SoCon Season Recap (Part 1 of 3)

UNCG captures its second-straight SoCon regular-season crown

Now that the Southern Conference season is over in hoops, it's time to take a look back at the season that was in the league, and for UNC Greensboro, the season will serve as a memorable moment for many years down the road.

For the most part, the 2018-19 season in the SoCon saw a distinct line of demarcation between the top five or six teams in the SoCon and the bottom half of the conference. The top five in the league had at least 19 wins on the season, while the bottom five posted no more than 11 victories on the campaign.

UNCG found its way back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2001 campaign, knocking off The Citadel (72-58), Wofford (56-55) and East Tennessee State (62-47) en route to the title. However, while UNCG's title run is worthy of note without question, there was a lot more to the 2018-19 season in the Southern Conference than just the regular-season and tournament title runs by the Spartans.

The Non-Conference:

Non-conference play in the SoCon in the 2018-19 season was among the most exciting in recent memory, with the league pulling off some monster non-conference wins. It started just before the commencement of conference play, and from Dec. 16-20, the league provided memories that will last for years to come for fans, media and players.

Francis Alonso and the UNCG captured just its third win in 62 tries over an ACC
foes with an 81-76 victory at NC State

It started with UNCG's 81-76 upset of North Carolina State on Saturday, Dec. 16. The win in Raleigh by the Spartans marked just the third ever over an ACC opponent for UNCG, and was the first-ever win by a UNCG team over NC State.

With 17 points from Francis Alonso, the Spartans were able to post one of the best performances of the season for the Southern Conference.

The win by the Spartans in Raleigh, as exciting as it was, would be only the start of the exitement for the league over the next 72-96 hours.

The Spartans turned in a what was a game-changing 41-12 run, spanning from the first half and into the second en route to handing the Wolfpack their first home loss of the season. The Spartans sizzled from the field all afternoon, connecting on 51.7% of their shots from the field, while limiting the Wolfpack to 50% from the field in getting the historic win. It would be a hint of things to come for the Spartans, who had already played a tough No. 8 Virginia team to within 12 points on the road to open the season. The Cavaliers would go on to make a historic regular-season run of their own in the ACC, capturing the regular-season crown with more than some room to spare.

Later that same afternoon, East Tennessee State traveled to No. 5 Xavier to face off against a team that would end up being an eventual No.1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. For much of the afternoon, it lookeed as though the Bucs might pull the first major upset of the season for the Bucs.

ETSU led by as many as 22 points with 14 minutes remaining in the contest, however, the Bucs saw the Musketeers make a torrid run down the stretch, out-scoring the Bucs 39-16 over the final 14 minutes of the game to capture the two-point win. A win would have helped the Bucs capture their regular-season win over a Top 10 opponent. Desonta Bradford would lead the Bucs with 20 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, but it wouldn't be enough, as Xavier posted the 68-66 win.

The good news for the Bucs would be that despite the loss, it would give the team a measure of confidence going forward, and the Bucs would commence to reel off a school-record tying 16-straight wins after the heartbreaking road loss.

Four days later, both Wofford and Furman would get their respective chances to take a power five program's scalp, with one of those Upstate programs able to do so, while the other came narrowly close to doing so.

Furman dropped a 66-61 decision at No. 20 Tennessee, but came close to making
it two wins over ranked opponents on the same night for the SoCon

Wofford was on the road to take on No. 5 North Carolina, while Furman was in Knoxville facing No. 20 Tennessee.

In Knoxville, the Paladins would stay close to the Vols the entire way before Tennessee eventually ended up holding on for a 66-61 win over the Paladins.

It was a good homecoming for Knoxville's own Devin Sibley, who posted 22 points in his return to his hometown. Sibley got into foul trouble midway through the second half, but he did enough to keep the Paladins in the game in the early moments of the second half, with the Paladins trailing 42-32 early in the second half.

