Defending Southern Conference champion Furman lowered a banner to commemorate its historic 2022-23 season and return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 43 years and its first NCAA Tournament, and then it went about starting the journey to defend the title and get back to an opportunity to make even more noise in the NCAA Tournament, taking on and defeating North Greenville, 84-68, before a crowd of 2,197 fans on-hand at Timmons opener for the 2023-24 season opener.
About 15 minutes prior to tip-off, members of the 2022-23 team, including star guard Mike Bothwell, as well as the parents of Sacramento King Jalen Slawson--Tom and Karen Slawson--were on-hand to receive rings in a short ceremony prior to tip-off before a banner was unfurled and a short list of accomplishments as a final toast to the 2022-23 season. Then it was down to putting the past behind and put the present into focus for Furman men's basketball--the 2023-24 consensus league favorite.
In a game that the Paladins played without 2023 SoCon Tournament Most Outstanding Player JP Pegues, as well as forward Alex Williams, who left the game after having played less than six minutes with an apparent hand injury of some sort, the Paladins, at times struggled to find a sustained rhythm.
Senior All-SoCon guard Marcus Foster posted a team-high 18 points to lead three Paladins in double figures. Freshman 6-11 center Cooper Bowser chipped in 13 points off the bench, while Carter Whitt, who garnered his first start at point guard for the Paladins, finished off a solid effort by chipping in with 10 points, three rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals. His 10 points matched his career-high as a Paladin, which he also had last season vs North Greenville in the season opener.
Foster finished the contest connecting on 6-of-15 shots from the field, but was just 1-of-7 from three-point range. He also added six rebounds and a steal. PJay Smith Jr. and Ben VanderWal finished just out of the double figures column, posting with nine points apiece, while Tyrese Hughey added eight. VanderWal also added five boards and two steals to his overall stats line.
Savion Brown's 18 points matched Foster for game high scoring honors. The only other Crusader in double figures was Zak Pardew, who added 14.
How It Happened:
Furman's opener against North Greenville featured plenty of aggressiveness and effort, mixed with sloppiness and struggles you might expect to see in a season opener from a team, who is now adjusting to life without its two top scorers, in program legends Mike Bothwell and Jalen Slawson, as well as being the defending Southern Conference champion for the first time in 43 years.
North Greenville had something to do with that, getting off to a fast start by connecting on four of its first six three-point attempts, allowing the visiting Crusaders to assume what was a 14-11 lead following NGU’s fourth three in the first five minutes, which came from nearby Berea High School standout Savion Brown.
Brown did his best to stymie the Paladins all night, and kept North Greenville hanging around, as the Crusaders never let Furman rest easy in its opening win of 2023-24. Brown, who finished with 18 points, went 4-for-8 from three-point land.
Following Brown’s three-pointer, the Paladins launched a run of their own to resume some order and assume a 20-14 lead after a Marcus Foster steal, which turned into a Ben VanderWal dunk on the other end of the floor. VanderWal would also cap off the run with a layup in the paint, giving the Paladins a 20-14 lead with just under 13 minutes remaining in the opening frame.
The Paladins would increase their lead to double digits for the first time in the game with a 9-0 run late in the frame to assume a 32-22 lead following a pair of made foul shots from Alex Williams. The lead would grow to as much as 15 points (38-23) following another VanderWal dunk off a Crusader turnover.
North Greenville, however, would close out the half strong to get it back to a 10-point margin at the half, with a 9-4 run of its own, which was capped by a Brown triple off the behind-the-back bounce pass from teammate Justin Perry, as the ball swished through the basket as the buzzer sounded, bringing the NGU crowd in attendance to a collective roar.
It would be the Crusaders that would come out of the halftime locker room to take the initiative, and at least for a while, would make things interesting. Over the first 11 minutes of the second half, the Crusaders out-scored the Paladins, 21-17, cutting the Paladin lead to six, at 59-53, with a Justin Perry layup with just under nine minutes remaining.
That would, however, be as close as North Greenville would get the remainder of the night, as the Paladins slowly pushed the door shut en route to an opening night win, with newcomers Cooper Bowser and Davis Molnar providing the lift off the bench on both ends of the floor to allow Furman to build its lead back to double digits and eventually pull away from a gritty North Greenville team to win by 16 points.
Furman's 16-point win seems a bit bizarre when you consider the Paladins played without JP Pegues and Alex Williams virtually all night, and Marcus Foster, who led the Paladins in scoring, picking up three first fouls to limit his overall court time for prolonged periods.
Furman's shooting performance was eerily similar to start out the season from three-point range against North Greenville as it was in last season's opener.
In the 2022-23 season-opening win over the Crusaders, the Paladins were just 5-of-25 from long-range. In the 2023-24 season opener, the Paladins knocked down just 3-of-21 from long range (14.3%) in this season's opener. The
The Paladins have shot it well from three-point land under Richey, connecting on 38.7% from three-point range (1,990-of-5,137) in six seasons under his leadership entering the 2023-24 season.
Furman also turned the ball over an uncharacteristic 18 times in the game, which occurred on only three occasions last season, with a season-high 20 giveaways in a loss at NC State.
The Paladins did manage to shoot a solid 45.8% (27-of-59) from the field, as well as being aggressive on the offensive end of the floor, earning 39 foul shots (27-of-39/69.2%). Furman was solid defensively, holding the Crusaders to just 36.4% (24-of-66) from the field.
The Paladins also scored 22 points off of 20 North Greenville turnovers, as Furman finished with 14 steals, which was similar to the season-high 15 thefts the Paladins had against the Crusaders last season. The effort was the apparent all night from the 'Dins, while work remains to be done to execute at a high level, especially on the offensive end and shooting the basketball.
The Paladins will return to action Friday night in another highly anticipated mid-major matchup with Belmont, with tip-off slated for 7 p.m.
Postgame Press Conference:
Head coach Bob Richey
Players Carter Whitt and Davis Molnar
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