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| Clay Mounce and preseason SoCon favorite Furman open the season Wednesday afternoon |
Southern Conference Hoops Kicks Off Wednesday Despite Pandemic
It’s been a long wait for Southern Conference basketball since last March, and much of the off-season was spent with much uncertainty concerning the 2020-21 season.
The good news we will have basketball. The re-introduction of spectators to sporting events remains a meticulous and cautiously optimistic proposition, but no matter how many fans are in the stands, fans await another anticipated season in Southern Conference basketball.
On Wed., Nov. 25, eight teams in will embark on a journey that will eventually take them to the Harrah’s Cherokee Center March 5-8 to decide a league champion and NCAA Tournament participant. Both Samford and UNC Greensboro will open their respective seasons on Friday and Sunday. Samford will play an exhibition on Wednesday night against the Greenville University Panthers.
With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many of the conference school’s are taking part in an “MTE”, or “multi-team event” to open the season. Listed below are brief previews for Wednesday’s opening night around the SoCon.
Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020
East Tennessee State vs. Abilene Christian (Estero, FL)—11:00 am
—Fittingly, defending champion East Tennessee State will open up the 2020-21 season when it faces Abilene Christian in Estero, Florida as a part of the Gulf Coast Classic to open the season. The Bucs will have an entirely new team almost team heading into the season, and will have new coach, in Jason Shay, who was Steve Forbes’ top assistant while in Johnson City, takes over a program he helped go 130-43 during the past five years, including winning a pair of SoCon Tournament titles.
The Bucs could be the first team in NCAA history to start all transfers, as that could be the case when ETSU takes the floor for its opener against Abilene Christian. Vonnie Patterson, Damari Monsanto and Charlie Weber—three players that were apart of the Bucs’ 30-win campaign a year ago—should all figure prominently in the plans for Shay and the Bucs to open the season.
The one position that will be especially keen point interest for fans will be the point guard position, as the Bucs lost Isaiah Tisdale to graduation, Daivien Williamson to transfer, and Patrick Good, who decided to opt out of his final season of eligibility due to the pandemic. It could certainly be argued that those players were as important to the Bucs championship run last season as any on the roster.
So how do you replace that trio? Well, there are certainly power five transfers that will have their say, in Kansas State transfer David Sloan (5.3 PPG, 2.3 RPG). Sloan, who transferred into the Bucs program from Kansas State, brings power five conference experience into the fold for the Wildcats. Sloan is a 6-2, 180-lb guard turned in a solid 2019-20 season for the Wildcats in his action on the floor, as he averaged 5.3 PPG and 2.3 RPG. He saw action in all 32 games, logging nine starts.
Serell Smith Jr is another big-time prospect from the University of Maryland. The 6-4, 175-lb junior from St. Petersburg, FL., will have two seasons of eligibility remaining after playing two seasons with the Terrapins. Smith, however, was not granted a transfer waiver by the NCAA and will have to sit out a year to become eligible, much the same that Brewer was forced to do last year after coming over from Southeast Missouri State.
Smith came to Maryland as a four-star recruit after averaging 29 PPG in his time at St. Petersburg High School in St. Petersburg, FL, however, over his two seasons playing as a 6-4 wing at Maryland, saw his court time gradually decrease, which ultimately led him to transfer out of College Park. In his first season with the Terps, Smith Jr. averaged 3.4 PPG and averaged 12 minuts of floor action. He saw that court time reduced by nearly five minutes as a sophomore, logging just 7.6 minutes of action on the floor for Mark Turgeon’s Terps.
While Sloan and Smith will be certainly important pieces of this ETSU squad, much anticipation and hype surrounds the brother tandem of forward Ty Brewer and guard LeDarrius Brewer. Both transfer in as double-figure scorers for the Bucs from their previous institutions. LeDarrius averaged 13.6 PPG last season at Southeast Missouri State.
LeDarrius Brewer started 49 of 59 games during his career playing inside the Ohio Valley Conference. In a game against Eastern Illinois back on Feb. 15, 2018, LeDarrius Brewer poured in a career performance in a win over Eastern Illinois, posting 34 points and went an impressive 7-of-10 from three-point range in the contest.
During his two campaigns at SEMO, LeDarrius Brewer scored 805 points and racked up 118 three-pointers, as he shot 40% from the field (277-of-689), 34% from beyond the arc (277-of-689), and 74% (133-of-180) from the free throw line during his career at SEMO. As a freshman during the 2017-18 season, Brewer was named the Ohio Valley Conference All-Newcomer Team.
Brewer is like earmarked for a starting wing, and the 6-5 wing is athletic and is a prolific shooter. Think the prolificness as a scorer as Ge’Lawn Guyn, only bigger. He could be the player that puts the Bucs right back in the mix for the Southern Conference title this winter, as an immediate impact player.
Ty Brewer is a 6-7, 210-lb power forward will have two years of eligibility remaining in an ETSU uniform. In 57-career games for the Lions prior to his arrival at ETSU, Ty Brewer totaled 563 points, 313 rebounds, 56 steals in 31-career starts with the Lions. He averaged an impressive 14.6 PPG last season at Southeast Louisiana.
As a sophomore last season, Brewer started 28 of 31 games for the Lions last season, and perhaps the most impressive his game last season was his field goal percentage, as he finished the season ranking fifth in the Southland in that particular category, completing the campaign by averaging 23.3 PPG against power five programs Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and Oklahoma State last season.
ETSU fans are going to love Ty Brewer’s overall athleticism, and his ability to be physical in the paint. With the waiver of eligibility now granted, on paper the Bucs have added roughly 30 ppg between he and his brother LeDarrius.
Four starters return off that Abilene Christian team that finished with 20 wins last season, and will be primed to compete for a conference crown once again this season. Among those four starters returning for Abilene Christian for the upcoming 2020-21 season is 6-8 forward Joe Pleasant, who figures to be a candidate for all-league honors this season after coming off a 2019-20 season, which saw him average 11.0 PPG and 4.2 RPG.
Joining Pleasant as key returnees for head coach Joe Golding’s club heading into the 2020-21 season will be seven-foot center Kolton Kohl (9.6 PPG, 4.3 RPG), guard Coryon Mason (8.8 PPG, 2.5 RPG), and guard Damien Daniels (5.2 PPG, 3.1 APG). The meeting between the Bucs and Wildcats will mark the first-ever clash between the two programs.
