Below is a look at the game of the night in the Southern Conference, as East Tennessee State and UNC Greensboro face off in a crucial early-season league tilt.
East Tennessee State (13-3, 2-1 SoCon) at UNC Greensboro (12-4, 2-1 SoCon), 7 p.m.
Brief Preview: ETSU and UNCG will battle in a huge early-January SoCon clash, with one of the two preseason league title favorites having two league losses following Wednesday night's action at the Greensboro Coliseum.
Tonight's clash between the two SoCon basketball juggernauts will mark the 32nd all-time clash between the two, with the Bucs holding a narrow 16-15 series edge in the all-time series. The Bucs and Spartans have faced off in two of the past three SoCon title games, with UNCG having made the title game each of the past three years, having lost twice and won once.
The lone UNCG title during that span came in 2018, as the Spartans posted a 62-47 win over ETSU to claim the crown. That win by the Spartans helped avenge what had been a 79-74 win by ETSU a year earlier in Asheville, as the Bucs cut down the nets at the US Cellular Center following the championship game win.
Since the start of the 2015-16 season, no two teams in the Southern Conference have more league wins than the Spartans and Bucs. Both enter the matchup coming off losses in the upstate of South Carolina, with ETSU dropping a 65-56 decision at Furman, while short-handed UNCG fell 98-92 in double-overtime on the road at Wofford.
The Spartans have battled injuries in the early portion of Southern Conference play, forcing preseason SoCon Player of the Year Isaiah Miller (17.9 PPG, 4.8 RPG) has had to carry much more of the scoring load as a result. Miller had an outstanding week last week, with 31 points and nine steals in a win over Mercer, while posting 28 points in the double-overtime loss at Wofford.
However, he'll once again be without scoring mates Kyrin Galloway (8.1 PPG, 4.2 RPG) and Kaleb Hunter (10.8 PPG, 5.1 RPG) once again on Wednesday night, meaning not only will Miller have to once again produce at a high level, but also his supporting cast of sophomore forward Angelo Allegri (6.9 PPG, 2.4 RPG), senior guard Malik Massey (6.3 PPG, 2.0 RPG), senior center James Dickey (7.4 PPG, 8.4 RPG) and off the bench, sophomore guard Michael Hueitt Jr (6.5 PPG, 1.5 RPG) and freshman guard Keyshawn Langley (6.6 PPG, 1.8 RPG).
The good news is that Miller's supporting cast did show up last time out for the Spartans, with Langley (14 pts), Massey (13 pts) and Allegri (19 its) all established new career highs in the road loss at Wofford.
Wednesday night's clash in the Gate City offers a matchup between two of the league's top defensive teams, with UNCG (57.9 PPG) leading the league in scoring defense, while ETSU (62.2 PPG) is not too far off the pace. UNCG's scoring defense ranks seventh nationally in scoring defense.
The Bucs will be looking to find their shooting touch in the Greensboro Coliseum after having struggled to score in each of its previous two league outings against both Wofford and Furman, scoring just 49 and 56 points in those two games, respectively.
Under head coach Steve Forbes, the Bucs haven't made a habit of losing back-to-back games. In fact, ETSU is 28-6 immediately following a loss under the fifth-year head coach. The Bucs have been the kind of production you might expect out of a Player of the Year candidate like junior guard Bo Hodges (13.6 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 2.7 APG), who led the way offensively for the Bucs with 12 points in an otherwise dismal afternoon offensively in ETSU's 65-56 loss in Greenville to Furman.
Hodges had no help, however, as he was the lone Bucs player in double figures in Saturday's loss. Despite the fact that he had a solid game all around for the Bucs Saturday and is having an outstanding season, he has seen some struggles at the free throw line, going just 2-for-7 in Saturday's loss, and is shooting just 59.4% (41-of-69) from the stripe this season.
Hodges teams with Patrick Good (8.4 PPG, 2.7 RPG) and Isaiah Tisdale (7.4 PPG, 3.8 RPg) in the backcourt, with both Daivien Williamson (9.9 PPG, 2.2 RPG) and second-leading scorer Tray Boyd (13.4 PPG, 1.7 RPG) coming off the bench for the Bucs.
Over the past two games, the Bucs are shooting 40% (30-of-75) from the field — including on 21.3% (10-of-47) from three-point range — and averaging 52.5 PPG. Prior to the first week of the New Year, the Bucs led the SoCon in field goal percentage (49.0%), ranked fourth in three-point field goal percentage (37.1%) and second in scoring offense (81.4 PPG).
Despite getting surprisingly out-rebounded, 41-28, by Furman this past Saturday, the Bucs have been the top rebounding team in the SoCon over the past two seasons, with Jeromy Rodriguez (10.7 PPG, 7.9 RPG) leading the Bucs on the glass, and he enters Wednesday night's game with UNCG having posted 19-career double-doubles.
Rodriguez was held to just six points Saturday against Furman, and took only three shots, going 3-for-3 from the field. He and 7-0 center Lucas N'Guessan (7.0 PPG, 5.3 RPG) combined for just eight points Saturday in the loss to the Paladins, and took only six shots.
The Bucs come into Wednesday night's clash continuing to lead the league in rebounding margin (+6.1), while UNCG leads the conference in both field goal percentage defense (40.4%) and scoring defense (57.9 PPG), and rank not too far behind ETSU in rebounding margin (+4.4).
Who Wins and Why: Both ETSU and UNCG went to arguably the most talented team in college basketball earlier this season, and both gave the No. 3 Kansas Jayhawks all they wanted before losing by similar score lines. The Bucs dropped a 75-63 contest at Allen Fieldhouse back on Nov. 19, while UNCG lost a hard-fought, 74-62, decision 10 days prior to the Bucs visit to Lawrence.
It was easy to surmise that both ETSU and UNCG would once again be vying for a Southern Conference title once again this season, and there was little, if any drop-off in talent for either from what has been a theme for both as league juggernauts since the start of the 2016-17 season.
UNCG has had ETSU's number as of late, winning each of the past three matchups between the two. The Spartans captured a thrilling 60-59 win last season on some late-game heroics from Isaiah Miller, and at ETSU, the Spartans captured what was a 75-68 game in Johnson City, with the score being a little more generous than how the game actually played out on the floor. All told, UNCG has won four-straight against ETSU, dating back to a 68-58 win by the Bucs over UNCG on Jan. 11, 2018.
This has become one of the more heated rivalries in the Southern Conference over the past few seasons, with few who follow the league's basketball scene soon to forget the infamous "handshake game" three years ago. The Bucs haven't tasted victory over the Spartans in Greensboro since an 86-83 win back on Jan. 9, 2016.
In the 2018 SoCon Championship game, the Spartans put the clamps down defensively in the second half, capturing a 62-47 win at US Cellular Arena in Asheville, as UNCG gained entry into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001 with that win.
With both having lost hard-fought games on the road Saturday, it puts even more emphasis on this early season clash of SoCon titans. If UNCG had Kyrin Galloway, Kaleb Hunter and Kobe Langley available for Wednesday night's contest, I would give the Spartans a slight edge at home--a place where the Spartans have lost twice on a pair of half court heaves at the buzzer to both Montana State and NC State this season. It's safe to say UNCG protects its house as well as anyone in the SoCon over the past few seasons.
I expect the difference in this one will be Isaiah Tisdale. He will be able to do enough to at least slow Miller and make him work harder than usual to find open looks, and that will allow the Bucs to escape with a close victory in Greensboro in what should be another outstanding game between the two.
Final Score Prediction: ETSU 68, UNCG 67
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