UNC Greensboro Braces For Two Huge SoCon Clashes on its Home Floor

Wofford's senior forward Cameron Jackson

Monumental week in the SoCon for UNCG

UNCG faces two of its most pivotal tests of the season in less than a 48-hour period, hosting league title contenders Wofford and Furman in back-to-back league games in Southern Conference games on Thursday and Saturday, respectively. 

It least early in the 2018-19 Southern Conference regular-season race, the Thursday and Saturday matchups will likely serve as major bookmarks in the league race when we reflect on the SoCon regular-season. After all, national college basketball analyst Andy Katz called the SoCon one of the best mid-major conferences in college basketball, and also called the SoCon regular-season title chase one of the most exciting in all of college basketball. That should ramp up the atmosphere at the Greensboro Coliseum this weekend--two games many Spartan fans probably already had circled on their pocket schedule back during the summer. 

The defending Southern Conference champions will enter Thursday night's game sporting the nation's sixth-longest homecourt winning streak, as the Spartans have reeled off 17-straight wins at the Greensboro Coliseum. 

The Spartans, who are currently tied with Furman for the league's best overall record, at 14-2, have gotten off to a 3-0 start in league play with wins over VMI (71-68), Chattanooga (85-72) and Samford (83-75) and have won seven-straight games coming into the contest. It's the SoCon's longest winning streak.

Wofford, on the other hand, comes into the clash with an 11-4 record and sit atop the league standings by a half-game over the Spartans, at 4-0. The Terriers have SoCon wins over Mercer (78-74), The Citadel (112-81), Western Carolina (74-54) and East Tennessee State (79-62). The Terriers come in having won three-straight. 

Both the Spartans and Terriers were picked No. 1 and No. 2 in the preseason Southern Conference media and coaches polls, respectively.

Last Season:

The Spartans claimed all three meetings over the Terriers last season, which included a 56-55 SoCon semifinal game win in what was the game of the 2018 Southern Conference Tournament. 

Wofford had the best opportunity to end the Spartans NCAA Tournament hopes altogehter. Better than any team UNCG faced in the 2018 SoCon Tournament in Asheville. 

The game came down to Francis Alonso doing what he has done to Wofford time and time again: hitting clutch shots. The junior from Malaga, Spain had ice water in his veins. Although he finished 5-for-15 from the field — including 3-for-10 from three-point range — and 13 points, his third triple of the night with 20 seconds left that proved to be Wofford’s dagger, and eventually proved the game-winner.

“All I have to say is it was a really tough game. But I have to say my teammates were the ones that gave me confidence at all times,” said junior guard Francis Alonso. “Even though I wasn’t shooting the ball well, when you have great teammates that have your back, you feel at the end of a possession, shots are going to go in. I knew I was feeling good. I’ve been working a lot this summer and I’m really happy we pulled it off.”

Trailing 56-55 following a Mike Young timeout with 13 ticks remaining, the Terriers set up a play off a hand-off from Cameron Jackson in the corner, and SoCon Player of the Year Fletcher Magee's wide-open shot from the right corner was short, but he followed his own shot, tossing up a second shot from about 15 which was long.

That was when Murphy ran down the ball, and after pump-faking a UNCG defender, let a shot go from the right elbow that was short and clanged off front iron as the buzzer sounded. That would allow the Spartans to make their second-straight championship game. Elation for Wes Miller and his Spartans, but sadness and heartbreak for Mike Young and his Terriers. 

The other two regular-season meetings were also hard-fought battles, with UNCG capturing a 71-67 win over the Terriers in Greensboro on the final game of 2017, and then the Spartans were able to hold off Wofford for a 77-67 win in their first-ever trip to Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. 

The Spartans had to overcome a 47-33 halftime deficit to win a thriller when these two teams met last December in Greensboro Coliseum. Magee scored all of his 21 points in the opening half of play as the Terriers shot the ball at a blistering 60.7% clip from the field in the opening half of play, however, the Spartans got 26 points from Alonso--18 in the second half--and held the Terriers to just 30.8% in the second half, which included holding Magee scoreless, en rout to getting the 71-67 win. 

If last season's three matchups are any indicator of these season's contest, it should be a great basketball game in the Coliseum Thursday night. 

Magee for Three-istory:

If you missed it on Saturday night, Fletcher Magee went about doing what Fletcher Magee does, which is hitting threes. His final one, which was huge in a 78-74 win over Mercer, allowed the senior guard to surpass former SoCon and Davidson legend Stephen Curry (2006-09), who was the SoCon record-holder with 414 threes. His final triple of his five on the night vs Mercer with just under 40 seconds remaining game gave Magee the record, as he now has 415-career threes. Magee is also the career-active leader in the SoCon for points scored, with 2,096.

Two Matchups Four Players:

Francis Alonso vs. Fletcher Magee or James Dickey vs. Cameron Jackson? Which matchup figures to determine this matchup? It's likely the defense of Dickey vs. the offensive efficiency of Jackson.

Jackson is off to the best start to a season in his career at Wofford. The senior from Winchester, VA currently ranks eighth in the conference in scoring (15.2 PPG), sixth in rebounding (7.8 RPG) and third in field goal percentage (59.3%). 

Dickey, who was the SoCon's Defensive Player of the Year last year, recently returned from a foot injury and is currently averaging 7.3 PPG and 7.6 RPG. He has started all 10 games he's seen action in for the Spartans this season. He will need to step up big if UNCG hopes to pick where they left off against the Terriers last season. 

Magee comes in ranking third in the SoCon in scoring, at (18.1 PPG), and leads the league with 64 made three-pointers (64). Alonso currently ranks second in the SoCon in scoring average (18.4 PPG) and tied for sixth in the SoCon in three pointers made (46). Magee and Alonso are two of the top free throw shooters in all of college basketball, with Magee having connected on 94% (47-of-50) this season, while Alonso is connecting on 90% (75-of-83) of his shots from the stripe.

Also of note is Isaiah Miller for UNCG and Storm Murphy. The two sophomores were a part of the SoCon All-Freshman team last year, and neither has suffered a sophomore slump. Miller comes in averaging 14.3 PPG and leads the SoCon in steals, averaging 2.8 thefts per game. Meanwhile, Murphy enters the contest averaging 8.8 PPG and ranks second in three-point field goal percentage, at 46.2% (24-of-52).

Saturday's Showdown

Furman comes to town Saturday and its a team, that like Wofford, will be in contention for the Southern Conference title all season. The Spartans have won three-straight games against the Paladins, including getting a 71-61 win at the Coliseum last season and an 80-67 win at Furman last season.

The Paladins, who like UNCG, are also 14-2, but have also suffered a Southern Conference loss last week at East Tennessee State. 

Should the Spartans get past Wofford, the game offers an opportunity for the Paladins to either gain a huge road win and help even things up in the SoCon race, or for UNCG, it would offer the chance to hang another conference setback on the Paladins, which could prove to be big in the regular-season race. The Paladins and Spartans are both off to their best starts to a season in their program's histories. Furman plays at VMI Thursday night.