ETSU and Wofford meet in 100th SoCon Championship Game

Defending champs and preseason favorites set for championship meeting

SoCon Championship Preview:  No. 1 East Tennessee State (29-4) vs. No.7 Wofford (19-15), 7 p.m.

ASHEVILLE, N.C.--From the outset of the season, I thought it would be a good season for the Southern Conference. The preseason favorite has made it to Monday night. The challenger is also the holder, however, for Jay McAuley’s Wofford Terriers and Steve Forbes’ East Tennessee State Bucs, it’s been a strange trip to get here. 

The preseason favorite has made it to Monday night. The challenger is also the holder, however, for Jay McAuley’s Wofford Terriers and Steve Forbes’ East Tennessee State Bucs, it’s been a strange trip to get here. 

If you’re looking for two teams with a star, like former Wofford guard Fletcher Magee or former East Tennessee State floor general Keith ‘Mister’ Jennings, tonight’s SoCon title game between ETSU and Wofford is not for you. However, there are plenty of team-oriented storylines.

Let’s rewind a bit. Just a little over a week ago, McAuley’s Terriers were licking their wounds from a seventh-straight loss to close the season—a 59-47 decision at Mercer. A little over a week later, the Terriers are on the cusp of another 20-win season, SoCon title, and would be the first team in the modern format of the tournament to win four games in four days if they pull the shocker over top seeded ETSU this evening.

The Terriers, who are 5-0 all-time in SoCon Tournament championship games, have what it takes to win Monday night. In fact all five of those Terrier titles have come in the past decade. 

McAuley has been here before. Just five years ago as a member of Niko Medved’s staff at Furman, he faced heavily favored and top seeded Wofford in the title game. The Paladins entered the 2015 SoCon Tournament as the No. 10 seed. 

That must seem like light years ago to McAuley, who is in his first season as the head coach at Wofford, having been asked to fill the shoes of legendary Wofford head coach Mike Young, who is now at Virginia Tech. 

The Terriers followed up that seven-game skid by getting wins over No. 10 The Citadel (93-76), No. 2 Furman (77-68) and No. 6 Chattanooga (72-70) to arrive at tonight’s 100th SoCon title game. The Terriers needed another miracle from Storm Murphy—something he did last year in the regular-season vs. Furman and Samford—to get past Chattanooga, as his free throw line jumper with 3.1 seconds remaining ended the Mocs run one game short of a potential rematch with their Volunteer State rival. 

ETSU has arrived at its fourth championship game in five seasons under head coach Steve Forbes. A little over a week ago, the Bucs were in very serious danger of seeing their SoCon regular-season outright crown slip into obscurity trailing Western Carolina late. However, ‘Good’ things happened to the Bucs once again—as in the form of Patrick Good—as the junior guard connected on seven threes in the final eight minutes, including the game-winner with six seconds left, as the Bucs came up with a thrilling 68-67 win in the regular-season finale.

Tonight, the Bucs don’t want to share the spotlight with Wofford. Share? A Wofford win likely puts two SoCon teams in the NCAA Tournament, although waiting on pins and needles for a week to let a committee decide your fate probably isn’t Forbes’ idea of a fun time.

The Bucs are 7-4 all-time in SoCon championship games and have made 10 NCAA Tournament appearances. An ETSU win Monday night would give the SoCon a 30-game winner for a second-straight season, and would be just the fourth SoCon team to do it in the 100-year history of the league. Only former members NC State (1950-51), North Carolina (1945-46) and Wofford last year, have been able to achieve that milestone. 

The Bucs have a school-record 29 wins, eclipsing those great Bucs of 1990-91, which were ranked as high as No. 10 in the nation at one point during that particular season, and a team that featured the likes of Calvin Talford and Keith “Mister” Jennings, whose banner hangs in the rafters at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville.

The Bucs got to Monday night by defeating gritty VMI (70-57) and rolling by upstart Western Carolina—a team it narrowly defeated at home just a little over a week ago by 22 points (97-75) in yesterday’s first semifinal. 