Prediction: East Tennessee State 77, Abilene Christian 70
North Georgia at Mercer (Macon, GA/Hawkins Arena, 1:00 p.m.)
—Mercer is picked to finish fourth in the Southern Conference and enters the season with plenty of high hopes. After all, the Bears were one of only two teams to defeat East Tennessee State in the Southern Conference last season, and the only one on the Bucs’ entire schedule to win a game at Freedom Hall.
The Bears have a pair of all-conference players to keep an eye on this season, with Jeff Gary and Ross Cummings returning to the fold. The tandem comprises one of the best shooting tandems in the Southern Conference. Cummings was an all-SoCon performer two years ago, averaging 17.4 PPG before a foot injury cost him all but six games last season.
In Southern Conference play as a junior, Cummings was even more impressive, having posted 19.9 PPG in league games. In an early February loss at home to Furman (L, 63-74) during the 2018-19 campaign, Cummings had just notched his 14th-straight game in double figures, however, what made his play down the stretch that season that no one knew about was the fact that he was playing through an extreme degree of pain.
Following that Feb. 2 loss to the Paladins as a junior, I was able to catch up with former head coach Bob Hoffman. The normally articulate head coach couldn’t find enough words or even a word with all the needed words combined to describe the toughness of Cummings, yet he gave it his best shot.
“He’s been amazing...he plays probably too many minutes...(trails off in thought with a half-grin)...you just can’t sub him because you never know when he’s going to be open and can hit a three and you hate to miss those opportunities for him because he’s playing at such a high level and our guys have done a tremendous job of running plays and getting stuff and we keep trying to experiment and keep trying to figure out new things, but he’s walked right into it and he’s getting guarded completely different (as a junior in 2018-19) than he did last year (as a sophomore in 2017-18) and Furman put a lot of length on him, but he was still able to get loose a little bit,” Hoffman said.
“I am thrilled with Ross and I am thankful he’s a part of our program...He’s an amazing young man,” Hoffman added.
That 11-point loss to Furman saw the then-junior posted a team-high 16 points, but like Hoffman alluded to, the Bears had been too reliant on Cummings, as the team shot just 34.8% in the loss to the Paladins on that particular Saturday.
That 11-point effort on that particular afternoon would be part of a season that would see Cummings score in double figures in 28 of 31 games, drop 20 or more points in a game 11 times, and in a late-season, 74-69, win over Chattanooga, Cummings posted a career-high 39 points.
That 39-point effort in the five-point win over the Mocs was a glimpse at what Cummings can do at the top of his game and when he was shooting in rhythm. Cummings’ shot is a thing of beauty to watch, as he seemingly shoots high-archers that all seem as if they are going to end up through the net even if they don’t go in.
Cummings’ efficiency from three-point range has been spectacular throughout his career in the Orange and Black, as he has connected on an outstanding 39.9% (101-of-253) from three-point range during his junior season. For his career, Cummings comes into his senior season as a 40% career three-point shooter, and with a career average of 39.9% (117-of-293) three-point range, is the top shooter returning in the league for the 2020-21 campaign.
Jeff Gary is coming off an outstanding first season for the Bears, averaging 11.5 PPG. He was seemingly the ‘x-factor’ when he stepped into the lineup for the Bears last season, and from the time he became eligible for action, it was clear that his shooting ability is an aspect of his game team’s had to be prepared for.
Gary became eligible just before the start of Southern Conference play, and played in 22 contests, with 20 starts. Gary is the nephew of head coach Greg Gary, and ended up also helping make up for some of the scoring and shooting slack left as a result of not having Cummings in the lineup.
Like Cummings, Gary is capable of outstanding shooting performances. His eight three-point field goals in a win over Samford helped the then junior set a Hawkins Arena record, while his 32 points were a career-high. Add to that two highly-touted transfers—former Fairfield point guard Neftali Alvarez and former South Carolina forward Felipe Haase—are now eligible, and it certainly wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Bears exceed their preseason expectations under second-year head coach Greg Gary.
North Georgia is coming off a 14-15 season under head coach Don Evans, who was in his first season at the helm of the Nighthawks basketball program. The Nighthawks play as a member of the Peach Belt Conference, and it will mark the 22nd all-time meeting for the two programs. Expect Mercer to make relatively easy work of the Nighthawks in the opener.
Prediction: Mercer 82, North Georgia 48
Chattanooga vs. Lander (McKenzie Arena/Chattanooga, TN, 2 p.m.)
--Chattanooga had its season opener originally scheduled against Bellarmine canceled due to COVID-19 protocol last week, and the Mocs had to scramble to find an opponent to open the 2020-21 season. That opponent turned out to be the Lander Bearcats out of Greenwood, S.C., who will make the trek to the Scenic City for Wednesday afternoon's season-opener.
Life as a mid-major coach in this current era has become less and less an enviable job because of so much turnover and the different transfer rules. No one knows adaption to changes more than fourth-year head coach Lamont Paris. In fact, that has become somewhat of a theme for Mocs basketball, even dating back to Will Wade prior to the arrival Matt McCall and obviously, the arrival of Lamont Paris.
Paris has had to deal with it more prevalently in his three years as the head coach. In his first season, he had to deal with losing players like Makinde London, while losing players like Jerry Johnson Jr. and Donnovan Toatley last season, and then coming off a 20-win season a yealer ago, there was plenty of optimism entering the 2020-21 season, despite losing leading scorer Matt Ryan and Jonathan Scott to graduation.
However, when Rod Johnson decided to transfer, and when top returning big man and second-team All-SoCon selection Ramon Vila decided not to return to the program, Paris’ challenge for the 2020-21 campaign became much more pronounced. Now, the challenge has become more pronounced.
The best news Mocs fans have coming off what many saw as a turnaround season in 2019-20 is the fact that the Mocs will have a graduate transfer of its own, in Darius Banks from James Madison, that was a double-figures scorer during his time with the Dukes, and will be an immediate impact player in 2020-21.But Banks must sit out a year due, so he won't be available in the immediate, as he will have sit out this season.
