“This is a good basketball team, believe me. Not one of the other three has had had to go to play at East Tennessee State, at UNC Greensboro, and had to come to us yet except Furman,” Young said after the Furman game on Jan. 19.
Head coach Bob Richey echoed a similar sentiment to that of Young had hinted at following conference losses to UNCG, ETSU and Wofford on the road in the first time through conference play, urging his young team to not get down on itself, despite the media questioning just how good Furman was following the minor swoon last month.
You’ll find that good coaches in this profession can provide far greater perspective about the broader picture of a college basketball season than sometimes the hyper-focused, in-the-moment media can.
“I told our team that this team was going to turn in favor and that we just had to wait for it when people were starting to get down on us after a couple of losses,” Richey said.
“I think this group’s physicality and toughness has been questioned by a couple of people,” Richey added. “You don’t hold teams that are that good offensively under 60 without being physical and tough.”
Furman (21-5, 10-4 SoCon) needed to make another statement at Timmons Arena against another good opponent similar to Saturday’s win over ETSU. After all, the UNCG (22-4, 11-2 SoCon) Spartans had claimed four-straight against the Paladins. The Paladins did it with another strong defensive effort, downing UNCG, 67-57, Thursday night at Timmons Arena.
No doubt, it wasn’t easy for Furman to pick up its 50th win at Timmons Arena since the start of the 2015-16 season, including its 30th against SoCon competition. UNCG had accounted for two of Furman’s home losses to SoCon span over the past three seasons.
“Coach Richey did a great job of telling us and getting it in our minds that anything that happened in the past is irrelevant and that we have to do is focus on tonight and focus on the task at hand,” junior guard Jordan Lyons said.
Lyons and senior forward Matt Rafferty carried the offensive load for the Paladins in the first half, scoring 24 of the team’s 27 opening-half points, as the Paladins managed to take a 27-25 lead into the locker room.
It was a big half of basketball for the junior guard from Peachtree City, GA, as he scored 15 of his 22 points in the opening half of play, while the second half belonged to Rafferty, who 15 of his 24 in the second half. Rafferty added 10 boards for his 12th double-double of the season, and also recorded five steals. All told, Lyons and Rafferty accounted for 48 of Furman’s 67 points.
Clinging to just a two-point halftime lead, there was the feeling that at some point, the Paladins were going to have to weather a run by UNCG in the second half.
The Spartans showed their championship mettle with just over 12 minutes remaining, and Furman holding on to a 36-34 lead. It would spark an 8-0 run by UNCG, with a pair of three-pointers by sophomore guard Isaiah Miller, and a steal and a layup by Francis Alonso, suddenly staking the Spartans to a 42-36 lead, and prompting a Bob Richey timeout with 11:52 remaining.
Furman’s response was direct and to the point. Get Matt Rafferty touches. The timeout by Richey was meant to get the pace back to the way Furman wanted it, and more importantly, get Rafferty touches.
“There were also four, five or six trips where Matt didn’t touch it. So in the timeout, it was, ‘take care of the basketball and make sure our big fella gets it.’ I think we did that from that point forward and played a much cleaner game,” Richey said.
Rafferty answered Richey’s instructions off the timeout, connecting on a left elbow triple, cutting the Spartans’ lead in half, at 42-39, with 11:25 left.
Back-to-back misses on a layup by Kyrin Galloway and a three-pointer led to four more Rafferty points off layups, and all the sudden it was UNCG’s Wes Miller forced to take a timeout and Furman had a 43-42 lead with 9:52 remaining.
It was the turning point of the game. Furman would never relinquish its lead from that point forward in the contest. In, the Paladins would increase their to nine, at 57-48, following a Noah Gurley three-pointer with 4:10 left, and it was all part of a 21-14 run by the Paladins.
UNCG would have one charge left in it, however. Following a layup by Gurley, the Paladins led 59-50 with 3:13 left. A Demetrius Troy three-pointer and a Miller layup following a pair of Furman empty possessions got it back to a four-point deficit, at 59-55, with 2:15 left. Furman scored the next five points over the next 1:30 of game action to put the game away.
Richey’s club has now reeled off five-straight, and is trending upwards. The Paladins are starting to capture some of that attention they lost in the mid-major and national sports media. The Paladins were a bit of an afterthought for some after losses to ETSU (79-56), UNC Greensboro (89-79), and Wofford (59-54).
In truth, the Southern Conference’s top four teams were 82-19 coming into tonight’s games, which is comparable to the top four in any conference throughout the nation.
The Spartans, which had won eight-straight coming into tonight’s clash, were facing their toughest portion of the conference slate with their upstate swing to face a pair of 20-win teams.
Add to that the defending champions, who are chasing SoCon unbeaten Wofford down the stretch for top spot in the SoCon, and there was a slight bit of pressure coming into games against red-hot Furman and Wofford.