But Sibley scored Furman's first 13 points of the second half, including nine-straight, to trim the deficit back to single digits, which it would remain the rest of the game. The Paladins took a 47-46 lead following a four-point play and consecutive free throws from senior Geoff Beans on two different possessions. The Paladins and Vols would be tied as late as with a minute to play, at 61-61, but the Vols scored the final five points of the game to close out the win.

Fletcher Magee scored 16 of his 27 points in the second half, as Wofford made
history with its 79-75 win at No. 5 North Carolina

Meanwhile, at the same time the Paladins were giving the Vols fits at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Wofford was doing the same against No. 5 North Carolina in Chapel Hill. With both games starting at 9 p.m., it was funny to see those in the media constantly checking their  smartphones in Knoxville, while also watching a potential upset of a power five team occuring right before them.

The Terriers would hold out the entire way, garnering their first-ever win over win over Top 25 foe since joining the Division ranks prior to the 1995-96 season, with a 79-75 win over the fifth-ranked team in college basketaball.  The win captured the imagination of the national media, as the Terriers showed up on all the major sports networks the following day, including ESPN and Fox Sports.

The win over the No. 5 Tar Heels was the highest ranked team the SoCon had defeated in the regular-season since the 2005-06 season, and the first ranked foe the SoCon had claimed since first win over a ranked team since Nov. 24, 2012, when the College of Charleston claimed a 63-59 win over No. 21 Baylor.

The win by the Terriers could also hang their hat on beating the defending national champions. In the win, the Terriers were led in scoring by Fletcher Magee's 27 points, while forward Cam Jackson added 18 points and nine boards in the victory. Magee scored 16 of his 27 points in the contest in the second half. The Terriers scored the final eight points of the opening half to take a 34-33 lead into the halftime locker room.

In the second half, the Terriers would never trail, leading by as much as 11 points following a Jackson dunk, and then extended that lead to to 14 points after a Nathan Hoover triple with 13:28 remaining in the game. That 14-point lead would be the largest of the night for Wofford.

The win helped the Terrriers snap a 22-game winning streak by the Tar Heels against non-conference opponents on their home floor, and marked the first loss by the Tar Heels to a non-conference opponent on their home floor since Dec. 3, 2014 against Iowa. Wofford became just the second team, and first since 1968, to defeat the North Carolina Tar Heels in Chapel Hill. The only other program from the Palmetto State to accomplish the feat was South Carolina in 1968 at Carmichael Arena. The Terriers entered the contest against the Tar Heels as a 25-point underdog.

The win over North Carolina marked Wofford's second over an ACC opponent during non-conference play. The Terriers defeated ACC foe Georgia Tech 15 days earlier at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium,  with a 63-60 win over the Yellow Jackets, meaning the Terriers captured two of the three wins the SoCon captured against ACC foes in non-conference play.

It was a 36-point effort by Fletcher Magee that helped the Terriers pick up another historic win over the Yellow Jackets. Magee was the only Terrier in double figures in the win over  the Yellow Jackets.

Wofford opened its brand new arena against 2017 Final Four participant South Carolina

Wofford played one of the tougher non-conference slates of any in the Southern Conference this past season, with games at power five programs like California, Texas Tech, Norh Carolina, while hosting South Carolina and Georgia Tech at the brand-spanking new Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium.

Wofford actually opened the season and christened its new arena by hosting 2017 Final Four participant South Carolina at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. I was fortunate enough to be on hand to cover the game, and the arena was as good as advertised. The Terriers dropped a 73-52 decision to South Carolina in the opener at their new arena, however, it's obvious that the Terriers got much better as the non-conference slate progressed. In all honesty, Wofford probably had the best non-conference win slate of the 10 SoCon teams, and in addition to the wins over Georgia Tech and North Carolina, the Terriers also had an impressive 63-62 win over the Tommy Amaker-led Harvard Crimson.

Stay tuned for part 2 of the season recap, as I take a look back at the conference season.