However, Vila’s decision to return home to Spain and turn probably put a damper on an already tough summer for Paris. Originally, I had the Mocs as my No. 3 projected team in the SoCon to start the summer, however, Vila’s departure changed all that. That’s not to say the Mocs can’t approach that type finish this season, however, but what made the the Mocs’ turnaround happen last season is the play of their bigs.
The bigs—Ryan and Vila— were a big reason why Paris’ Mocs were so efficient on the offensive end of the floor, as Chattanooga finished the season within a hair of a championship showdown with East Tennessee State, losing 73-71 to Wofford on a last-second shot by buzzer-beater by Storm Murphy.
It was a delfating loss for Paris and the Mocs, but if anything, it was a sign that what has been the gold standard for a program in the SoCon since joining as an official league member in 1977, and the Mocs have won the tournament title 11 times.
Paris had the nation’s second-best offensive efficiency last season, and that was thanks in large part to the play of Matt Ryan and Ramon Vila. Those two losses are significant, however, like Mercer, the Mocs have the pieces to be a factor in the Southern Conference race this season.
One player that will be available in the backcourt via the transfer route is Malachi Smith. Smith (5.4 PPG, 2.9 APG)., who joins the Mocs program as transfer from Wright State, where he was Freshman of the Year in the Horizon League back during the 2018-19 season. The native of Belleville, Ill., native sat out last season due to NCAA transfer requirements, and the 6-3 redshirt sophomore should have a chance to start this winter.
During the 2018-19 season at Wright State, Smith garnered Horizon League All-Freshman Team honors. Smith came off the bench in all 35 games for Wright State a couple of years ago. Smith garnered Horizon League Freshman of the Week accolades following a 17-point, nine-rebound performance in a league win over Youngstown State.
His first double-figure game of his career actually came in a win over Western Carolina, as he registered 10 points and had three steals in the victory over the Catamounts. Smith would end up producing seven double-figure scoring games in the 2018-19 season for Wright State. Like Banks, the 6-3 Smith has good size, athleticism and length at guard.
The unquestioned leader for the Mocs in the backcourt is David Jean-Baptiste (12.6 PPG, 3.9 RPG), who is the leading returning scorer for the Mocs following the graduation of Matt Ryan and loss of Ramon Vila, who has decided to return to Barcelona, Spain to turn pro.
Baptiste started all 33 games for the Mocs last season, and the member of the Haitian National Team is the leader of this bsketball team in every sense of the word. Jean-Baptiste completed the season with three performances in which he scored 20 or more points. Jean-Baptiste scored a career-high 25 points in a win over the Jaguars.
Jean-Baptiste also scored 20 points in what was an 85-80 homecourt loss to Mercer. The senior from Miami, FL, also posted 21 points in the 78-68 upset win over UNC Greensboro in the quarterfinals of the Southern Conference Tournament.
In the 2020-21 season, Jean-Baptiste needs just 75 more points to reach 1,000 points for his career, 24 rebounds to reach 300 for his career, 43 assists to reach 250 for his career, and 23 steals to reach 100 for his Mocs career.
All told last season, Jean-Baptiste scored in double figures in 22 games and finished the season with a total of 417 points. As a perimeter threat for the Mocs last season, the 6-1 guard shot 35.3% from three-point range, connecting on 54-of-153 shots from long-range. His 54 triples last season were second to only Matt Ryan’s 88 triples last season.
In the paint, keep an eye on is Mark Tihonenko (3.6 PPG, 2.1 RPG/Sam Houston State). Like UNCG’s transfer center Hayden Koval from Central Arkansas, Tihonenko plied his trade in the Southland Conference at Sam Houston State before making the move to play for the Chattanooga Mocs.
The 6-10, 240-lb center from Russia comes from a basketball family, where his father won an Olympic Gold medal in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul South Korea with the USSR. He also was instrumental in helping the national team to three silver medals in the would championship tournaments. One of the most impressive traits of Tihonenko’s games while with the Bearkats was his ability to shoot the ball from the perimeter, completing the season by connecting on 49.3% from three-point range for Sam Houston State.
Prior to his time at Sam Houston State, Tihonenko spent two seasons playing at North Texas State, redshirtting the 2017-18 season while averaging 2.2 RPG and 1.8 RPG in eight games with the Mean Green.
Another transfer the Mocs hope will be granted an NCAA waiver for the 2020-21 campaign is Josh Ayeni (5.6 PPG, 2.6 RPG/South Alabama and St. Bonaventure), who like Tihonenko, will be making his third stop in his collegiate basketball journey.
In his two seasons at St. Bonaventure, Ayeni, a 6-8 power forward, started 40 games in those two campaigns, and was a part of two 20-win seasons in the Atlantic 10 with the Bonnies.
Playing on a South Alabama team picked to win the Sun Belt in the preseason last fall, Ayeni was a part of another 20-win team with the Jaguars last season. He actually had his best game of the season against the Mocs, posting 12 points in 17 minutes of action off the bench.
The 6-8, 230-lb senior brings experience and gives the Mocs a powerful presence in the post that they lost with the departure of Vila. Coach Paris thinks Ayeni can have an immediate impact for the Mocs in 2020-21.
In 64-career games prior to arriving in the Scenic City, which included 40 starts, Ayeni averaged 5.6 PPG and 2.6 RPG. His best season came as a freshman on the 2016-17 St. Bonaventure team, as he posted 6.7 PPG during his freshman season. All told in his three seasons at South Alabama and two spent at St. Bonaventure, Ayeni totaled 18-career double-digit scoring games. He scored a career-high 16 points in a home win over Fordham, which included a 12-for-13 performance at the charity stripe.
Lander comes into the contest led by a former Mocs standout, Omar Wattad. Under the direction of John Shulman, the 2010-11 Mocs were able to complete the regular-season with a 16-16 overall record, and headed to the SoCon Tournament as the No. 1 seed out of the North Division and despite have an identical conference record to Western Carolina (12-6), the Mocs would win the tiebreaker with the Catamounts by virtue of two losses by the Catamounts to The Citadel.