Despite some uncharacteristic turnovers, which were forced by Furman’s stout defensive effort, the Spartans were able to keep the game in front of them at crucial times.
This game was far different than the ETSU last Saturday for the Paladins, which saw the Paladins shoot percentage drop from 64%, last Saturday in a win over ETSU to just 43.1% Thursday night. This was a grinder. It was a phyiscal war.
UNCG had been 14-0 this when holding foes to less than 45% shooting from the field coming into the showdown in Greenville, but emerged 14-1. Meanwhile, Furman limited the Spartans to just 35.5% shooting from the floor.
The uptick for Furman on the defensive end has been noticeable over the past month. Over the past eight games, Furman is allowing just 59.8 PPG, holding four of those opponents to less than 60 points during that span, and all but one foe to less than 70 points.
Furman’s defensive performance Thursday night could be summed up by the play of redshirt freshman forward Noah Gurley, who posted just seven points, but finished with a career-high five blocks and four boards to highlight the Paladins’ defensive effort.
Furman had just five players score in the contest. Gurley’s progression as a defender and shot-blocker has noticeable.
“I’ve been trying to focus more on not fouling and just trying to let guys try and score over my length and I find that’s very effective and that’s one of the focuses that coaches have been working on with me lately,” redshirt freshman forward Noah Gurley said.
Miller, who had a career-high 25 points against the Paladins in the first meeting, was held scoreless in the opening half and finished with 16 points. Miller was one of four players in double figures in the loss. Furman’s defensive effort also limited Alonso, who averaged better than 17 ppg coming into the contest, to just 10 Thursday night.
The past couple of games the Paladins have done a nice job of turning opponent miscues into points, posting a 27-18 advantage off 16 ETSU turnovers on Saturday, and finished Thursday night with a 15-12 edge off an uncharacteristic 17 UNCG miscues.
The Spartans came in with the best assist/turnover ratio in the Southern Conference and one of the best in the nation, and the 17 forced turnovers by the Paladins were a season-high for UNCG.
Meanwhile, Furman, which saw a season-high 22 turnovers turned into 26 UNCG points in the loss to the Spartans last month, turned it over just 13 times Thursday night, surrendering just 12 points.
In years past, this league has been won with defense. I think about the John Kresse-led College of Charleston team of 1998-99, which gave up just 59.2 PPG to rank eighth nationally, or the 2017-18 Wes Miller-led UNCG team that surrendered just 62.5 PPG to rank fifth nationally in points allowed. If the Paladins continue their current trend on the defensive end, they’ll be right there in Asheville with a chance to make their first NCAA Tournament in 39 years.
Following Saturday’s game vs. VMI slated for 4 p.m. at Timmons Arena, Furman will have a week off to prepare for its showdown with Wofford on Feb. 23., as the Paladins look to continue their payback tour against the other top three teams in the SoCon.
UNCG will head just up the road to face Wofford Saturday night for a 7 p.m. contest in Spartanburg. With UNCG’s loss to Furman coupled with Wofford’s 95-84 win over VMI, the Terriers have now opened up a two-game lead in the SoCon standings in the chase for the regular-season league title chase.
No doubt, it wasn’t easy for Furman to pick up its 50th win at Timmons Arena since the start of the 2015-16 season, including its 30th against SoCon competition. UNCG had accounted for two of Furman’s home losses to SoCon span over the past three seasons.
“Coach Richey did a great job of telling us and getting it in our minds that anything that happened in the past is irrelevant and that we have to do is focus on tonight and focus on the task at hand,” junior guard Jordan Lyons said.
Lyons and senior forward Matt Rafferty carried the offensive load for the Paladins in the first half, scoring 24 of the team’s 27 opening-half points, as the Paladins managed to take a 27-25 lead into the locker room.
It was a big half of basketball for the junior guard from Peachtree City, GA, as he scored 15 of his 22 points in the opening half of play, while the second half belonged to Rafferty, who 15 of his 24 in the second half. Rafferty added 10 boards for his 12th double-double of the season, and also recorded five steals. All told, Lyons and Rafferty accounted for 48 of Furman’s 67 points.
Clinging to just a two-point halftime lead, there was the feeling that at some point, the Paladins were going to have to weather a run by UNCG in the second half.
The Spartans showed their championship mettle with just over 12 minutes remaining, and Furman holding on to a 36-34 lead. It would spark an 8-0 run by UNCG, with a pair of three-pointers by sophomore guard Isaiah Miller, and a steal and a layup by Francis Alonso, suddenly staking the Spartans to a 42-36 lead, and prompting a Bob Richey timeout with 11:52 remaining.
Furman’s response was direct and to the point. Get Matt Rafferty touches. The timeout by Richey was meant to get the pace back to the way Furman wanted it, and more importantly, get Rafferty touches.
“There were also four, five or six trips where Matt didn’t touch it. So in the timeout, it was, ‘take care of the basketball and make sure our big fella gets it.’ I think we did that from that point forward and played a much cleaner game,” Richey said.