ETSU was the only one of the top three to sweep Wofford during the regular-season. The Bucs won a 49-48 game in Johnson City that, at times, made you cringe the shooting was so woeful, but it also had something to do with really good defense, too.In a late February meeting in Spartanburg, the Bucs held off pesky Wofford, which led most of the night, as ETSU charged back for a 60-54 road win. 

The difference in this Bucs team—what stands out from some of those great ones that still elicit stories from yesteryear—is that precisely they aren’t distinguished by stars. There’s no “Mister” or dunking champion like Calvin Talford. 

What the winningest team in Bucs history does have is connection and selflessness. Isaiah Tisdale’s importance can’t be defined or captured just by a stats sheet alone. Tisdale isn’t a fancy player. He’s tough and gritty. He’s not interested in what you have to say nor does he talk much on the floor. His game speaks loud enough, especially on the defensive end.

Much the same can be said of Wofford. There’s no Cam Jackson or Fletcher Magee around to save the day, and while Storm Murphy has had his moments, there’s not a star that can be defined by a nickname or a stat that really sticks out on a stats sheet. 

As Chevez Goodwin put it after the win over Furman, the Terriers have played with a chip on their proverbial shoulders the whole season. They play like they are disrespected defending champions. Fact is, guys like Goodwin, Murphy, Tray Hollowell, and Nathan Hoover still have their individual pieces of net from the 2019 SoCon title run. They were more than a Magee and me team. They were multi-faceted last season.

The guy that has arguably been Wofford’s most key piece spent most of last season sidelined with an injury—Trevor Stumpe. Stumpe was the hero in Wofford’s upset win over Furman, scoring 14 of his 18 points in the second half, with most of those coming during a key Wofford run late. However, Stumpe is averaging just 7.4 PPG. Other key pieces like sophomore guard Ryan Larson and SoCon All-Freshman team member Messiah Jones have also been big.

ETSU has had its own injury issues this season in season, with the foot injury Jeromy Rodriguez has battled since the start of league play. Rodriguez’s impact in the tournament won’t show up on the stats sheet, but it could very well be huge tonight in terms of depth. 

Wofford has played one more game, and though it was The Citadel, it wasn’t as if it were a church league over 40 outing either. Rodriguez’s ability to spell guys with minutes could come up huge. 

Lucas N’Guessan has been one of the most improved big men in the SoCon. His steal and slam in the six-point win at Wofford changed the game.  Daivien Williamson has been the man over the last month of the season, and he is putting together quite the Southern Conference Tournament, posting his sixth 20-point effort of his career in the win over Western Carolina and is 14-of-16 from the field in the tournament. Williamson has been in double figures in eight of the last 11 games. Tray Boyd III and Bo Hodges have provided big moments throughout the season for the Bucs, and while there’s no star, there’s not a weakness. 

Wofford has clearly been the team of the last decade in the Southern Conference, while the Bucs come in having won 129 games in five seasons. Not a bad performance either. Monday night’s title game will give the winner a head start on the next decade. 

I am not giving up on a two-bid SoCon yet, but with UNCG and Furman now longer an option as a potential close loss in the championship game now for an at-large bid, the Bucs might not have a fall-back plan if they lose. That should make for an intriguing battle in the SoCon title game.

Other Notes:

--The last team to defend their title in the SoCon Tournament was Wofford in 2014 and '15

--A win for ETSU would give the Bucs its eighth Southern Conference title and 11th all-time NCAA Tournament appearances. An 11th tournament appearance would be tied for most in the league among current league members, as Chattanooga also has made 11 NCAA Tournament appearances.

--ETSU and Wofford will be meeting for the third time in tournament history, with Wofford winning over ETSU in the semifinals last year, downing the Bucs 81-72. The only other meeting between the two in the Southern Conference Tournament came in 2003, as ETSU knocked off Wofford 80-75
--Should Wofford win Monday night, it would mark the first time in the modern format of the tournament, and it would mark the first time it has happened in any format of the tournament since Clemson did so in 1939.