The Mocs were led by the transfer Wattad, who started his career at Georgetown, and he ended up being the catalyst that helped lead the Mocs during their run to the North Division title. Wattad ended the 2010-11 campaign by averaging 14.3 PPG and 3.7 RPG in his role as the Mocs’ primary wing guard. Wattad ended up starting 28 of 32 games for the Mocs during the 2010-11 season.
The North Division title for the Mocs marked the 28th Southern Conference regular-season title in its 34 seasons as a league member. Wattad wasn’t the lone impact transfer for the Mocs, as he teammed in the backcourt alongside Wattad. Bell transferred in from Vanderbilt. He was an instant impact player, along with Wattad.
He finished the season with 182 assists and was named to the Bob Cousy Award Watch list during the season, and was just 73 assists behind the school record for assists in a season, which was set by Tim Brooks during the 1992-93 campaign.
Now has coach of the Bearcats, he has hired on another former SoCon assistant and player, in William Freeman from Western Carolina. It will be a SoCon reunion of sorts Wednesday afternoon when the two meet each other in the season opener.
Prediction: Chattanooga 88, Lander 72
—Maybe the most intriguing matchup from the opening day of SoCon games is the one between Western Carolina and UNC Wilmington in the opening game of the Mako Medical Asheville Classic.
It will be a good battle between two teams from the Old North State, and it will give an opportunity for the SoCon to get a good early-season win over a CAA team.
The Catamounts were one of the most improved teams in the nation last season, with an 11-win improvement under second-year head coach Mark Prosser, and Western’s 19-13 final record was good enough to have gained it to have qualified for the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT) prior to the season being canceled due to COVID-19.
Without front court starters Onno Steger and Carlos Dotson this season, it will be interesting to see who steps in to become those second and third scorers for the Catamounts. We already know who the leading scorer was last season and one of the top players returning in the SoCon this season is. That man is a very bad man and he’s hails from the Bluegrass State, in Glasgow, KY., native Mason Faulkner.
Faulkner recorded what is thought to be the first two triple-doubles in school history last season, and was in the conversation as the best player in the Southern Conference a year ago. That led Faulkner to test the NBA waters without retaining an agent, giving him the option to return to Western Carolina, which he decided to do, in early July.
Faulkner’s significance to the Catamounts could not be underestimated, as he finished the campaign by averaging 17.7 PPG, 6.0 RPG and 6.1 APG a year ago. He was third overall in the SoCon in scoring last season, while ranking second overall in assists-per-game last season. Faulkner was a big reason why the Catamounts were slated to make their first postseason appearance since the 2015-16 season, when the Catamounts participated in the College Basketball Invitational.
With a 19-13 record last season, the Catamounts had already accepted an invitation to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament prior to the cancellation of the college basketball postseason by the NCAA due to COVID-19.
Despite a disappointing end to the outstanding careers of Dotson and Steger, there is plenty of Catamount purple “mojo” going forward in the 2020-21 season. Faulkner returns as the point guard, while sharp-shooting guard Matt Halvorsen (9.5 PPG) returns at shooting guard.
Halvorsen is the best returning shooter for the Catamounts this season, having knocked down 78 three-pointers last season, which was second to only Steger’s 80 triples last season.
Third-year head coach Mark Prosser will also have the luxury of welcoming the return of Kameron Gibson at the other guard position. After an outstanding freshman season, which saw him average 13.6 PPG and was named to the SoCon’s All-Freshman Team, Gibson took on a different role last season and saw action in only 17 games after suffering a season-ending knee injury. Gibson saw his scoring average plummet to 8.6 PPG last season.
The Catamounts have promising talent returning in the frontcourt, despite the graduation of both Steger and Dotson, as both Xavier Cork (4.1 PPG, 2.8 RPG) and Tyler Harris (4.3 PPG, 2.6 RPG) return to the fold for the Purple and Gold, and both have a tremendous upside.
The Catamounts will also add Ahamir Langlais to the fold, and he might have been the most talented addition to the roster as a part of last season’s recruiting haul, but redshirted last season. Langlais is a raw athlete with a chance to be a player that could flourish immediately as a scorer, as well as being active on the offensive boards with his athleticism for the Catamounts.
During his senior season at Holy Spirit Prep in Atlanta, GA, he averaged 10 PPG and 8.5 RPG along with two blocks. Like Harris,Langlais has the potential to be another rim-protector for the Catamounts alongside Harris. He also has the opportunity to be a solid scorer for the Catamounts.
The Seahawks, who are coming off a 10-22 season, made a coaching change during the season last season, as Takayo Siddle took the reins of the Seahawks during the season. There was also a coaching change link to Western Carolina, as on the Catamounts lost one of the top big men coach, in Monty Sanders, to the staff UNCW. The Seahawks posted just five conference wins, finishing with a 5-13 record in Colonial play last season, which was good enough for just a ninth-place finish in the conference standings.
The good news for the Seahawks is that they were relatively young last season, and return a good amount of talent to the fold. One of those players is Ty Gadsden, who when healthy, has been one of the most talented players on the roster for the Seahawks. The 6-1 senior guard is coming off a 2020-21 campaign, which saw him average 10.6 PPG and 2.4 RPG, and has connected on a blistering 42.6% of his career three-point field goals.
The top returning scorer for UNCW heading into the 2020-21 season is 6-6 wing Jaylen Sims, who is coming off a campaign, which saw him average 11.8 PPG and 5.4 RPG. Sims has a high shot volume, but hasn’t been that effective, however, hitting just 38.1% of his two-point shots, while connecting on just 25.5% of his two-point field goals.
The leader in the paint will be Mike Okaru, who after transferring in from Florida State, had a strong first season in coastal North Carolina, as he led the Seahawks on the backboards, averaging 5.6 RPG to go with 9.2 RPG last season. One of the players to keep an eye on this season as a young diamond in the rough for the Seahawks is guard Ja’Juan Carr, who averaged 22.5 PPG in high school at Pender High School, and he should be given an opportunity to compete for playing time right away this season for the Seahawks.
The Seahawks and Catamounts will be meeting for the seventh time in series history, with the Catamounts holding a 4-2 all-time series edge. The two haven’t met on the college basketball hardwood since 1997, with the Seahawks posting a 72-60 win in that contest.