Rafferty answered Richey’s instructions off the timeout, connecting on a left elbow triple, cutting the Spartans’ lead in half, at 42-39, with 11:25 left.
Back-to-back misses on a layup by Kyrin Galloway and a three-pointer led to four more Rafferty points off layups, and all the sudden it was UNCG’s Wes Miller forced to take a timeout and Furman had a 43-42 lead with 9:52 remaining.
It was the turning point of the game. Furman would never relinquish its lead from that point forward in the contest. In, the Paladins would increase their to nine, at 57-48, following a Noah Gurley three-pointer with 4:10 left, and it was all part of a 21-14 run by the Paladins.
UNCG would have one charge left in it, however. Following a layup by Gurley, the Paladins led 59-50 with 3:13 left. A Demetrius Troy three-pointer and a Miller layup following a pair of Furman empty possessions got it back to a four-point deficit, at 59-55, with 2:15 left. Furman scored the next five points over the next 1:30 of game action to put the game away.
Richey’s club has now reeled off five-straight, and is trending upwards. The Paladins are starting to capture some of that attention they lost in the mid-major and national sports media. The Paladins were a bit of an afterthought for some after losses to ETSU (79-56), UNC Greensboro (89-79), and Wofford (59-54).
In truth, the Southern Conference’s top four teams were 82-19 coming into tonight’s games, which is comparable to the top four in any conference throughout the nation.
The Spartans, which had won eight-straight coming into tonight’s clash, were facing their toughest portion of the conference slate with their upstate swing to face a pair of 20-win teams.
Add to that the defending champions, who are chasing SoCon unbeaten Wofford down the stretch for top spot in the SoCon, and there was a slight bit of pressure coming into games against red-hot Furman and Wofford.
Despite some uncharacteristic turnovers, which were forced by Furman’s stout defensive effort, the Spartans were able to keep the game in front of them at crucial times.
This game was far different than the ETSU last Saturday for the Paladins, which saw the Paladins shoot percentage drop from 64%, last Saturday in a win over ETSU to just 43.1% Thursday night. This was a grinder. It was a phyiscal war.
UNCG had been 14-0 this when holding foes to less than 45% shooting from the field coming into the showdown in Greenville, but emerged 14-1. Meanwhile, Furman limited the Spartans to just 35.5% shooting from the floor.
The uptick for Furman on the defensive end has been noticeable over the past month. Over the past eight games, Furman is allowing just 59.8 PPG, holding four of those opponents to less than 60 points during that span, and all but one foe to less than 70 points.
Furman’s defensive performance Thursday night could be summed up by the play of redshirt freshman forward Noah Gurley, who posted just seven points, but finished with a career-high five blocks and four boards to highlight the Paladins’ defensive effort.
Furman had just five players score in the contest. Gurley’s progression as a defender and shot-blocker has noticeable.
“I’ve been trying to focus more on not fouling and just trying to let guys try and score over my length and I find that’s very effective and that’s one of the focuses that coaches have been working on with me lately,” redshirt freshman forward Noah Gurley said.
Miller, who had a career-high 25 points against the Paladins in the first meeting, was held scoreless in the opening half and finished with 16 points. Miller was one of four players in double figures in the loss. Furman’s defensive effort also limited Alonso, who averaged better than 17 ppg coming into the contest, to just 10 Thursday night.
The past couple of games the Paladins have done a nice job of turning opponent miscues into points, posting a 27-18 advantage off 16 ETSU turnovers on Saturday, and finished Thursday night with a 15-12 edge off an uncharacteristic 17 UNCG miscues.
The Spartans came in with the best assist/turnover ratio in the Southern Conference and one of the best in the nation, and the 17 forced turnovers by the Paladins were a season-high for UNCG.
Meanwhile, Furman, which saw a season-high 22 turnovers turned into 26 UNCG points in the loss to the Spartans last month, turned it over just 13 times Thursday night, surrendering just 12 points.
In years past, this league has been won with defense. I think about the John Kresse-led College of Charleston team of 1998-99, which gave up just 59.2 PPG to rank eighth nationally, or the 2017-18 Wes Miller-led UNCG team that surrendered just 62.5 PPG to rank fifth nationally in points allowed. If the Paladins continue their current trend on the defensive end, they’ll be right there in Asheville with a chance to make their first NCAA Tournament in 39 years.
Following Saturday’s game vs. VMI slated for 4 p.m. at Timmons Arena, Furman will have a week off to prepare for its showdown with Wofford on Feb. 23., as the Paladins look to continue their payback tour against the other top three teams in the SoCon.
UNCG will head just up the road to face Wofford Saturday night for a 7 p.m. contest in Spartanburg. With UNCG’s loss to Furman coupled with Wofford’s 95-84 win over VMI, the Terriers have now opened up a two-game lead in the SoCon standings in the chase for the regular-season league title chase.
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