, going through their first official practice of the preseason on Sept. 23. An open practice that will be open to both the public and media is slated for Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, at 5 p.m. EST at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