Prediction: Western Carolina 82, UNC Wilmington 76
The Citadel vs. Piedmont College (Charleston, S.C./McAlister Field House, 3:00 p.m.)
—The Citadel enters the season on a 19-game losing streak, and by the time the 2019-20 season ended, head coach Duggar Baucom was coaching a team that was ailing and injury-riddled. Only seven players dressed out in The Citadel’s Southern Conference Tournament game against Wofford.
“I am excited about this upcoming season because we will be able to get back to playing the type of the basketball our guys are more accustomed to, and whereas last year we were depleted because of injury, this year we will have more depth than we have had since I have been the head coach here.”
The point guard position is the most important part of any basketball team, but at a program that utilizes the fun-and-gun style, the position is magnified even more. In previous seasons, the Bulldogs have been able to procure a graduate transfer at the point guard position. Two years ago, the Bulldogs welcomed in a point guard that helped up the pace even more with addition of grad transfer Lew Stallworth.
Stallworth was a huge success for Baucom’s Bulldogs even though the season turned out to be somewhat of a disappointing one. Unfortunately, the timing when things were starting to all come together for the Bulldogs, it also turned out to be a time when the SoCon’s overall strength was at its absolute best. After a SoCon non-conference win over South Florida, things didn’t quite go according to plan for the Bulldogs the remainder of the season.
Stallworth ended up helping the Bulldogs be able to dictate the pace of the game better than they had prior at that position. Even despite the struggles last season, Tyson Batiste, who was a graduate transfer from Central Connecticut State, wasn’t quite the dynamic scorer Stallworth was, but more than effective enough, according to Baucom.
“What I really liked about Tyson [Batiste] last season was his leadership on the floor. He was able to be basically a coach on the floor for us and he always kept a positive attitude.”
However, this season, the Bulldogs will have options at point guard, meaning they will have more than one guy worthy of logging big minutes this season. Both Tyler Moffe and Rudy Fitzgibbons figure to log a majority of the minutes, with a third option being Jerry Higgins also having a chance to log minutes.
The area that took the brunt of the injuries and suffered most as a result, struggling to rebound the basketball all season. The Bulldogs top returnee in the frontcourt is Brady Spence (5.4 PPG, 3.0 RPG), who according to Duggar Baucom, basically played on one leg last season.
Spence is 100% for the first since the preseason last season, and he’s ready to be a significant factor in what should be an improved frontcourt this season. Remember, not only was Spence injured for the Bulldogs last season, however, the Bulldogs were also without their top big man for most of the season in 2019-20, in Hayden Brown (13.3 PPG, 3.3 RPG).
With a hobbled Spence and Brown having to basically hang it up for the season prior to the start of conference play, it led to a trying season on the boards for Baucom’s Bulldogs. The Bulldogs ranked last in the SoCon and 327 in the nation out of 350 teams ranked in NCAA Division I basketball in rebounding margin last season, at -4.
Spence, a 6-9, 200-lb forward is a solid athlete with good post moves. He scored a season-high 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds in a home loss to UNC Greensboro. Expect Spence to find his way into averaging double figures this season, and be one of the most improved big men in the Southern Conference. According to Baucom, he has also improved on being an outside threat.
Though the Douglasville, GA., native saw only limited action in the lineup due to that injury, averaging 11.7 minutes-per-game for the season, he still managed to sport an impressive field goal percentage of 64.2% (51-of-82) from the field.
Brown, a redshirt junior from Greer, S.C., has shown up big in big games over and over again for The Citadel in his career. Despite seeing action in only six games for the Bulldogs last season, he turned in two of the best individual performances
In an early-season matchup against Georgia, Brown posted 26 points in a game he kept The Citadel in the entire way before losing by nine on the road.
In the loss to Georgia, The Citadel was 8-of-14 from the field and was 4-for-7 from beyond the arc. In The Citadel’s Southern Conference opener against East Tennessee State, Brown kept the Bulldogs around for much of the night, as he played through injury. He finished the night with 12 points and five boards.
Though Brown saw action in only six games last season, he scored in double figures in four of those games for the Bulldogs. Brown also posted 18 points in a loss to Campbell last season. He made five starts in those six games for the Bulldogs last season.
It pretty much goes without saying that with Brown in the lineup last season, The Citadel likely wouldn’t have gone winless in SoCon play. He will be a huge difference-maker heading into the 2020-21 season, and like Spence, is 100% healthy again and ready to contribute for a full season for the Bulldogs. Brown will also likely be the Bulldogs’ best shooter from the perimeter this season, and comes into the 2020-21 campaign with 35 triples.
Piedmont College is 1-1 on the season with a win over Bob Jones (88-64) and a loss to East Texas Baptist (L, 70-78). The Lions were slated to have two more games before heading to the Low Country, however, due to COVID-19 protocol, were forced to cancel games against both Bob Jones and Transylvania this past week, but will face the Bruins once again on the road in Greenville on Nov. 24 before making the trek to Charleston.
The Lions were 14-12 last season under head coach Greg Neeley, who is in his eighth season at the helm of the Piedmont hoops program. The Lions are led by 6-0 guard Orry Clements-Owens, who comes in after posting 20 and 27 points to open the season.
It will mark the 10th all-time meeting between the Lions and Bulldogs on Wednesday afternoon, with the Bulldogs having all of the previous nine clashes, including claiming a 129-83 win in Charleston last season.
Prediction: The Citadel 110, Piedmont 90
Furman vs. Tusculum (Greenville, S.C./Timmons Arena, 4:00 p.m.)
—According to the media, Furman is the preseason favorite to win the Southern Conference title. Quite simply, Bob Richey’s club is loaded and maybe for the first time in his tenure, especially deep.
That’s what the past three champions of the Southern Conference have been, going back to UNC Greensboro’s title in 2018. The Bucs and Terriers won 30 each of the past couple of years, with the kind of depth that could even make them a dangerous out should they make it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 41 years, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, as Richey and staff knows their is much work to be done before entertaining those types of thoughts.
One of the areas head coach Bob Richey hopes to establish depth is the backcourt, which must find a way to replace leading scorer and what many would agree the team’s heart and soul from the 2019-20 campaign, in Jordan Lyons.
Losing Lyons to graduation means that the Paladins must replace their leading scorer for third-straight season and for the fourth time in the past five seasons. However, that hasn’t affected Richey’s Paladins too much, who have won 115 games over the past five seasons.
Lyons averaged 16.5 PPG and his 288-career three-pointers were a school record. However, though he is one of the players that helped establish the culture of confidence and swagger Furman has within mid-major basketball, this was the same question that was seemingly asked when Matt Rafferty graduated heading into last season.
So who steps up this season? Who adds depth to the backcourt in 2020-21. Now that wing Tre Clark has opted to transfer as well, the Paladins have a few question marks heading into the 2020-21 season even though they should enter the campaign as the favorite to win the league by most. Clark opted to continue his career at Rice, but still holds a Furman degree, as the Palmetto, FL, native will use his grad transfer year to try and garner more playing time at as a senior as a part of the Owls program.
At times last year, it seemed Lyons could almost will the Paladins to certain wins it had, with the ETSU, VMI and wins over Loyola coming to mind, which all took place at Timmons Arena. Fortunately for Richey and staff, there are a lot of reliable, vocal leaders returning for the Paladins in the backcourt, although maybe not to the degree of Lyons.
One of the players that started to emerge last season as a true scorer and a player that caused tremendous matchup problems for opponents is Mike Bothwell (10.9 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 2.2 APG ). The 6-3, 190-lb junior from Cleveland Heights, OH, really started to emerge as one of the Paladins’ more reliable scorers in a variety of different ways with the start of conference play.
Bothwell had a breakout game in Furman’s road win at Chattanooga, as he scored a career-high 27 points in a road win for the Paladins. Last season, Bothwell played in all 32 games for the Paladins, drawing fiour starts. He went 12-of-16 shooting from the field in the win over the Mocs. Bothwell also scored 20 points in a win over North Greenville, as he posted 25 points in the win, while finishing with a 20-point effort in a road win at Elon.
The unquestioned leader of the Paladin backcourt this winter will be senior Alex Hunter (8.9 PPG, 3.7 APG, 3.3 RPG). Hunter has been outstanding and poised throughout his career handling the point guard position for the Paladins. Hunter has been the starter at the point guard position each of the past three years, and has been the go-to-guy at the point guard spot ever since the graduation of John Davis III.
Marcus Foster, Joe Anderson and Jaylon Pugh give the Paladins excellent depth in the backcourt, and all will play a significant role in the backcourt this season.
Furman’s biggest improvement last season was the frontcourt, and that came simultaneous to the hiring of assistant coach Tim Johnson—a Wofford Hall-of-Famer—and he made the move from being an assistant at James Madison for two seasons before coming to Furman and changing shades of purple. Johnson was vital to Furman’s success in his first season as an assistant on Richey’s staff, helping develop Furman’s three big men and presiding over the trio’s improvement, especially on the offensive end of the floor.
In Johnson’s first season as an assistant on the Furman’s staff, the Paladin trio underneath the hoop all saw vast improvements, and it was a big reason why the Paladins were a tough guard in the post, whether it was Auburn or East Tennessee State. That improvement started primarily with the improvement of rising redshirt junior forward Noah Gurley (14.3 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 1.9 APG). Gurley will have a chance to compete for Southern Conference Player of the Year this coming season.
Gurley was Furman’s most consistent player in the post last season, and one season working with Johnson, you could see the improvement in Gurley’s overall game, and that he was a much more polished player in the post, especially when it came to his post moves.
Gurley teams with Clay Mounce (13.2 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 2.1 APG) and Jalen Slawson 6.9 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 26 blks) to comprise arguably the best frontcourt in the SoCon.
Furman is an astounding 63-11 at Timmons Arena over the past five seasons. The Paladins were 2-1 at The Well last season.
The Paladins face the Tusculum Pioneers at Timmons Arena at 4 p.m on Wednesday to open the 2020-21 season. The Pioneers were a late addition to the Furman schedule. The Pioneers and Paladins have never met on the college basketball hardwood, although there is one link between the two programs and that is former Furman national championship-winning quarterback Frankie DeBusk.
DeBusk led the Paladins to the 1988 Division I-AA national championship win, engineering a 17-12 win over Georgia Southern, allowing Furman to go on to become the first private school to ever win a officially recognized Division I national title. DeBusk was the head football coach and Director of Athletics at Tusculum from 1998-2015. DeBusk remains the school’s winningest head coach.DeBusk is a member of the Furman athletics Hall-of-Fame.
Tusculum is coming off a 2019-20 season, which saw the Pioneers finish with a 19-13 overall, including a 13-9 finish in South Atlantic Conference play under third-year head coach J.T. Burton. The Pioneers were the No. 4 pick in the preseason coaches’ poll in the South Atlantic Conference.
One of the things the Pioneers did especially well last season was get to the offensive glass. The Pioneers finished the campaign leading all of Division II in all of offensive rebounds, averaging 15.9 per game. The Pioneers are already familiar with the surroundings of Timmons Arena, having played in the SAC Tournament last March, which has been played at Timmons Arena the past four years.
Two starters return off that team that won 19 games last season and made it to the semifinals of the SAC Tournament for the first time since 2011, but the Pioneers figure to be right in the mix once again for a conference title.
Tusculum opened its season with an 88-75 win over Wingate, as guard Kendrick Tucker led the Pioneers with 21 points, while backcourt mate Francis Sio and forward Quantra Taylor added 13 points apiece.
Prediction: Furman 98, Tusculum 65
Wofford vs. Brewton-Parker (Spartanburg, S.C./Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium, 6:00 p.m.)
—Without question, Wofford’s grind to keep its tradition alive has been real and was a tough one under first-year head coach Jay McAuley, but like any successful program, the Terriers were able to rise up at the right time and make things especially interesting during the 2019-20 season, making to the championship game for the second year in a row, however, the Terriers were the secenth seed last season—not the top seed as it had been the year before—and the Terriers didn’t have either Fletcher Magee or Cameron Jackson to rely on last season in Asheville.
What Wofford display was a special kind of grit and toughness, which enabled them to knock off No. 6 seed Chattanooga (72-70), No. 2 Furman (77-68) and No. 10 The Citadel (93-76) in order to get into last season’s championship clash with East Tennessee State.
However, the Bucs, who were looking to match the Terriers’ 30 wins from a year earlier, proved to be too much in the end, as the Terriers were downed, (), in the Southern Conference Tournament title game in their bid to become the first team to win four games in four days since Clemson completed the feat back in 1931.
The reason the Terriers had to play on the opening day of the tournament had everything to do with a seven-game losing streak to close out the regular-season, however, the Terriers made the most of their tournament appearance in 2020.
Despite there being some losses, the 2019-20 season is worth a quick look back at, especially the Southern Conference Tournament, are certainly a testament to McCauley and his staff in Spartanburg.
Wofford made easy work of The Citadel to open the tournament and advanced to play a top-100 Furman team, which came in as the No. 2 seed and one of the favorites to take the tournament.
Senior veteran Trevor Stumpe led the charge as he nearly single-handedly willed the Terriers to the win in the second half. Though he didn’t play much in 2018-19 due to injury, his presence and experience was paramount in helping McAuley’s Terriers make the run they did in March.
Stumpe got going in the second half against Furman, scoring 14 of his 18 points with most coming during a key 16-2 run that helped Wofford take control of the game.
In the paint, it was Chevez Goodwin doing work seemingly at will against Furman’s big men, who were saddled with foul trouble for much of the night. All Goodwin did was take the game to the Paladins, posting 19 points and nine boards in the nine-point victory for the Terriers.
It was the first major upset of the 2020 Southern Conference Tournament, and it was one that only seemed to energize McAuley’s Terriers moving forward.
Playing on sheer adrenaline the following night against Chattanooga, the Terriers got a free throw line jumper from Storm Murphy with 3.6 seconds remaining to hold on for a 72-70 win and get back to the championship game.
Though the run came to an end with a 72-58 loss to regular-season champion and top-seeded ETSU, year one for McAuley in Spartanburg turned out to be a big success.
The Terriers have plenty of talent returning this year to make up for a departing Goodwin, who transferred to USC. They must also replace leading scorer Nathan Hoover, who averaged 14.7 PPG and had a team-high 83 three-pointers last season.
Two of the guys paramount to the success in 2020-21 are two of the same guys that were vital in the tournament run for the Terriers — rising sophomore forward Messiah Jones and Murphy.
“He’s the prototypical SoCon player that’s a mismatch and isn’t scared to do the dirty work,” McAuley said of Jones.
Against the Mocs, Jones had 11 points and four boards in 11 minutes, while in the championship game against the Bucs, Jones established a career-high 19 points and five rebounds, and went 9-of-11 from the field.
Along with losing Goodwin to transfer, Nathan Hoover to graduation, and Stumpe to graduation, now Isaiah Bigelow to a preseason ACL tear. Add to that the Zion Richardson left the team, and it severely affects the depth Wofford enters the season with.
Senior guard Tray Hollowell, who comes off a season which saw him average 7.7 PPG and 1.9 RPG, will be asked to step up and provide more scoring during his senior season, as will junior guard Ryan Larson (3.3 PPG, 1.7 RPG). Those two have been mostly role players throughout their respective Terrier careers thus far.
The best news for the Terriers is the return of Storm Murphy to run the point guard position. He’s one of the best point guards in all of mid-major basketball.
Murphy has a chance to finish off his career in style, and Wofford has had a tradition of great point guards, with the likes of Brad Loesing (2008-11), Eric Garcia (2013-16) and Drew Gibson (2004-07) to name just a few.
“Murphy is the consummate Wofford player that on and off the court he leads, he does the right things, he works his tail off and he’s a killer when you need him to be a killer,” McAuley said.
Even when the Terriers struggled down the stretch during the close to the regular-season, losing seven-straight—all by close margins—the moment never got too big for McAuley in his first year as the Wofford head basketball coach. Look for that trend started by Young to become even more a part of the “Wofford Way” under McAuley.
Without Bigelow and Richardson, it will also require newcomers like 6-9 forward Sam Godwin, 6-8 South Florida transfer B.J. Mack, and 6-3 freshman guard Max Klesmit to provide scoring right away for the Terriers. Another freshman the McAuley is especially high on is 6-8 forward and ultra-athletic forward Nick Pringle out of Seabrook, S.C.
Wednesday night’s opponent for the Terriers will be Brewton-Parker.. The Barons are off to a 2-5 start on the season under the direction of head coach Stephen Birchfield, who is in his second season at the helm of the program. The Barons haven’t played a game since Nov. 11, when they were 83-65 losers to Middle Georgia University.
This game will of course count as just an exhibition for the Barons, who following this game against the Terriers, won’t play again until Jan. 5 at Edward Waters College. The pre-Thanksgiving meeting between the Terriers and Barons will mark the first-ever meeting between the two.
Prediction: Wofford 90, Brewton Parker 47
VMI vs. St. Andrews (Lexington, VA/Cameron Hall, 7:00 p.m.)
—The Keydets are coming off a 2019-20 season with a 9-24 record, but it could be argued that the Keydets were one of the best nine-win teams in the country last season. The Keydets went toe-to-toe with Furman, UNC Greensboro and East Tennessee, losing to all three in narrow fashion, and those three were the top three teams in the SoCon last season.
Having already had its Dec. 1 game against Lancaster Bible College canceled due to COVID-19 protocol, the Keydets will look to take advantage of their opening game since a season-ending loss to ETSU in the SoCon Tournament in the season opener against St. Andrews.
The problem has been the same each time the Keydets have experienced even a little bit of success, it seemingly has come from younger players, who ended up transferring out of the program a year later. Heading into the 2019-20 season, head coach Dan Earl had to figure out how to replace the league’s leading scorer Bubba Parham, who transferred to Georgia Tech.
Heading into the 2020-21 season, Earl will now have to find a way to replace his leading scorer and the league’s top freshman player, in Travis Evee, who has made his new home at Rice, but the Keydets could be a dark horse to keep an eye on in 2020-21.
When I say dark horse, I mean it’s a VMI team that could very well find its way to a top six finish in the league and a bye in the opening round of the Southern Conference Tournament in Asheville. Under Earl, the Keydets have played such fundamental basketball, and basketball that is easy on the eyes in terms of the motion offense, which Earl employs.
Evee, who averaged 12.6 PPG last season, and senior guard Garrett Gilkeson, who averaged 9.9 PPG last season, were two of the top three scorers for the Keydets last season, both must be replaced. Evee finished second on the team with 77 triples last season behind another super freshman Kamdyn Curfman’s 84 triples last season. The backcourt duo combined to connect on 161 triples last season, which was part of the team’s league-leading 359 triples last season.
In fact, the Keydets were one of the top three-point shooting teams in the country last season, as their 359 triples for the season ranked second in the NCAA last season, with only North Florida’s 391 three-pointers ranking higher.
The Keydets 1,012 three-pointers attempted also ranked second in the nation, while their 35.5% shooting clip from long range for the season ranked a respectable 68th out of 350 NCAA Division I programs.
While Earl must replace two of his top players from a year ago, there is an overall optimism surrounding the VMI basketball program heading into the 2020-21 season. That’s primarily because the Keydets were a team that absolutely no one was interested in facing by the time the team’s headed for Asheville and the Southern Conference Tournament in early March.
In trouncing Samford in the opening round of the 2020 Southern Conference Tournament in Asheville, Earl’s Keydets sizzled shooting the basketball, connecting on a Southern Conference Tournament record 18 triples in posting a 96-78 win over the Bulldogs.
Unfortunately for Earl and the Keydets, the tournament run and the hot shooting would come to an end a day later, as the Keydets were knocked out of the SoCon Tournament in the quarterfinals by eventual champion East Tennessee State, as the Bucs handed the Keydets a 70-57 loss on a day when VMI could muster just a a 35.6% (21-of-59) from the field, including just a 32.1% (8-of-25) shooting performance from three-point range.
Obviously, the three-point shot is always going to be a big part of the Keydet offense. It was an even bigger part of the overall offensive plan under Earl’s predecessor, Duggar Baucom, with the idea being that at a military school, the great equalizer is always the long-range shot.
The good news for Earl is that he has some veterans like center Jake Stephens, versatile wing Myles Lewis, and guard Greg Parham all returning. Add to that one of the best young three-point shooters, in Curfmann.
In Dan Earl’s previous five seasons as head coach, the Keydets have knocked down 1,418 three-pointers, with 682 of those coming in the past two seasons, meaning that 48% the three-pointers connected on by VMI under Dan Earl have come in the past two seasons. All told, in the five seasons the Keydets have connected on 35.5% under Earl, having launched 4,191 three-pointers.
As far as newcomers are concerned, one would be wise to keep an eye on Trey Bonham, who is one of the real steals in recruiting in mid-major basketball.
Bonham is another player similar to Evee and Parham before him. Bonham is a pure scorer, and was called by the UMS-Wright head coach Michael Napp as the best player he had ever coached during his time UMS-Wright. He broke the school’s all-time scoring record, and surpassed 2,000 point in his career as the four-year starter at point guard.
Bonham spurned the chance to play at both Alabama-Huntsville and South Alabama to play at VMI. He will have a chance to make himself a part the rich history at VMI, with the likes of Jason Conley, the Williams twins, Ron Carter and Gay Elmore.
Attending VMI might even making the Keydets a better basketball team than when it had either Evee or Parham. Imagine if the Keydets could have had all three this season? We’d likely be talking about the Keydets being in contention for a SoCon basketball title for the first time since the late 1970’s.
But VMI isn’t all guards, despite the fact they have plenty of shooters to go around. The best big man returning to the fold is Jake Stephens (7.1 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 40 three-point FGs). The Keydets must replace a pair of players in the paint, with the graduation of both Tyler Creammer, as well as Will Miller. Creammer logged most of the action, and with him, most of the points and rebounds graduate, as he averaged 3.3 PPG and 4.6 RPG last season.
Stephens was one of the best shooting big men in the Southern Conference and will once again be a valued asset as a long-range shooter. Stephens, a 6-9, center from Bunker Hill, WVa., started 27 of 33 games last season for Keydets.
Stephens enters his junior campaign coming off a sophomore season, which saw him post 11 double-figure scoring performances, including scoring a career-high 24 points in VMI’s SoCon Tournament-opening win over Samford. He hit a career-high six three-pointers in that game on a night when the Keydets set a new SoCon tournament mark with 18 triples in the game.
He has been inconsistent during at points his career shooting the basketball with VMI, but when he is on, he is one of the best shooting big men in mid-major basketball. He has that potential to get you 24 or 25 points on occasion. Unfortunately for Earl and the Keydets, facing ETSU a day later, the Bucs had the defensive anecdote for the sharp-shooting, holding him to just four points.
Stephens will look to sharpen up his post moves this coming season, as he will likely be asked to do more in that aspect of his game this season. Also returning to the frontcourt for the 2020-21 season will be 6-8 forward Sam Wolfe (2.0 RPG) and Connor Arnold (4.7 PPG, 1.3 RPG) return in the front court.
Neither saw much floor time last season, but Arnold started to see some as the season wore on, and should fit into the system more this season. Arnold gives the Keydets yet another off the bench, and while he saw action in only seven games last season, he showed that shooting touch in a late-season loss at Chattanooga, as he connected on 3-of-4 three-pointers in nine minutes of action.
Reinforcements are also on the way in the frontcourt for the Keydets heading into the 2020-21 campaign. Caleb Moss (Fork Union Military/Dillwyn, VA) and DJ Nussbaum (Episcopal Christian School/Houston, TX) are new additions to the frontcourt that will give VMI immediate depth in the frontcourt, and both will have a chance to make an impact right away.
St. Andrews enters the contest at 1-2 overall and 0-2 in Mid-South Conference play. The Knights opened the season with a 102-72 loss at Kentucky Christian before knocking off Regent, 91-69. The most recent game for the Knights came this past weekend, as the Knights were 92-67 losers at Bluefield College.
Randy Hernandez is in his sixth season at the helm of the St. Andrews basketball program. Ahmad Gustave, who scored 19 points last time out against Bluefield, leads the way for the the Knights.
Prediction: VMI 102, St. Andrews 65
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